Online crime reporting form

Retail colleagues,

Since the inception of the Retail Crime Taskforce, we have been committed to empowering retailers to report all incidents of retail crime and to make this process as simple and efficient as possible.

We recognise that the continued rise in retail offences across the country requires a strong policing response, however, many crimes are reported after an incident has occurred, meaning that priority must be given to answering and resourcing calls where there is a more urgent risk to public safety.

In December 2025 our Contact, Command, and Control Division (C3) introduced a proof-of-concept online reporting form, allowing retailers to report incidents of shop theft digitally. The form was piloted in Greater Glasgow Division and throughout the course of the pilot was utilised by 18 retailers across more than 1000 stores. Its purpose was to improve the user experience of retailers when reporting crimes of shop theft and to reduce non-urgent, lower risk demand on our call handling centres to support priority policing responses.

During the pilot, timescales for creation of a crime report number have reduced from the required 72-hour period to frequent same day processing. In addition, a link to our Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) system is provided once a crime report number is generated, allowing retailers to upload their CCTV footage immediately, allowing investigations to commence far quicker.

The retailer online reporting form for crimes of ‘theft by shoplifting’ can only be used in instances where the offender has left the store and where there is no associated threat, harm, risk or vulnerability. If there is another offence, in addition to theft by shoplifting, such as assault of a retail worker or vandalism, other reporting methods such as 101 or 999, in an emergency, should be used. 

With the pilot period having concluded, we are now working to implement various improvements to the form, to improve its usability. However, we believe it is currently fit for purpose, and it will go live across the country from today (Monday, 23 March 2026).

The development of the online reporting form supports the ongoing work to introduce a third-party reporting platform that can provide a consistent approach to reporting certain retail offences whenever they arise within Scotland.

The form can be accessed here https://www.scotland.police.uk/contact-us/report-shoplifting and retailer feedback to date is positive, with many reporting that completion of the online form is easier than reporting via phone call or ContactUs.

We will continue to develop the form further to ensure it meets all needs of our retail industry colleagues when reporting a theft by shoplifting offence. Please familiarise yourselves with the form and utilise it in the event a shop theft incident occurs on your premises.

ACC Tim Mairs

Police Scotland