Nottinghamshire is, infamously, the county in which misogyny (but not misandry) is considered a hate crime. A piece in yesterday’s Times starts with this:

Shoplifting incidents will no longer prompt a visit from an officer as funding cuts force police to prioritise other crimes, an elected police chief has said. Shop owners in Nottinghamshire have reacted with outrage after the police and crime commissioner (PCC) said that the force would have to stop sending officers to investigate incidents of thefts from shops to prioritise more serious crimes such as sex attacks. [J4MB emphasis] The proposals come despite 8,786 shoplifting offences being reported to the force between June 2016 and June this year. Paddy Tipping, the elected PCC, said the force was preparing to make £16 million of savings over the next two years. “We will do our best with the resources we have got. Is shoplifting as important as investigating a serious sexual assault? It is not,” he said.

A Google search of “shoplifting, gender” led me to this, an ONS report titled, ‘Women and the criminal justice system 2013’. From the home page:

Shoplifting

In 2013, shoplifting made up the majority of theft offences for both male and female offenders, although the proportion was higher for females. [J4MB emphasis] Shoplifting made up nearly half of all indictable convictions for females, and just under a quarter of all indictable convictions for males. The two most common disposals for both genders were conditional discharges and community sentences (of those sentenced at court). Males were far more likely to get an immediate custodial sentence. [J4MB emphasis]

There you have it. Notts police will not be sending officers to investigate the crime of shoplifting, which constitutes nearly half of all indictable offences for women.

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