A southern New South Wales store manager says people are brazenly stealing from her business multiple times each day, as statewide shoplifting statistics surge back to pre-pandemic levels.
Theft from retail stores has spiked by almost 38 per cent over the past two years, according to the latest data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR).
Shoplifting figures are now almost identical to those recorded in 2019, before the COVID pandemic and subsequent lockdowns caused a sudden drop in offences.
Michelle Phillips said she had "definitely noticed" an uptick in theft at her retail store on Wagga Wagga's main street.
"They just think it's their right to come in and flog whatever they like," she said.
"I've had people look up at the cameras and just put [items] straight down their pants because they just don't care."
Ms Phillips said the thefts were occurring "multiple times each day" and ranged from someone slipping pencils into their pocket to people walking off with a trolley filled with $500 in decorations.
The business reports significant thefts to the police and issues banning notices for those caught on camera, but people are rarely arrested for stealing.
The shoplifting surge is a return to normalcy, according to BOCSAR executive director Jackie Fitzgerald who said the pandemic caused a dramatic drop in offences.
While the number of offences had recently spiked, with more than 24,000 incidents being reported across NSW in the 12 months to March, the figure was still slightly lower than it was five years ago.
"Retail theft was one of the offences that really fell quite precipitously during COVID," Ms Fitzgerald said.
"People have got back to normal, they're out and about, so we've seen offences start to return to where they were before."
The areas with the highest rates of shoplifting compared with their population in Greater Sydney included the City and Inner South, the Eastern Suburbs, and Blacktown.
The Far West and Orana, the Illawarra, the Riverina, New England, and Newcastle recorded the highest rates in the state's regional areas.
Ms Fitzgerald said if shoplifting statistics continued to rise beyond pre-pandemic levels, it could suggest the cost-of-living crisis was playing a role.
She said retail theft had bounced back faster than many other offences.
Riverina Police Superintendent Andrew Spliet said improvements to CCTV and cooperation with retail stores had improved their ability to catch shoplifters.
His department ran "proactive covert operations" multiple times a year, which involved sending officers into retail stores to review footage and observe customers.
"We've been very successful with those . and they've actually led to a lot of detections that probably wouldn't have been detected or reported," Superintendent Spliet said.
He said theft from retail stores was an under-reported offence as low prosecution rates might dissuade businesses from informing police.
"Sometimes the retailer might just go: 'Oh well, they're not going to catch them so why worry about reporting it,'" he said.