PCCs launch progress report on retail crime crackdown

A new report on how police forces in England and Wales are cracking down on retail crime has revealed successful initiatives on keeping stores safer.

Led by Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Katy Bourne through her role as the Association of PCCs’ lead for retail and business crime, she accepted that “there is still more work to do”, and backed Labour’s call for a new offence in England and Wales for assaulting shop workers. She also pushed for more prolific shoplifters to be monitored with electronic tags.

Find out what action is being taken near you below.

Sussex

PCC Katy Bourne said a nine investigator-strong business crime team solves 70% of incidents it handles, compared to Sussex’s overall 22.7% success rate for all incidents. A One Touch reporting trial with 24 Co-op stores cut reporting times from 30 minutes to 90 seconds, and these handful of sites now account for 19% of all retail crime reports. She revealed work to ‘scale up’ the trial with other retailers is underway, as is ‘national interest’ in introducing the scheme in other parts of the country. Reporting tool Disc is being used to identify unknown offenders and share images with retailers, the next step will see access given to the education sector to identify and tackle young offenders.

Hampshire

PCC Donna Jones said a new partnership between retailers, police, justice services and charities was identifying prolific shoplifters with complex problems aggravated by addictions. The pilot scheme worked with 15 offenders. Four are reportedly ‘fully engaged’ and have received mental health support, completed a detox and got into accommodation. Five further participants reduced their substance use and cut their shoplifting. The pilot continues until August.

Thames Valley

PCC Mathew Barber launched a new retail crime strategy in January, backed by a new retail crime forum and ‘Operation Purchase’ with high visibility patrols in retail spaces, led by a new business crime team. Reporting tool Disc has also been added to allow retailers to report and access crime incidents.

Cleveland

PCC Steve Turner responded to calls from major retailers to tackle the more than 20 daily shoplifting offences across the region. A survey at a retail crime meeting found 77% had no confidence in the region’s policing. Turner then used the meeting’s findings to ‘hold police to account’. Police have identified the most vulnerable stores and provides frequent updates on retail crime. It now has one of the highest positive outcomes rates of any police force with one in four shoplifting incidents in January being resolved. The PCC also investigated police officers accused by retailers of mishandling investigations.

West Yorkshire

Deputy mayor for policing and crime Alison Lowe provided ‘SmartTag’ spray kits to retailers, allowing stock and offenders to be marked with a unique forensic code. It was the first region to authorise PCSOs to use the spray, leading to a 44% decline in shoplifting reports in the first three months of the policy.

Northamptonshire

PCC Stephen Mold said ‘increasing numbers’ of shoplifters are being ‘brought to justice’ through its Operation Elegance – a partnership between police and stores to tackle prolific offenders. It hired a private investigator to improve response time and evidence gathering on retail crime, and later added a second investigator. A dedicated retail crime team has also been created. Through the operation’s first six months, 56% of shoplifters were ‘brought to justice’, an increase of nearly 60% compared to the same period the year before.

Merseyside

PCC Emily Spurrell is deploying cash seized from criminals to protect retailers through cyber crime prevention training and SelectaDNA spray kits being given to stores, once sprayed, the unique UV code remains on offenders for weeks, pinning retail criminals to the scene of the incident. Disc online crime reporting and data sharing was also introduced, providing store owners with information on known suspects.

London

Deputy mayor for policing and crime Sophie Linden is overseeing the rollout of ‘retrospective facial recognition software’ – using AI to check historic CCTV evidence to catch offenders. The rollout started in October and will be used on crime reports from independent stores for the first time this month or in April. Out of the first 401 images supplied, 149 suspects were identified, with many linked to more serious crime beyond London, but only 12 incidents gave everything necessary for a full investigation. During the rollout, shoplifting reports increased by 42%, which Linden attributed to growing retailer confidence in policing.

Warwickshire

PCC Philip Seccombe’s office gave £10,000 to help the region’s crime initiative expand its membership to more retailers and its links with the police, with 169 retailers no onboard. These can use disc online reporting and offender tracking tools, resulting in ‘numerous repeat offenders being quickly identified and put before the courts.’ At least 40 shoplifters have been charged thanks to Disc, which has also helped secure some ‘lengthier custodial sencences’ by tying shoplifters to multiple incidents and patterns of behavior.

Derbyshire

PCC Angelique Foster funds a business crime reduction partnership and a new co-ordinator for the group to roll out ShopWatch Groups with radios to use for ‘early alert’ of threats. The region has also added Disc online crime reporting tools.

Greater Manchester

Deputy Mayor for policing and crime Kate Green helped relaunch neighbourhood policing teams with an extra 264 officers deployed to increase presence and cut response times. A retail crime meeting in January discussed there being a single point of retail crime contact for each district, a new digital evidence filing system, running old CCTV footage through facial recognition tools to identify offenders, a plan for offenders aged under 18 and ‘days of action against retail crime.

Durham

PCC Joy Allen created a ‘safer business group’ in December that is ‘already showing benefits’ such as greater prevention measures in stores, restorative justice programmes for shoplifters, extra patrols in hotspots and the inclusion of shoplifting in an ‘immediate justice’ pilot designed to give swift outcomes and a CCTV sharing tool to identify offenders.

Police also identified the 10 worst affected stores and focused on tackling incidents in them. Within two months after changes were implemented, the worst hit store saw shoplifting reports drop from 27 per month to five, with five prolific offenders arrested.

West Mercia

PCC John Campion launched ‘Calling Time on Retail Crime’ in January with £200,000 invested to fund five rural and business officers and another £200,000 towards a ‘we don’t buy crime’ scheme with SmartWater spray made available to stores to deter and targer shoplifters.

Dorset

In November PCC David Sidwick provided grants of £5,000 to local business improvement districts to fund efforts to clamp down on retail crime. One district invested in new CCTV while another £5,000 supported a business crime reduction partnership. Operation Shopkeeper, launched the same month, has already identified and prosecuted several ‘prolific’ shoplifters.

Wiltshire

PCC Philip Wilkinson said he ‘challenged’ local police to deliver ‘an increase in arrests and a decrease in shoplifting’ resulting in a ‘more visible presence’ in town centres. Swindon centre also received greater CCTV coverage and street lighting through the nationwisde Safe Streets Funding.

Lancashire

Andrew Snowden highlighted radios given to stores in Hynburn town centre and enhanced licensing schemes in chorley as examples on cracking down on retail crime. The PCC also hired a warden for Lancaster, now on duty seven days per week thanks to cash seized from criminals.

Bedfordshire

Festus Akinbusoye, PCC, is using AI to identify shoplifters from CCTV footage as part of Operation Belleville – which is focused on ‘locking up’ the most prolific shoplifters. The PCC has a 10 strong most-wanted list of shoplifters, and is targeting crime hotspots then using Criminal Behavioural Orders to cut reoffending.

Cheshire

PCC John Dwyer highlighted a new system of collating evidence digitally at a recent retail crime conference attended by retailers. ‘Through better property marking and evidence-gathering technology the police are able to catch the thieves who target local stores’, he said.

North Wales

PCC Andy Dunobobbin hosted a cyber security event in 2023 where the police taught ‘local retail owners how to protect themselves from growing cyber threats.’

ACS response

ACS chief executive James Lowman commented: “We strongly welcome the focus on retail crime in this report, highlighting the work that PCCs are doing across England and Wales to make a difference on retail crime. We’ve been pushing for action to support retailers in reporting and tackling crime for several years, so it is encouraging to see progress being made in this area.

“Implementing the Retail Crime Action Plan is a strong start, but we need to ensure that barriers to reporting are removed and prolific offenders are identified quickly so they can be apprehended by the police and the full extent of their crimes accounted for.”

The ACS has launched its Stop Shop Theft campaign to call on all PCCs to provide essential information about what they are doing to reduce retail crime in their area in the lead up to the PCC elections in May 2024.

Read more retail crime news