Retail crime strategy launched as Force marks Safer Business Action Week

A new strategy detailing Northamptonshire Police’s commitment to tackling retail crime has been launched as the Force joins the national Safer Business Action (SaBA) week.

The three-year strategy lays out the Force’s approach to tackling shoplifting and other retail crimes, including the innovative work of the Retail Crime Team which targets prolific offenders and offers tailored support to businesses and their staff.

Chief Inspector James Willis, who leads on retail crime for the Force, said: “Our Retail Crime Strategy has been developed with Northamptonshire Business Crime Partnership (NBCP) and partners within the retail and commercial sector, and it sets out what the industry and the public can expect from us in terms of our commitment to investigate and reduce retail crime and bring offenders to justice.

“We’re dedicated to supporting our retail communities and I really want to dispel the myth that there’s some kind of minimum value threshold for investigating shoplifting – we will investigate all shoplifting offences and explore all reasonable and proportionate lines of enquiry to secure arrests and charges.

“Our message to business owners and retailers is to engage with the NBCP, engage with the police, and continue to report offences to us. We are committed to working with you to achieve the best evidence possible so we can bring people to justice.”

The NBCP acts as a link between individual retailers and the police, offering members of its Retail Crime Initiative schemes a quick and easy app-based system for reporting crime, as well as sharing images of known offenders to help businesses guard against shoplifting.

Thanks to funding from the Office for the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, the NBCP also employs the Retail Crime Team’s evidence gatherers, who work with retailers to streamline the process of submitting statements, CCTV and other evidence, saving them valuable time while also boosting the chances of a conviction.

Ch Insp Willis said: “Since the start of the pilot scheme, we’ve seen our justice outcome rate steadily increase from just under 20 per cent to up to 43 per cent, and we are now getting some really good prison sentences and criminal behaviour orders on some of our most prolific offenders.”

Neil Cowley, retail crime officer for the Northamptonshire Business Crime Partnership (NBCP), said: “Shoplifting isn’t a victimless crime – we are all victims because of the effect it has in terms of price increases, but it especially affects retail workers not only physically in terms of threats of violence and actual attacks, but also mentally as well.

“We’re lucky in Northamptonshire to have such a great relationship with the police and we are seeing positive results from our close collaboration.”

As part of SaBA week, an annual initiative coordinated by the National Business Crime Centre, the Force will be carrying out a range of operational and engagement work around retail crime.

Ch Insp Willis said: “Throughout the week we are working with retailers and partners to deter and disrupt retail crime theft, to target persistent offenders. We are going to be arresting a lot of outstanding suspects, including bringing people in who are wanted on failure to appear warrants.

“Neighbourhood Policing Teams are providing hi-vis patrolling in some of our key retail locations, we will have the Beat Bus out, and we are also doing some targeted intervention work.

“Our work goes on all year round, and SaBA week gives us a great opportunity to showcase all the effort we’re putting into making Northamptonshire a hostile place for retail offenders.”

Read the Retail Crime Strategy here.

Find out more about the Northamptonshire Business Crime Partnership here.

Report non-emergency crime and information by calling 101 or online at www.northants.police.uk/RO.

In an emergency, always call 999.

Retailer case study: John White, store manager

“There’s always been theft in retail but when I first was at work in the 1980s it was here and there, bits and pieces, and people would try to conceal what they were doing. It has evolved into almost a business now, where it’s become highly organised, lots of people, higher crime rates. The biggest change is that people are more daring and more brash, they just don’t seem to be concerned with consequences or people seeing what they are doing.

“This does create an element of risk for staff, who get frustrated that people are stealing their livelihood, but also must take steps to look after their safety. Above all, employers have to look after their staff – stock is important, but staff come first and always have done.

“We’ve been part of the Corby Retail Crime Initiative through the Northamptonshire Business Crime Partnership (NBCP) for a while and have had a lot of support over the last three or four years, people coming to the store from the police and the NBCP, taking statements and supporting us in tackling the prolific offenders and getting them put away.

“We’re very grateful because it’s almost a fast-track to getting crimes dealt with – there’s less bureaucracy and a more direct approach and that’s been very helpful. Having people you can meet and have a coffee with is great, it’s good to not be just dealing with people on the phone or online. There are some great processes involved, like the reporting tool DISC which helps us easily feed lots of information into the police so they can get crimes dealt with.

“In my experience we have a great relationship with Northamptonshire Police. We find if we work with them, they work well with us – there’s always more that could be done but we appreciate resources are limited.”

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