A new Retail Crime Action Plan, which sets out the way that police should respond to and investigate thefts against convenience stores and other retail businesses, has been published.
The Retail Crime Action Plan, published by the National Police Chiefs Council, sets out a series of guidelines for the police on the following areas:
- Prioritising attendance at the scene of crimes where violence has been used.
- The use of facial recognition technology to check CCTV evidence against the Police National Database.
- Identifying ‘hot spot’ locations where additional patrols would be beneficial.
- Dealing with organised crime through the creation of a new dedicated intelligence team.
- How retailers should report crimes when they occur.
The publication of the plan follows a meeting between the Policing Minister Chris Philp MP and retail business leaders, where further details have been outlined about the next steps for business and policing partnership Operation Pegasus, including a new information sharing platform for retailers and police forces.
Crime and Policing Minister, Chris Philp, said: “I want a new zero-tolerance approach to tackling shoplifting. It is a blight on our highstreets and communities and puts the livelihoods of traders at risk. I am determined to drive forward change. While it is encouraging to see a 29% increase in charges for shoplifting in the past year, the rise in offending is unacceptable and there is much more to do to stop it happening in the first place. That’s why we’re taking action and bringing together government, policing and business to commit to smarter, more joined up working when it comes to retail crime, which will help to drive down criminal behaviour and rebuild public confidence in the police response when it does occur.”
In response, ACS Chief Executive James Lowman, said: “The publication of the Retail Crime Action Plan sets a clear marker that the torrent of thefts and other offences committed against businesses will be taken seriously by police forces and the government and will be strongly welcomed by both large and small retailers. Convenience retailers are facing unprecedented levels of theft against their businesses at the hands of prolific offenders who are targeting stores repeatedly without fear of reproach. These incidents take a huge toll on retailers and their colleagues, so it’s crucial that every incident reported to the police gets investigated and is something that we have been calling for in conversations with ministers and police representatives.
“Using artificial intelligence to identify prolific offenders can be an effective way of drastically reducing the amount of police time it takes to make links between crimes committed against different businesses locally, and we hope that this will encourage more retailers to submit CCTV evidence of theft when it occurs to help make the link between crimes that have previously been seen as separate offences. Whether its artificial intelligence or local intelligence that leads to criminals being identified, the real challenge still remains apprehending these people and putting in place effective interventions to break the cycle of reoffending.”
National President of the NFRN, Muntazir Dipoti, added: “The Retail Crime Action Plan sets a clear precedent that the police are going to take any criminal action against businesses more seriously. Small businesses have a lot to look forward to with this announcement.
“Retail crime is not a victimless crime, and we have campaigned for years for the police to take tougher action. We are pleased to hear that this is now going to happen.”
