THE POLICE and Crime Commissioner has welcomed new statistics which show that shoplifting charges by Thames Valley Police have nearly doubled.
It comes as figures released during Safer Business Action Week has seen figures released showing shoplifting charges have increased by 98%.
Statistics from Thames Valley Police show that charges for shoplifting offences have increased 98% from April-September when compared with the same period last year.
Safer Business Action Week brings together retailers, business groups like Business Reduction Partnerships (BCRPs) and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), and the police to deliver targeted intervention in retail spaces as well as a range of crime prevention activity.
Mr Barber said: “I’m pleased to see real progress in tackling shoplifting with an increase of over 90% in charges for shoplifting offences across the Thames Valley.
“At the start of the year, I pledged to turn the tide on retail crime in the Thames Valley with the publication of my Retail Crime Strategy.”
He explained “The Strategy set out a series of actions to tackle shoplifting, retail crime and violence towards shop workers, including bolstering Thames Valley Police’s operational capacity with the creation of a Business Crime Team within the Force to identify prolific offenders and improve investigations.
“Combined with an increase in the visible presence of police officers and PCSOs in retail spaces through Operation Purchase, this operational focus on retail crime is clearly paying dividends.”
However, he added that: “as with all crime, enforcement forms only one part of the response. A core part of my Retail Crime Strategy was to make reporting shoplifting offences easier and more efficient for retailers.
“To facilitate this, I funded the rollout of Disc, an information-sharing and reporting platform which allows retailers to report and access information about crime such as shoplifting and anti-social behaviour (ASB).
“The app is now available, free of charge, to businesses in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes–over 500 premises across the Thames Valley have already signed up.”
He said that while this was an “excellent start, the more retailers that use the platform and feed in vital intelligence, the better the policing response will be.
“I know the sector has historically had a lack of confidence in the police response to retail crime but I hope these latest figures demonstrate that, in the Thames Valley at least, we are working hard to improve the police response to these offences.”
