‘Zero-tolerance’ action plan unveiled as big retailers pledge £600k for intelligence unit
In welcome news for greetings and gift retailers suffering from a surge in pilfering, police promises to attend shoplifting incidents are part of a new government-backed “zero-tolerance” plan unveiled on Monday, 23 October, to tackle the alarming rise in the retail crime.
The measures to catch prolific offenders and keep shop workers safe are part of the Retail Crime Action Plan and there’s also the Pegasus initiative backed by £600,000 from big retailers that includes a new information-sharing platform and training for shopkeepers.
Within the plan, the police committed to prioritising urgently attending the scene of shoplifting instances involving violence against a shop worker, where security guards have detained an offender, or where attendance is needed to secure evidence.
With the number of shoplifting incidents topping 1,000 a day, the plan was launched at a meeting at 10 Downing Street on Monday chaired by policing minister Chris Philp, comprising senior police leaders and 13 of the UK’s biggest retailers.
The minister said: “I want a new zero-tolerance approach to tackling shoplifting. It is a blight on our High Streets 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.”
Police have also reaffirmed their pledge to follow up on any evidence that could reasonably lead to catching a perpetrator, and the guidelines include officers prioritising attendance at the scene of violent crimes, how retailers should report crimes, identifying hot spot locations where additional patrols would be beneficial. Police attendance will be assessed based on risk, and prolific or juvenile offenders will be treated with elevated priority.
A specialist new police team, dubbed Pegasus, is also being created to build a comprehensive intelligence picture of the organised crime gangs that fuel many shoplifting incidents across the country, to help target and dismantle them, and includes development of a new information-sharing platform and training for retailers.
Spearheaded by Katy Bourne, the business crime lead for the Association of Police & Crime Commissioners, Pegasus is the first national partnership of its kind and is backed by the Home Office, John Lewis, Co-Op, M&S, Boots, Primark, Next, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and several more big retailers who have collectively pledged to provide over £600,000 to get the initiative off the ground.
The majority of funding for Pegasus will go towards the creation of a dedicated team of specialist analysts and intelligence officers to work within OPAL, the national policing team that oversees intelligence on serious organised acquisitive crime, and the team will be operational later this month, delivering outcomes across the country by the new year.
Operation Opal staff will analyse footage from cctv, dashcams, automatic number plate recognition cameras and information collected from crime reports to identify organised crime groups that are behind the mass shoplifting of goods. They will also run each cctv image of shoplifting offences provided by retailers through the police national database, which includes facial recognition technology.
“While there’s no silver bullet for tackling retail crime,” John Lewis Partnership head of security Nicki Juniper said, “we welcome this significant step forward. Retail crime is not victimless, it has an impact on partners, customers and on prices. We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with police and others in the sector to keep our partners and customers safe.”
And Paul Gerrard, Co-Op’s campaigns, public affairs and board secretariat director, added: “Alongside Operation Pegasus, which the Co-Op is helping to fund, we are hopeful that this will mark the point at which the police will provide the support to protect shopworkers and shops so they can help the communities they serve thrive.”
