Last night at Wokingham Borough Council I raised concerns that I have heard when talking to Woodley shopkeepers, regarding their losses to shoplifters. The Police and crime commissioner Matthew Barber and the Chief Constable gave me a long and encouraging response. They recognise that shoplifting is a serious issue for local businesses and are focussing on improving their performance in this area, they also suggested some useful actions we can take to help.
In summary:
- They have a new response to shoplifting in our area as they think it's important to nip crime in the bud.
- Matthew wants to make Thames Valley the best force in the country for dealing with retail crime
- The police are hoping to be able to make DISC the crime reporting system for shops free for retailers
- They have amended the shoplifting pack to make reporting easier for retailers and build a partnership
- They have created a dedicated business response team to deal with prolific offenders as 65% of shoplifting is down to known individuals.
- They will use facial recognition software to review historical CCTV and match to known offenders.
What the police need from us is to report crime and provide CCTV to help them identify the culprits.
This is a change of emphasis and they need us to help.
The full video is attached.