Government launches all-new Retail Crime Action Plan

Commissioned by the Government, the all-new Retail Crime Action Plan includes a police commitment to prioritise urgently attending the scene of shop theft instances involving violence against a shop worker, where security officers have detained an offender or where attendance is needed to secure evidence. Police attendance will be assessed based on risk, while prolific or juvenile offenders will be treated with an elevated priority.

The police service has also reaffirmed its pledge to follow up on any evidence that could reasonably lead to catching a perpetrator. Forces will now step up targeted ‘hot spot’ patrols in badly affected areas.

The Retail Crime Action Plan sets out advice for retailers on how to provide the best possible evidence for police to pursue in any case. They are advised to send CCTV footage of the whole incident – and an image of the suspected criminal(s) from the digital evidence management system – as quickly as possible after an offence has been committed.

Where CCTV or other digital images are secured, the police will run this detail through the Police National Database using facial recognition technology to further aid efforts to identify and prosecute offenders (and particularly prolific or potentially dangerous individuals).

A specialist new police team is also being created to build a comprehensive intelligence picture of the organised crime gangs that fuel many shop theft incidents across the country. This will help to dismantle them.

Business and policing partnership

Entitled ‘Project Pegasus’, the initiative is a business and policing partnership that will “radically improve” the way in which retailers are able to share intelligence with policing, better understand the tactics used by organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders. This will include the development of a new information sharing platform and bespoke training for retailers.

Spearheaded by Katy Bourne, business crime lead for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, ‘Project Pegasus’ is the first national partnership of its kind. It’s backed by the Home Office, the John Lewis Partnership, the Co-op, M&S, Boots, Primark and several more High Street retailers who, on a collective basis, have pledged to provide over £840,000 to kick-start the initiative.

Chris Philp said: “I want a new ‘zero tolerance’ approach to tackling shop theft. It’s a blight on our High Streets and communities and puts the livelihoods of traders at risk. I’m determined to drive forward change.”

He continued: “While it’s encouraging to see a 29% increase in charges for shop theft episodes in the past year, the rise in offending is unacceptable. There’s much more work to be done to stop it from happening in the first place. That’s why we’re taking action and bringing together Government, policing and business to commit to smarter and 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.”

Specialist analysts

The majority of funding for ‘Project 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.

OPAL is run by Detective Chief Superintendent Jim Taylor and overseen by North Wales Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman. Recruitment has already started. The team will be operational later on this month, in turn delivering outcomes across the country by the New Year.

‘Pegasus’ will deliver a new digital interface to streamline information sharing between retailers and the police and also provide training for retailers on appropriate information and intelligence to share with policing.

Amanda Blakeman noted: “Dealing with retail crime requires a multi-faceted approach and, through the launch of ‘Project Pegasus’, plus the Retail Crime Action Plan, we’ve bolstered the policing response to tackling offenders and supporting retailers in reducing shop theft and attacks on retail staff.”

Blakeman added: “We welcome the collaboration between retailers, Police and Crime Commissioners and policing in general through ‘Project Pegasus’, which centralises intelligence and enhances our ability to identify and tackle the groups involved.”

Further, Blakeman observed: “We continue to target those prolific and habitual offenders whose behaviour causes misery and takes profit away from our communities and retailers. Local police forces assess each report through a threat, harm and risk-based model in order to determine their policing response and will deploy resources where they can be most effective in terms of catching offenders and keeping people safe.”

Enhanced prioritisation

Paul Gerrard, campaigns, public affairs and Board secretariat director at the Co-op, explained: “The Co-op has long called for greater police prioritisation such that they better tackle the rampant rise in retail crime, and in particular those episodes involving violence or prolific offenders. On that basis, we welcome the commitments outlined in the Retail Crime Action Plan to attend incidents of violence and where offenders have been detained and ensure that all evidence is collected so every reasonable line of investigation can be followed.”

Gerrard went on to state: “Alongside ‘Project 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 shop workers such that they can help the communities they serve to thrive going forward.”

As an organisation, the Co-op stands ready to work with every police force to ensure that its colleagues, and the retail outlets in which they work, can continue to serve their communities.

Katy Bourne informed Security Matters: “It’s fair to say that ‘Project Pegasus’ will be a game-changer in the fight against retail crime, providing for the first time an accurate national picture of the organised groups, from local families to cross-border criminals, who are driving organised shop theft.”

Bourne explained: “Retailers will agree ways in which to capture information such that it can be shared and analysed to create intelligence packages for police forces to target and track perpetrators. I’m very grateful to all of those who are contributing towards ‘Project Pegasus’ and in particular to Mitie.”

Jason Towse, managing director of the Business Services division at Mitie, informed Security Matters: “This collaboration is a game-changer in terms of combating rising retail crime. By working in partnership and combining industry knowledge with policing powers, the public and private sectors can tackle retail crime at its source, in turn creating safer communities for us all in which to live, shop and work. We’re proud to be supporting the creation of this innovative new project, which brings together retailers, the police service and the Government to achieve a hugely important common goal.”

Nicki Juniper, head of security for the John Lewis Partnership, said: “While there’s no silver bullet for tackling retail crime, we welcome this significant step forward. Retail crime is not victimless. It exerts an impact on partners, on customers and on prices. We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the police and others in the sector to keep our partners and customers safe.”

*Download the Retail Crime Action Plan and the template statements which retailers can use when reporting crimes to the police service

Retail Crime Action Plan

Template Retail Statements