Shopwatch partners in action

NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE

Whilst Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Kevin Barley and Neighbourhood Beat Officer Jamie Gilliatt were out on patrol in Scunthorpe town centre, they were made aware via the Shopwatch radio network that one of the retail partners had stopped a woman believed to have been shoplifting.

Together they swiftly made it to the location and discovered that the woman had allegedly attempted to leave the store with around £430 worth of suspected stolen items.

Through initiatives like Shopwatch and installing additional CCTV in the area, we work alongside partner agencies to improve communications across retail premises and continue to collaborate to tackle and reduce retail crime and target those responsible.

Our priority is to support local businesses and prevent repeat offending, and whilst an arrest isn’t always the immediate outcome, we work together to take meaningful action.

This may instead lead to the pursuit of Criminal Behaviour Orders through the courts, seeking restorative justice, or deciding on community resolutions with the business owners. This means we can look at the bigger picture, tackle the root cause of the offending, and ultimately put the PCSOs problem-solving plans into action to prevent further crimes.  

We take all reports of shop theft seriously and continue to work with communities, shops, and businesses to provide specialist crime prevention advice to repeatedly targeted retail premises, and our neighbourhood policing teams are committed to building those relationships not only within North Lincolnshire, but across our force area.

If you have information or concerns about shop theft in your area, please speak to our local officers when you see them out and about or report via our non-emergency number 101.

Always call 999 in an emergency or if a crime is ongoing.

Alternatively, if you wish to report anonymously you can do so via the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.