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Hello
The British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual crime report has been published this week. The findings are encouraging and show that collective efforts to tackle retail crime are starting to deliver real results.
Incidents of violence and abuse against shopworkers have fallen from 2,000 a day to around 1,600. While this number remains far too high, a 20% drop in a year is significant and shows what can be achieved when an issue is tackled seriously.
The BRC’s research cites the increasing role that organised crime plays in shop theft. Improved police responses, stronger collaboration and nearly £5.5 billion of sustained investment from retailers over the past five years are all beginning to make a tangible difference in addressing this.
PCCs have been central in bringing together major retailers and the police under the Pegasus Partnership, helping to build an intelligence picture of those behind the shoplifting epidemic who operate way beyond police force boundaries.
From April, the success of the Pegasus Partnership will be taken forward by Opal - operational policing’s national intelligence unit - which targets serious organised acquisitive crime.
You can read more about the innovative approach we are taking in Sussex to tackle prolific shoplifting, in my Friday Force Focus below.
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