Force's focus on repeat shoplifters behind success
Cleveland PoliceA police force with a top record for tackling shoplifting said its success was down to focusing on prolific offenders and shops with a high number of thefts.
Cleveland Police said it solved 33% of reported shoplifting offences in the last year, above the national rate of 23%, which made it "top of the country".
Supt Alan O'Donoghue said a "significant proportion" of offences happened in a "small number of repeat locations", with about 40 offenders found responsible for about a sixth of all crimes.
The force said it received 8,876 reports of retail crime offences in the last year. Over two days in December, officers charged two people with 53 shoplifting offences.
O'Donoghue, the force's strategic lead for retail crime, said: "We'll continue to prioritise the identification, arrest and prosecution of prolific, abusive and violent retail offenders."
The force said it was working to identify root causes of shop thefts, as well as helping with staff training and supporting witnesses and victims.
Shops urged to report
Shop workers often suffered the impacts of the crime, including verbal and physical abuse, O'Donoghue said.
"They have to come into work worrying when the next offence will occur, we absolutely take this seriously and understand the impact this has on employees," he said.
He added some shops were not reporting crimes because they felt police would not take the matter seriously.
"That's absolutely not the case, we need retailers to report crime that's occurring within their stores because then we can deploy to the right areas."
Ch Insp Jamie Bell said intelligence about repeat and cross-border offenders was shared to help investigations, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
"I've instigated weekly meetings where we've discussed the top five shoplifters in the district, the top five stores that are getting hit the most," he said.
"We'll specifically target those stores and offenders.
"Cleveland Police currently have got a solve rate of 33%. 23% is the national average, we're actually top of the country for solving shop theft.
"I'm getting other forces coming to me saying, 'what are you doing?' So we're moving in the right place."
