Retailers are banding together to upload photos of serial shoplifters to a database they will share with the police, as the sector comes together to fight rising retail crime.
Household brands such as Morrisons, M&S, Tesco, Boots, Primark and Greggs are all reportedly sharing photos, CCTV footage and personal data with police as part of plans to draw up the first ever national database of repeat shoplifting offenders.
Retailers are acting after home secretary Yvette Cooper announced that additional officer are set to hit the streets of 500 towns across the country, as part of a summer blitz clamping down on anti-social behaviour and shoplifting, according to The Telegraph.
Sharing data between will allow police to “join the dots” between stores and help find serial offenders. It’s hoped the database will also help collect evidence for prosecutions and give security workers on retail doors photo watchlists to stop entry.
It is based on a similar system developed in New Zealand under former prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
Over 500 locations across England and Wales have signed up to the home Office’s Safer Streets summer scheme which is designed to strengthen police enforcement and “restore confidence in policing”.
Home secretary Cooper said: “We want more retailers, more organisations, working together on schemes like this so that we can have that partnership, so that you’re tackling the crime but also getting the neighbourhood police and the reassurance in local communities.
“This hasn’t happened for too long, too often. People have just been working separately, in silos, and also this sort of crime has been treated as low-level. It’s not. It has a huge impact on local economies and on that sense of safety at the heart of communities.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has also announced a £2bn boost to police funding.
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