Following our meeting at the end of last year with our local MP, Claire Coutinho, Tandridge Borough Commander, Lyndsey Whatley and the Police and Crime Commissioner, Lisa Townsend, we have made some progress in tackling shop crime and Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) in Oxted, but there is still a long way to go.
- CCTV is already in place in most major shops and at Oxted Station
- CCTV has now been installed in Station Road West and at Master Park and will be installed in Station Road East shortly. This will cover all areas of the two high streets and will be monitored by Surrey Police.
- The DISC crime reporting system is now in place and will be feeding back to Surrey Police. This holds infomation on shop crime in Oxted and has a “rogues gallery” from CCTV of all the perpetrators, so we can assist the police in building prosecutable cases against them.
- WhatsApp Shop Alert Group – warning system by way of sharing info and descrptions of shoplifters and incidents happening right now
- Shoplifter Alert whistles to warn other shops and attract attention
- Reporting of all crimes to the police with CCTV images of shoplifters
- Working wth local organisations and schools to identify thieves
Following is the response from the Police & Crime Commissioner on what Surrey Police are doing to help…
Subject: Surrey Police Response to Retail Crime
Date: 18 December 2023 at 11:44:30 GMT
Thanks again for the extremely useful meeting with local retailers in Oxted that I attended last month.
I wanted to ensure that you were provided with details on how Surrey Police propose to tackle retail crime including how incidents will be graded and the type of police response to expect. To that aim, please see the below from T/ACC Clive Davies (in blue) who is leading on the subject.
A national retail crime action plan has been set out, led by C/Supt Goss, from North Wales Police, and is being embedded into our response to retail theft, to ensure a consistent response and provide reassurance to the industry. Within the action plan is guidance on police attendance at the scene, and it will be prioritised in the following circumstances:
1) Where violence has been used.
2) Where an offender has been detained (for example, by store security) police will attend the scene with urgency and repeat / prolific or juvenile offenders will be treated with elevated priority. All police attendance will be subject to a THRIVE risk assessment (Threat, Harm, Risk, Investigation, Vulnerability, Engagement)
3) Where evidence needs to be promptly secured which can only be done in person by police personnel e.g., securing forensic evidence.
Surrey Police has a gradings policy where we aim to respond to an emergency call within 15 minutes.
Another part of the action plan is in relation to following reasonable lines of enquiry, whether officers attend at the scene or initiate a subsequent investigation, including obtaining CCTV, checking images against the Police National Database and securing witness evidence. Following a closer review of CCTV requests to retailers it is clear that uploading CCTV directly to NICE is not straightforward for some retailers, therefore Safer Neighbourhood Teams are following up, where needed, to ensure CCTV is obtained. Some of these issues include internal company policies requiring management, or a ‘central office’, to upload the footage, CCTV computers that aren’t connected to the internet, and concerns about GDPR compliance. These are being collated and will be raised nationally as they often relate to large retailers.
Following reasonable lines of enquiry and increasing our charge rate, has been the direction from CC De Meyer for sometime, and this, and the specific focus on improving our response to retail theft, is showing positive progress in the weeks ending 22nd and 29th November, with both reporting charge/summons rates for shoplifting above the 20% target (28.9% and 24.7% respectively).
Taking a problem solving approach to repeat offenders and locations, using ancillary orders, and developing intelligence around organised crime groups also forms part of the plan.
In addition to the above a force wide day of action to target repeat offenders and deal with outstanding offences took place on the 12th December across Surrey. Operational activities included:
- Mobilising 109 colleagues across multiple departments, specifically for the prevention and deterrence of shoplifting
- Visiting the most prominent shoplifting nominals for each borough and making sure all the correct referrals are in place to support them staying out of criminality
- Visiting the top 10 shoplifting hotspots across the county, speaking to shop owners and workers about their concerns and providing crime prevention and specialist security advice
- Increased uniformed patrols in hotspots
- Increased plain clothes presence in hotspots to gather intelligence and deal with any crimes in action
- The review of all new and recent shoplifting investigations with the emphasis on identifying any links between incidents
- Focusing our intelligence activity on prolific offenders and emerging trends
This day resulted in 20 arrests, 8 charges for 23 different offences, 135 engagement visits to commercial premises and 12 prevention visits to known nominals.
I hope that this will reassure you that the force are taking the matter seriously but please contact my office at any time should you require any further assistance.
Best wishes
Lisa Townsend
Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey
Tel: 01483 630200
Email: surreypcc@surrey.police.uk | Website: surrey-pcc.gov.uk
Social Media: @surreypcc
The Office for the Police & Crime Commissioner for Surrey believes that residents should have easy access to key data concerning both itself and Surrey Police. We have therefore developed a Data Hub on our website to provide the public with convenient access to real time crime and performance data. Please click here to take a look https://data.surrey-pcc.gov.uk
