Operation Reclaim: Positive progress in fight against retail crime in Nottingham city centre

A major crackdown on retail crime in Nottingham is set to continue as part of a collaborative project to solve the biggest problems affecting the city.

Hundreds of hours of officer time have been saved since Operation Retail went live in the city centre towards the end of last year.

The introduction of this process has reduced officer time spent dealing with suspects for shop theft offences by removing the necessity to interview in cases where there is clear and overwhelming evidence. 

Following the launch of Operation Retail, city centre officers detained 251 suspected shoplifters between 1 January and 17 April, with almost £30,000 worth of stolen goods returned to businesses.

The crackdown resulted in a 6% increase in positive outcomes – such as charges, cautions, and community resolutions.

Due to this success, the direct charging scheme will continue under Nottinghamshire Police’s newly-launched Operation Reclaim, which is bringing together key partners to ensure that the city becomes as hostile as possible for criminals to operate.

Partners include Nottingham City Council, the Violence Reduction Partnership, Nottinghamshire’s Office of the Police and Commissioner and It’s in Nottingham, which represents city centre businesses.

We will use the Home Office tactic called Clear, Hold, Build, which is a three-phrase approach to make the city safer, restore trust and confidence, and tackle issues including youth ASB, drug dealing, weapon-carrying, illegal e-bikes and retail crime.

The decision to integrate the direct charging scheme into Operation Reclaim was announced at a retail crime and safety workshop last week, hosted by Nottinghamshire Police’s city centre neighbourhood team.

Officers and business leaders at the Let's Talk event

The Let’s Talk event, held at Waterstones in Bridlesmith Gate, provided a networking opportunity for retailers, who could engage directly with local neighbourhood officers to improve partnership working, to help reduce and deter retail crime, and raise any concerns.

During the session, business representatives heard the city centre recorded a 37.77% positive outcome rate for the period covering January to March this year, up from 31.42% for the same period last year.

Representatives such as Primark, M&S, Superdrug, Tesco, Fopp, Boots, Zara, Barclays and One Beyond were all in attendance at the Let’s Talk event.

Nottingham’s business improvement district - It’s in Nottingham - and security officers from its My Local Bobby scheme also supported the two-hour session.

Six discussion tables were staged, allowing attendees to rotate, ask questions and engage directly with partners on specific topics relating to retail crime.

Sergeant Dan Butler said the strong collaboration and partnership work with retailers and businesses was helping to tackle shoplifting in Nottingham city centre. He said:

“It's really pleasing to see so many businesses attend this event and for us to be able to share some encouraging updates.

"We ran a smaller event in January and based on the success of that and the positive feedback we received, we’ve decided to hold one of these workshops every quarter in order to bring together the police, retailers and other partners.

“As you can see today, representatives from 45 of our city centre retailers have taken time out of their busy day to come along and discuss some of the common issues they are facing.

“We're doing a lot of work to tackle these issues and that has resulted in some really good outcomes in recent months. 

"That said, we know there is more to do. Tackling retail crime is one of our top priorities in the city centre and we are extremely passionate about making a difference.”

Sergeant Dan Butler

The Let's Talk event saw officers share recent successes, including how criminal behaviour orders (CBOs) are being used to clamp down on prolific offenders causing the most harm to businesses.

These orders are a key tool available to police that can prohibit offenders from visiting certain areas or require them to complete rehabilitation work, and it is a criminal offence if they are breached.

Positive outcomes highlighted at the event included:

• Paul Drummond, age 60, of Aston Lane, Birmingham, arrested and charged for three high value thefts (totalling £2,533.58) as well as possession of a Class B drug. He was remanded by the courts until sentencing.
• Officers have also charged Vicki Cox with five thefts totalling £520.81. The 60-year-old, of Lavender Walk, St Anns, is due to appear in court on 14 May.
• Prolific offender Sean Stredder, 52, of no fixed address, was arrested for theft from EE Victoria Centre. A pair of headphones were stolen, resulting in a four-month prison sentence.
• Katie Allsop, of no fixed address, was arrested for theft from FOPP and found in possession of a Class A drug. The 25-year-old was handed a Community Order and Drug Rehabilitation Requirement.
• Abigail Gregory has been made subject of a Criminal Behaviour Order, having been arrested for theft from Sainsbury’s. The 41-year-old, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty and will be sentenced on 28 May.
• Charlotte Jones was given a Criminal Behaviour Order, banning her from Hotel Chocolat for two years. Since this, she has again been dealt with for four shop thefts, given a four-week prison sentence and had further stores (Waterstones and Bargain Buys) added to her Criminal Behaviour Order as places she is banned from attending.

Chief Inspector Kylie Davies, who oversees neighbourhood policing in the city centre, said:

“Our continued successes in recent months are down to the hard work of neighbourhood officers, including our lead for prolific offenders PC Phil Yates who has been working tirelessly.

“Every day our neighbourhood teams are getting out, making arrests, securing charges, and getting the type of results that people want to see.

“Officers want to work with stores and their workers, so if you are encountering an issue, please do get in touch with us. Our teams will look to assist you wherever possible.”

Any businesses in the centre centre who would like to attend the next Let’s Talk event is asked to email [email protected].