Police chief tells Dacorum retailers they must do their bit with new CCTV tech to crack down on crime

Across Hertfordshire there are 28 cases of shop theft or robbery recorded every day, accounting for around one in every 10 crimes recorded annually.

And on Tuesday (July 8), it was one of the topics under the spotlight at the police and crime commissioner’s ‘accountability and performance meeting’.

During the exchange, Chief Constable Andy Prophet highlighted the constabulary’s “significant” success in solving more retail crimes.

He said police officers needed to be using their powers of arrest, or other forms of intervention, to deal with shoplifters and violent individuals, of which he said there was “too much” in Hertfordshire.

He also highlighted the importance of retailers sharing their CCTV footage with police.

He suggested that action may also be taken against those retailers that do not act responsibly on the high street.

Addressing Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathan Ash-Edwards, the chief constable said: “One of the things I have been saying with you to the retailers is ‘how do we crack this together?’

“So things like responsible use of CCTV from retailers, good training for store staff, really good exchange of information with the local policing teams – so we can crack down on the key individuals where we need to – is really, really important.

“We have been talking about the digital way now that we have got for shops to be able to send us evidence.

“CCTV footage is the best evidence they can often provide us. And that can come in through a digital link straight into the constabulary.

“We can search it against police systems almost instantaneously. And on 30% of the time, it chucks a name straight out.

“So we’re working with retailers to say, ‘give us your digital evidence through that link’ – and actually saying there is a moral responsibility for retailers to do this.

“And if they don’t, of course, we can think about other partnership solutions to encourage them to do so.

“For example, if you have a retailer in a town who isn’t taking their responsibilities to make sure their shop is a safe place to be – and they are drawing in crime to the area – then I may well work with the local authority to say, ‘should we allow this premises to sell alcohol’, for example. Because they need to be licensed to do so.

“So, there’s a really tough, professional, respectful conversation we need to have to drive down shop theft and crack down on those individuals who are taking advantage of holes in the system.”

In response, Mr Ash-Edwards said that the partnership approach was important.

“I think that partnership approach – and recognising the importance of retailers playing their part as well as policing – is really important,” he said.

“And there are some really good examples in Hertfordshire of that happening, and other areas where we need more progress to be made. And we’ll work on that.”

The remarks made by the chief constable and the police and crime commissioner were made at the commissioner’s latest accountability and performance meeting.

These meetings, which are recorded and webcast, have been running since last year.

The latest comes just weeks after the commissioner hosted the first meeting of the Herts Retail Crime Forum, which brought together more than 100 representatives from retailers and partner organisations.

The forum aims to bring together national and independent retailers, business groups, the police and other key partners to address retail crime and improve crime prevention and business confidence in the county.

As well as safer town centres, the latest accountability and performance meeting also looked at items related to neighbourhood policing, crime outcomes and firearms licensing.

Past recordings of these meetings can be found on the Herts PCC website.