Dame Diana Johnson, Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire, was joined by senior representatives from policing, retail and security at Mitie’s Intelligent Security Operations Centre (ISOC) in Northampton for the industry launch of a new retail crime strategy, ‘Tackling Retail Crime Together’.

The strategy was initially unveiled by Home Secretary as part of the Safer Streets Summer Initiative earlier in the month.

The strategy will be a new blueprint for the delivery of the safe, vibrant, growing retail sector that communities deserve, complementing the Government’s Safer Streets mission and has been developed collaboratively by partners from across the retail sector, security industry, policing, academia and the Home Office.

Alongside the Ministerial address, speakers included Superintendent Lisa Maslen, City of London Police; Ed Woodall, Government Relations Director, Association of Convenience Stores; and Jason Towse, Managing Director, Business Services, Mitie. The Minister called for more retailers to join the collaboration and support the new strategy, which includes:  

• The development of a ‘Fusion Cell’: The building of a model to fuse retailer knowledge with policing powers, to enable effective identification, assessment and management of criminal threats to the safety and security of retailers. A six-monthly assessment will be published outlines, current, emerging and predicted trends and outcomes from previous activities
• A continued clamp down on organised retail crime: The sharing of intelligence relating to organised criminality to policing so they can investigate, arrest and work with the Crown Prosecution Service to achieve criminal justice outcomes
• The identification of high harm places: Assessing harm to places to allow plans to be developed that target the root cause of criminality with the intent of achieving a sustainable reduction in risk to retailers
• Offender management: Interventions that address the different motivations of those with the intent and capability to commit crime

As the strategy is put into practice, new and evidence-based tactics will be put to the test with outputs and outcomes tracked and publicised. Areas of commonality between industry and policing that require a consistent approach to their application will be established and guidance and support will be offered for the implementation of these standards.

The event was hosted at Mitie’s ISOC in Northampton which supports major retailers with 24/7 security operations in dedicated ‘SOCs’ where expert colleagues work around the clock to review footage, identify potential theft, and support in-store colleagues. 

Crime and Policing Minister, Dame Diana Johnson said:

"For too long, retail crime has been dismissed as 'low level' whilst businesses suffer and communities lose confidence in their local high streets.”

“Our Safer Streets Summer Initiative will see increased police patrols and local action in over 500 town centres this summer, and we are bringing in new laws to protect retail workers from assault and put an end to the effective decriminalisation of shop theft under £200.”

“This new retail crime strategy demonstrates what can be achieved when government, police and the retail sector work in partnership and is another vital step in our fight back against this corrosive crime."

Jason Towse, Managing Director of Business Services, Mitie said:

“It was a pleasure to welcome the Minister to our ISOC today and we are proud to use our expertise to support the development of the new Retail Crime strategy and collaborate with a strong set of partners including the Government, academia, retailers and the wider security industry to innovate and drive safer stores and safer communities.”

“The new ‘Fusion Cell’ will enable regular benchmarking of threats, predict trends and identify high harm places so extra support can be deployed. We urge more retailers to join the campaign to enable the sector to take a holistic view of the issues and target the root cause of criminality.”