‘It's not acceptable’: Minister vows more police on the streets to tackle retail crime during Northampton town centre visit

Joined by Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone and local officers, Johnson toured the town centre, stopping in stores including Primark and Vintage Guru to hear directly from retailers about the impact of shoplifting and abuse against staff.

Speaking to Chronicle and Echo, she said: “Retail crime is something that I know is of great concern to retailers, particularly in high streets and town centres like Northampton.

“I'm really pleased to be here… talking to local retailers about what's actually happening and how they're affected by retail crime.”

The minister said a new Retail Crime Action Plan has been introduced to improve how forces across England and Wales respond to incidents.

She said: “We’ve set out clear expectations that every time a shop reports a crime, that should be investigated and the shop should get feedback on what’s happened.

“We’ve also said that where there’s CCTV footage available or where there’s a repeat offender or violence has been used, that the police should follow up on those crimes.”

The minister said retail crime comes in many forms, from opportunistic thefts to large-scale organised activity.

She said: “Well, I think it's a mixture of things, and one of them, of course, is that there's serious organised criminal gangs who are involved, and there's that organisation going into retail crime.

“Then there's individuals who have got issues around drugs or alcohol or other issues – homelessness, mental health issues – and they are certainly part of retail crime as well.

“And then there's opportunistic retail crime, people who just see an opportunity to steal.

“It's a mixture. I'm not saying it's predominantly one or the other in Northampton, but what I am seeing is some really good work with retailers to help them put measures in place to tackle retail crime and to work in a constructive way.”

She says the government has pledged £7 million over the next three years to build a national intelligence picture around organised retail crime.

“The government has committed £7 million over the next three years to bring together all the intelligence on that, so we can work with retailers and start to tackle some of those organised gangs.”

Dame Diana also highlighted the wider scale of the issue, pointing to a sharp rise in violence and abuse toward shop staff.

The MP said: “There were 1,500 assaults and violent incidents against shop workers every single day last year. That’s a 50 percent increase compared to the year before.

“That’s not acceptable. And I think the public feel that as well. They don't want to see shop workers being assaulted and abused when they go to work.”

She added that a new offence has been introduced to ensure perpetrators face tougher consequences.

She said: “The government has also made sure there is a new standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker. That came into law recently, and that is to show how serious we are about dealing with retail crime.

“It’s about how we make sure that every community feels safe, that high streets feel safe and that retail is a vibrant and thriving sector in our economy.”

St Giles Street shop owner Julie Teckman, of Vintage Guru, said theft remains a challenge, especially during busy seasons.

Speaking to the Chronicle and Echo, Julie said: “The MP asked how we were impacted by retail crime and whether we had a lot of theft in here… I don't think we have a lot compared to some places, but obviously we do get theft.”

Julie says she trialled a new surveillance system with camera pods linked to a live monitoring centre manned by by DeterTech’s (who make the cameras) central monitoring team.

She said: “We had two big pods over Christmas. They had cameras on all sides and they could be watching all the time.

“I felt they actually did deter kind of opportunist thieves who think they can steal because they think they're not being watched.

“Now we’ve got this slimmer one here… if there is a problem, it can be reported straight to the police and they’ll get onto it straight away.”

Julie added that more police presence has helped deter theft and improve staff confidence.

She said: “The relationship we’re developing with the police is a strong one. Now we report every bit of crime and they will follow it up.

“There are more police on the streets – seen lots just today. I’m hoping that’s going to continue.

“If it’s known that there are police officers on the street, some of the criminal gangs will possibly choose to stay away.”

Dame Diana confirmed this visible policing is part of a national plan.

The MP said: “It's part of our summer blitz getting police into our communities, and this government has committed to 13,000 additional police officers and PCSOs over the course of this parliament.

“The first tranche of that, 3,000, during this year before the end of next March, and we've given police £200 million to kick-start that.

“I'm really pleased to hear that you've seen more police around, because that's exactly what we want to have.”

Julie also praised the town’s new Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for being engaged with the community.

She added: “I personally think that Danielle’s doing a good job. She’s got her ear to the ground and she wants to do the right thing for people in the town centre.

“You do feel now you're getting that response, which you didn’t used to get.”