The Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police (TVP) says the force has increased the presence of police officers and PSCOs in high street shops in a bid to tackle rising shoplifting.
Chief constable Jason Hogg has outlined the police’s response to the key issues affecting Maidenhead and surrounding areas, including retail crime.
He also explained the steps that are being taken to improve morale among the region’s officers after a survey by the Police Federation for England and Wales found 20 per cent of the region’s police officers are looking to leave ‘as soon as they can’.
Theft from shops and supermarkets
Over recent years, shoplifting from shops and supermarkets in the area has increased, presenting a problem for both workers and the police.
Recent figures given at Windsor Town Forum in March highlighted that 51 shoplifting incidents had been reported in the town over a three-month period.
Chief constable Hogg said: “I have had a lot of feedback from local shops and retailers about our response to shoplifting and it hasn’t been as good as I would have liked in the past.”
In recent months, the force launched Operation Purchase – an initiative which looks to tackle retail crime, increasing the visibility of police officers and PSCOs in shops and improving officer response to reports of incidents.
The initiative focuses on ‘building trust and confidence of our retail sector’, chief constable Hogg said.
He added that the force has charged an extra 900 shoplifting crimes this year.
TVP is focusing its attention on career criminals and shoplifters, which is an area chief constable Hogg said it can ‘have a real impact’.
“I’ve made it very clear, it is not simply down to the police, we have to do it in partnership.”
The force has an ‘important part to play’ in tackling this crime, he added – particularly where threats of violence have been made against shop workers.
Morale in TVP workforce
Issues surrounding officers’ morale and support in the workplace have been highlighted in recent weeks.
The latest pay and morale survey by the Police Federation of England and Wales highlighted that one fifth of Thames Valley Police officers are looking to leave the force.
The survey found that 20 per cent of respondents were looking to leave ‘as soon as they can’ or within two years over issues with morale, lack of support in the workplace and the pressures of the cost of living.
Chief constable Hogg said: “The frustration they sometimes have is they come on duty, they’re responding to job after job after job [and] they don’t have any time to investigate the crime that they’re responsible for and therefore as a result they feel they’re letting victims down.”
He said the force has more officers on the streets than ever before but work has taken place to reduce the workloads of front-line teams by 25 per cent over the past year.
“By reducing those workloads and making it more manageable, they can be proactive in targeting criminals on the streets.”
Teams can also investigate crimes quickly and provide a ‘better service to victims’, Ch Con Hogg explained.
Online Fraud
Another key issue in the area has been online fraud, targeting residents, businesses and other organisations.
In the last few months, chief constable Hogg said he has formed a dedicated fraud team of 36 officers who are responsible for dealing with fraud offences.
He said: “I think we have to recognise that over 40 per cent of all reported crime is fraud and in the past we haven’t always given the best service to victims.”
Fraud crimes, if they have taken place from a different country can be ‘difficult to solve’, chief constable Hogg said, but the team are focusing on local crimes and prosecutions.
Car theft
While thieves may have used more traditional methods to break into cars, today most modern cars are operated by key fob and often these can be stolen using sophisticated technology.
Chief constable Hogg said the force has seen a reduction in the theft of vehicles over the past year.
He added that residents can buy faraday pouches online to store their keys to prevent thieves from unlocking and stealing their vehicles.