Solihull BID helps to collar retail criminals
A PARTNERSHIP project between Solihull Business Improvement District (BID) and West Midlands Police is helping to bring down retail crime levels in the town.
In partnership with West Midlands Police the Solihull Retail Crime Initiative (SRCI) was launched in 2011. It gives stores access to photographs of offenders known to be targeting the town centre and a Retail Radio Link (RRL) which acts as a communications channel when known or suspected offenders are in the town.
Solihull BID’s team of town hosts has now added an innovative loss prevention training programme to the SRCI support services for town centre retailers.
It identified the need to support retailers at Christmas, a peak time of year for shoplifting. Former police officer John Timms, who is now in charge of the BID’s five-strong team of town hosts, teamed up with his colleague Malcolm Milner, also a former policeman, to create the training which is designed to provide support specifically to shop floor employees.
“The training session drew on our previous experience, within the Police, on topics such as who steals, why and how. We showed video clips to show how different tactics are employed by offenders and talked about what drives people to commit theft” said Timms.
“A review of each participating store’s CCTV system was also carried out, identifying blind spots and suggesting how stores could change their layout to minimise areas that could be used for concealing stolen goods.”
Feedback from participating retailers, which included Next, River Island and Top Shop, has been extremely positive. Several retail staff caught shoplifters red handed after spotting tell-tale signs picked up during the training session.
And West Midlands Police crime statistics for the borough has confirmed that the town centre retail crime rate is falling.
