Our officers arrested 30 people for shoplifting in the past week

Our officers have made 30 arrests for shoplifting in the past week as we continue to tackle thefts from retailers.

And 25 of those have now been charged with shop theft and other related offences

Seven people were arrested in Colchester, with four detained in each of the Braintree and Chelmsford districts between Monday 1 and Sunday 7 January 2024. Three people were arrested in each of the Basildon, Harlow and Thurrock districts; two in Southend; and one in each of Brentwood, Epping and Tendring. One man was also arrested in Ipswich.

Five of those arrested also tested positive for Class A drugs. Under our drug test on arrest scheme, adults accused of acquisitive crimes such as shoplifting are required to take a saliva test that will reveal whether they’ve taken cocaine, heroin or crack.

A positive test leads to an automatic referral to a specialist drug treatment programme with one of the three charities we work with.

Our Business Crime Team reviews every shoplifting arrest and encourages retailers to report all thefts and assaults of shop staff through its Open For Business, Closed For Crime initiative.

Business crime officers then work with their local colleagues to apply to the courts for criminal behaviour orders (CBO) to tackle persistent offenders.

CBOs also tackle the underlying causes of offending and may require offenders to engage in treatment services, such as drug and alcohol addiction support.

It is an offence to breach the terms of a CBO and courts can impose a maximum sentence of up to five years’ imprisonment or a fine, or both, for an adult convicted of breaching them.

Of those arrested in the past week, one man has been jailed for 42 weeks after breaching a five-year CBO, two people have agreed to community resolutions and two cases are still being investigated. No further action will be taken in one case.

Sergeant Christian Denning says:

“Shoplifting is a not a low-level crime because the proceeds can feed into a bigger network of criminal activity, while retail staff and customers can feel threatened and intimidated by offenders’ behaviour.
“We work to protect retailers by targeting people responsible for repeated thefts and limiting their ability to reoffend, whether by applying for criminal behaviour orders or by getting them on to a drug or alcohol treatment programme.
“But, if they flagrantly disregard the chances they are given, then we will not hesitate to put them before the courts again.
“Ultimately, we all want to make our high streets safe and pleasant places to visit, while ensuring people who need help to tackle the causes of their offending and change their behaviour get it.”

Since 1 December 2023, our officers have arrested 146 people for shop theft and 95 have subsequently been charged with shop theft and other related offences.

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