Officers arrest 24 for shop theft last week

Across Essex last week, our officers arrested 24 people on suspicion of shoplifting and secured 67 charges of shop theft.

Two people were also charged with assaulting of retail workers.

Another was jailed for a total of 52 weeks breaching a five-year criminal behaviour order (CBO) which banned him from entering a variety of stores across Southend and Westcliff.

At Southend Magistrates’ Court on Friday 15 March, James Butcher, 33, of no fixed address, admitted 12 counts of shop theft between 27 February and 12 March 2024 and breaching the CBO on ten occasions. It was imposed on 1 March 2023.

Three people were arrested in each of the Basildon, Chelmsford and Southend districts; two in each of the Braintree, Brentwood, Colchester, Epping Forest, Harlow and Tendring districts; and one in each of the Rochford and Thurrock districts between Monday 11 and Sunday 17 March. One person was arrested for offences out of the county.

In the past six months, our officers have made a total of 706 arrests for shop theft*.

And 58 CBOs are currently in place on persistent offenders. The CBOs ban them from stores they have been targeting and may include conditions to attend drug or alcohol treatment assessments.

PC Alex Plakhtienko, of our specialist Business Crime Team, says we work to divert people from stealing from shops.

As well as seeking CBOs at court, we also test everyone arrested for shop theft and other acquisitive crimes for cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin, under our drug test on arrest scheme. Four people tested positive last week.

Alex explains:

“People often steal to fund drug or alcohol addiction. If we can break the cycle, we can break the offending habit, too. By requiring them to attend assessments with treatment services, we are giving them a chance to turn their lives around.
“We want to ensure that high streets and shopping areas across Essex are safe places to work and visit.”

Of the 24 people arrested last week, 19 have been charged and cases involving four others are still being investigated.

 

* Arrests for shop theft. This relates to the number of arrests our officers have made. A person may have been arrested more than once for theft from a shop during the time period. And they may have been arrested for more than one offence.

 

• For specialist business crime prevention advice, visit our Business Crime webpages.

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