Our officers secure 129 shop theft charges in a week

Our officers arrested 43 people on suspicion of shoplifting in Essex last week and 36 of them have been charged with a total of 130 offences.

Shop theft accounted for 129 of those, the 130^th charge was for assaulting a member of retail staff.

Nine people were arrested in Southend, eight in the Basildon district, six in Colchester, five across Chelmsford, four in each of Harlow and Thurrock, two in Castle Point and Tendring and one in each of Braintree and Epping Forest districts. One was arrested outside Essex.

Essex Police officers have already arrested more than 300 people on suspicion of shoplifting so far this year.

Sergeant Christian Denning, of our specialist Business Crime Team, says Essex Police is committed to tackling shoplifting and the violence and abuse which can accompany it.

“We are dedicated to arresting offenders and gathering the evidence we need to put them before the courts. But we can’t do it without the public’s help.
“Through our Open For Business, Closed For Crime initiative, we encourage business owners and retail staff to report shop theft, assaults and anti-social behaviour to police.
“And we explain what they need to provide to us to assist our investigations and build strong cases for court, that is, good-quality CCTV images and witness statements.
“You can tell us at www.essex.police.uk/ro or, alternatively ring us on 101.
“Thanks to Open For Business, Closed For Crime, more people are reporting shop thefts to us and that means we can target our specialised crime prevention advice and our operational activity accordingly.”

Between 1 January and 16 March 2025, 304 people were arrested* on suspicion of shoplifting in Essex and 200 of those were charged with a total of 582 counts** of shop theft, while 21 were charged with assaulting a retail worker, too.

Cases involving 46 people are still being investigated and 58 people received a caution, a community resolution or no further action was taken against them.

During 2024, our officers made 1,397 arrests for shop theft offences* in Essex, securing 2,545 charges**.

• Find out how our specialist business crime officers can help your business or shop by visiting our Business Crime pages

* 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.

** Shop theft charges. This figure will not be the total number of shop theft charges which will be secured against people arrested during a specific time period.

While many are charged before being released from custody immediately following their arrest, some suspects will be released under investigation or bailed while officers continue investigating.

When an investigation is complete, a suspect may be charged or may have no further action taken against them.

So this figure will include charges relating to arrests made before the time period begins and won't include charges which are secured beyond the end of the time period but which related to arrests made during it.

We're offering more ways for our communities to stay up to date with our work across Essex.

Our e-newsletter, Dispatch, delivers news, information, and advice from Essex Police.

Dispatch is a ‘one stop shop’ for local police news – direct from the source. 

Sign up is completely free and you can unsubscribe at any time.