City centre officers show Deputy Mayor around stores to view positive retail crime work

The Deputy Mayor joined officers for a patrol of Manchester city centre on Friday Afternoon, to view the continued positive partnership between multiple agencies to tackle retail crime.

The walkabout came at the conclusion of Safer Business Action (SaBA) week, which saw multiple officers deployed across the entirety of Greater Manchester to take part in work tackling retail crime.

Kate Green, Deputy Mayor for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire, was joined by Superintendent Nicola Williams for the walkabout, in addition to PC Luke Ellwood, the local business liaison officer.

Numerous retailers were visited across the city centre, with managers and shop workers detailing issues they have had, their work with officers in identifying the individuals, and how GMP can further assist them going forward.

This includes drop-in sessions with stores, proactive patrolling, and arrests of outstanding wanted offenders.

Within the city centre, officers regularly work with stores to identify offenders and ensure the appropriate action is taken. This can include arrests, charges, Criminal Behaviour Orders, imprisonment and the use of out of court disposals.

Officers are also keen to help vulnerable people – and their work also includes working with charities and the council, to signpost them to services including charities and food banks.

The work has seen stores see a marked reduction in certain offences, with stores seeing the benefit of the multi-agency approach to the issue.

Kate Green, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester for Safer and Stronger Communities said: "I was happy to be able to support Safer Business Action Week by joining GMP to visit businesses across Manchester City Centre.

"It was important to learn how initiatives and partnerships between our businesses and GMP have improved how they respond to incidents, and make retail staff feel safer and more able to report incidents. It was also useful to hear how this work has helped to flag when people are vulnerable and ensure they get help.

"A safer Greater Manchester is good for business, good for residents and good for visitors to the city region."

Superintendent Nicola Williams, from GMP’s City of Manchester district, said: “We are absolutely committed to tackling retail crime and I am encouraged by the continued great work from our city centre neighbourhood team.

“The work we do with stores and local partners has seen positive feedback and while there is plenty of work to do, we have made significant in-roads in tackling retail crime which blights the lives of hard-working people.

“Over the last year, we have seen countless arrests, charges, increased use of out of court disposals, in addition to dozens of people referred to the services to provide the help they need. I would encourage all stores in Manchester to get in touch with their local team to see what we can do for you.”

Chief Inspector Cara Charlesworth, GMP’s force lead for retail crime, said: “The great work across the force is brilliantly exemplified by the efforts of the City of Manchester team, who have produced excellent results.

“Over the last seven days, we have seen numerous great stories from across our districts – from the CBOs keeping problematic offenders out of Oldham Town Centre, to the continued successes of the Bolton shoplifting team.

“Across the force and from a leadership perspective, we will carry on cracking down on retail crime, learning the best ways to reduce and prevent offences, and implementing those actions accordingly.”