Portsmouth businesses unite to crush high street shoplifting scourge as scheme makes them “stronger together”
“Together we are stronger” – those were the words of “fed up” residents who have combined forces to crush shoplifting.
High street brands of all shapes and sizes have joined the Portsmouth Eye security team to deter theft and anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Commercial Road, Cascades Shopping Centre and elsewhere. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, Portsmouth City Council (PCC) and local politicians have all backed the project in a bid to keep residents safe and regenerate the high street.
Radios, CCTV cameras and a high-tech database are at the initiative’s disposal. Andy Kircher, operations director at Portsmouth Eye, said it has worked wonders at reducing crime since December 2023. He told The News: “We are catching these people, using the cameras, the radios and database, linked all together with the users on it, and we’re actually bringing the crime rate in Commercial Road down.
“We have cameras that cover our city. This is our city and we are fed up with people coming here and robbing it. Together as a community, we have become one. If we all work together, we are stronger. We are here to help our community stay safe. We’re not going anywhere.”
Businesses onboard the scheme are handed radios to keep in constant contact with other partners – sharing vital information about prolific shoplifters, ASB incidents and known hotspots. Reports can be logged on the database known as Disc, saving information on incidents and individuals such as what they were wearing, what they stole and which shops they’re targeting. All this can be passed onto security teams in the Cascades and the police.
People aged 13 and over can be saved on it for a certain amount of time. In tandem with upgraded CCTV in certain places, the project has become a major weapon in fighting shoplifting. These reports, alongside police action, have already led to arrests, charges and sentences. The scheme is GDPR compliant and ISA licensed, with security cameras not used for open area surveillance.
Cameras under the scheme and Safevue CCTV, Andy’s company, also cover Palmerston Road and Albert Road in Southsea, Cosham, North End, Hilsea and elsewhere. City centre brands that have joined include Primark, H&M, River Island, Flannels, Sports Direct and the majority of businesses in the Cascades. One of them is Toy Town, which has seen callous thugs rob it of stock while abusing staff members. Stella Haines, area manager, said it used to be “horrific”.
“Staff don’t get paid to fight with shoplifters. It was a nightmare reporting it beforehand. If they didn’t steal over £200 of stock, we couldn’t do anything. It was game over, suck it up and lose whatever you lost and no one cares. If you go to a shoplifter and say ‘I’ll have that back’, they’ll say ‘I’ll stab you’ and stuff like that. We get spat on. I can take a bit of verbal abuse, but don’t spit on me.”
Rebecca Mudie, host at River Island, echoed similar problems. “Beforehand, crime rates were horrendous,” the Gosport resident said, “we would get chased around the shop. You get people just coming in and taking what they want. You still get that now, people walking into the shop and carrying everything in their arms, they just don’t care. But now, the people who were prolific, they don’t bother coming round so much anymore. They know they can and will be stopped.”
Ms Mudie said the “brilliant” scheme has made a real difference. “We’re all interlinked with each other throughout the high street,” she added. “We’ve actually been able to catch a few prolific offenders and notice them a lot more. I think the rates are going down. Just the other day, we recognised a prolific shoplifter and we all worked together to track him down, and they were found with £600 of goods on them.
“It was an amazing job from all of us to get that stock back. It wasn’t just clothes, you name it, they had it in their car. It was crazy.” Ms Mudie added that all the employees feel safer in numbers, and warns criminals they can be tracked, traced, caught and brought to justice She said: “The council, police and the city centre do care about the people that work on the high street and it is becoming a safer place to work.”
Ms Haines added: “I feel safer now. You can record them in the act. With the radio, you can contact people quickly and get help. You’re never gonna stop it fully, but it does help. You don’t come to work thinking you’re going to get stabbed or spat on anymore.”
Vicky Penford, who works at the Jacket Potato Ladies food stand, has a Portsmouth Eye camera installed following nearby ASB and drug dealing incidents. She said: “I used to see such a lot of crime and shoplifting, but everyone seems to be onboard now. In the mornings, we get quite a lot of people who are homeless or drug dependent causing problems.
“As soon as the shops were open, they would be in there thieving. I was a bit nervous about taking over, but since I’ve had the camera, all the guys look out for each other. It’s so much better.” Ms Penford said Commercial Road can have negative connotations with some, but the high street is picking up and the security project should encourage more people to use it.
Mr Kircher said teamwork and constant use of the radio is stopping crime before it happens. “It has been a huge benefit,” he added. “The more people that come onto the radio scheme, the stronger our city will become. Deterring anti-social behaviour and theft before it happens is my ultimate goal. You can stamp it out. You will always get an opportunist who will steal something, but with the database and everything else, we are a tool in the arsenal to beat crime.”
Safevue CCTV has been handed a control room in the Cascades, with information shared with its security team. Businesses in the past, such as Victory Sports UK, have shut their doors and cited shoplifting as one of factors behind the closure. Centre manager Andy Philip said shoplifting was as bad as it had ever been in November before the scheme launched.
He added: “Economic pressures and other things are driving people to it more than ever before. Portsmouth Eye came in, provided a radio at a reasonable price for people, and allowed communication and collaboration to target people that were thieving in the city centre. Quite quickly, people were noticing that shoplifting was dropping. That allowed people to concentrate on their business and not spend time looking out for people trying to take their goods without paying for them.
“If it can discourage anti-social behaviour and decrease shoplifting and other areas of criminality that aren’t welcome, then it’s going to help. It is by no means the only thing that’s gonna do it, there needs to be investment and a plan. Thankfully, Portsmouth City Council are pushing for regeneration in the city centre, and we’re very grateful. Everyone pulling in the same direction helps.”
Mr Philip added that issues are being caused by people who drink too much and youths “who have nothing else to do and antagonise shopkeepers and customers”. He said this is being combated due to strong links to the police. “A police unit turning up dispels that kind of activity and just makes the city centre safer, better and more appealing to come and visit,” he added.
Sergeant Paul Marshall, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary’s city centre team, said the force works with organisations which have a common goal of reducing crime. He added: “Tackling retail crime remains a priority for us and we work with all of the businesses and retail outlets in the city centre in order to address shoplifting and ASB and to deal with offenders.
“We regularly meet with the wider retailers and business leads to listen to their concerns and look to continuously improve our partnership response. Shoplifting is not a victimless crime, it can fund all sorts of other criminalities, and no shop-owner or worker should have to face criminal behaviour and abuse while doing their job. We take reports of this kind extremely seriously and will continue to police retail crime robustly, and put offenders before the courts.”
SGT Marshall added the city centre team has been operating for two years and carries out regular deterrence patrols. He said any initiative which helps them achieve their goal of seeking justice for victims and making the city centre safe is welcome.
PCC council leader Steve Pitt said town centre managers work alongside the project. “We’re always happy to support initiatives and this seems to be one that’s proving very successful,” he added. “Anything that is going to help improve the identification of key individuals involved in repeated shoplifting is going to be something that we welcome with open arms. I know from the feedback that I’m getting is that it seems we’re improving the clear up rates.”
Mr Kircher believes the scheme would not be possible without everyone on board. Having long been conscious of the city’s safety – organising volunteer patrols to deter criminals – the business owner hopes to expand the scheme to Gosport, Fareham, Warsash and elsewhere.
He said with private businesses offering to pay for radios and give them to smaller outlets and voluntary groups, and more people interested in joining, there is no reason why crime can’t be significantly quashed. “Prevention is better than the cure,” he said. “We are Portsmouth. We are the flagship of this country, look at the D-Day ceremony we held, we just made Britain proud. We are number one. We’re just one community that wants our city to be safe.”
17 June 2024
