What’s in the new retail crime strategy – and will it help?

A plan has been hatched to finally “turn the tide” on retail crime.

So said assistant chief constable Alex Goss, when unveiling the new three-year retail crime strategy in Northampton this week. Goss, the National Police Chief Council lead for retail crime, set out a “partnership approach” between over 70 retailers, police forces, security professionals and academics, endorsed by the Home Office.

So, what’s in this new strategy? How is it different to the NPCC’s ‘retail crime action plan’ of 2023, which also aimed to unite retailers and police? And will it make a difference?

“The 2023 Retail Crime Action Plan was a commitment from police around what they would do to better recognise the impact of retail crime,” says Emmeline Taylor, professor of criminology at City University of London. “It signalled to retailers that the police would prioritise retail crime.”

The new strategy seeks to “harness that momentum”, Taylor says.

Dubbed ‘Tackling Retail Crime Together’, the strategy focuses on improving data sharing on theft and abuse, identifying crime hotspots and making life harder for organised gangs

What is the new retail crime Fusion cell?

A crucial tenet of the strategy is to create a new “fusion cell” – a body run by police forces, charged with improving nationwide understanding of retail crime.

The fusion cell will encourage data sharing between retailers who have previously been cautious about doing so, as well as between police forces. It will be accountable to the Retail Crime Forum, led by prisons minister Diana Johnson, and will publish regular reports on crime trends and criminal behaviour.

“The fusion cell will enable regular benchmarking of threats, predict trends and identify high-harm places so extra support can be deployed,” says Jason Towse, MD of business services at security firm Mitie, which hosted the event.

Building on the work of Operation Pegasus – the retailer-funded police intelligence unit launched in the 2023 plan – it will sit within Opal, the national intelligence unit for organised acquisitive crime.

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The hope is for the improved data sharing to better map organised gangs’ activity. The mapping will be used to identify those “high harm” locations where police forces and local authorities should target additional support.

Other aims may ring a bell among those familiar with previous iterations of the strategy. For example, it will strive to identify the root causes driving people to offend, such as addiction, and tailor support to prevent reoffending.

That could lead to renewed proposals to tailor the way crimes are prosecuted according to the type of offender.

To improve accountability, the strategy will track how often police attend and total court actions as a result.

Behind the usual ‘we welcome’ narrative of official commentary, not everyone from the industry was 100% impressed.

“It’s lacking substance,” says one source. A “bold” three-year plan is welcomed, but retailers want to see action.

However, there was a general consensus that the previous strategy is a framework on which the new one can build, with more action.

The ACS called it a “vital step forward”, while the BRC backed a new plan to tackle the crime epidemic costing “over £2.2bn a year, pushing up prices for honest shoppers”.

All the more important that it makes an impact, then.