The Metropolitan Police is rolling out retail crime reporting technology to a further eight boroughs today, after a pilot saw the number of shoplifters being brought to justice in the capital quadruple.
The Auror system enables retailers to submit CCTV footage, witness statements and other evidence directly to police officers, allowing them to track, arrest and build cases against offenders more quickly.
Previously, officers would often have had to wait up to 28 days or longer for CCTV and statements – evidence they now receive in minutes.
New figures released by the Met today show where shoplifting is reported using the new tech, there is a positive outcome (a caution, charge or other criminal disposal) in 29.4% of cases. The Met average prior to its introduction was just 7.3%.
“The results speak for themselves,” said chief inspector Rav Pathania, the Met’s lead for business crime. “This crime reporting technology is helping us identify offenders faster and bring more shoplifters to justice. By receiving CCTV footage and evidence directly from retailers at the point a crime is committed, we can build stronger cases and act more decisively.
“Shoplifters should be under no illusion – we are increasing our capability to catch you and put you before the courts,” Pathania added.
The Auror system is already being used by major high street chains including Tesco, Boots, M&S and Greggs across the UK.
“Harnessing retail crime technology – which is available in all Boots stores across London – enables our store teams to report incidents more quickly and effectively to the police and focuses our collective resources on targeting high harm offenders,” said Julie Murphy, Boots vice president for London and travel division.
“The results published by the Met today show that we are making progress in bearing down on shop theft, and Boots is pleased to be supporting the rollout of direct-to-Police reporting via the platform,” she added.
In London, Auror is being used by subscribing retailers across Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley.
Following the success of its pilot, the Met is expanding its use to retailers in Southwark, Lambeth, Sutton, Croydon, Bromley, Hillingdon, Ealing and Hounslow from today. Further boroughs will be added in the coming months.
Pathania said that “tackling retail crime remains a top priority” for the police service.
In the past financial year, reported shoplifting offences across London fell by 3.7% compared with the previous year, equivalent to around 3,500 fewer offences.
Over the same period, the Met made almost 50% more arrests for retail crime, while the number of positive outcomes, more than doubled from 2,682 to 5,996.
Auror vice president law enforcement partnerships Nick McDonnell said: “The key to getting on top of high-volume, violent and organised retail crime is enabling that collaboration between police and retailers, so they can focus on the highest-harm offenders in their communities.
“These offenders are not loyal to any one store. They impact retailers both large and small, so police intervention on these prolific offenders, assisted by the Auror network of retailers, helps the whole community,” he added.
McDonnell said that the technology meant retailers and police were now “collaborating, not finger-pointing”.
“This digital collaboration is not about flooding police with automated alerts for potential crime, it’s about giving frontline retail colleagues the right tools to efficiently and diligently make direct-to-police reports with high-quality evidence and information, so police can act,” he said.
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