A PERSON in Yeovil was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting during a police operation.
Last week, officers from Avon & Somerset Police took part in a force-wide initiative targeting business crime, including shoplifting and abusive behaviour towards shop workers.
Officers worked with Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), the private security industry and business-led action groups across Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Somerset.
The operation involved a mix of plain-clothed and uniformed patrols targeting shoplifting, burglary and anti-social behaviour.
Officers visited shops and spoke to members of the public and staff about community safety, security and reporting issues, and we had a pop-up ‘police shop’ in Broadmead, Bristol.
As a result, four arrests were made in Bristol city centre and one arrest for four counts of theft in Yeovil.
Meanwhile, in Bath, four people have appeared in court charged with shoplifting. They were:
* A 34-year-old man of no fixed abode was charged with 18 theft offences between September and October. He admitted to the offences at Bath Magistrates’ Court and has since been remanded in custody, pending a hearing on 30 October.
* A 21-year-old man of no fixed abode was charged with 16 offences, including six non-dwelling burglaries, two attempted burglaries and seven thefts from shops. These took place between July and September and included four instances of theft of tobacco products and vapes worth more than £2,000 in all. He was also charged with the theft of a bicycle worth £2,500. He’s been remanded in custody for sentencing on November 7.
* A 24-year-old woman of no fixed abode was charged with three thefts from a hair salon on three dates in September. She admitted to the offences at Bath Magistrates’ Court, resulting in a £40 fine. She was also ordered to pay £969.57 in compensation.
* A 45-year-old man from Bath is due before Bath Magistrates’ Court on October 30 charged with burglary after entering a staff-only area of a shop to steal tobacco and vapes worth £300.
“This work doesn’t just happen during weeks of action,” a police spokesperson added.
“A dedicated team within our Incident Assessment Unit is helping neighbourhood policing teams identify hotspot shops and prolific offenders.
“In one case, the team flagged an issue at a Taunton store over the summer. The store improved its security measures and officers focused on repeat offenders, leading to several arrests.
“All types of crime and incidents reported by the shop reduced by two-thirds, comparing July and August with September and October (to date).”
READ MORE: Click here for more crime news from your Somerset Leveller
Chief Inspector Rebecca Wells-Cole, force lead for business crime, said: “These crimes are often described as ‘low-level offending’, but their impact on both businesses and the wider community is huge.
“We take thefts from shops seriously and encourage store workers to report incidents. We do have to prioritise all calls based on the likelihood of someone coming to immediate harm, so any incident in which there has been violence and a suspect remains on the scene will be prioritised.
“Even when officers can’t attend, we’ll review lines of enquiry and are working to make it easier to report online. This includes uploading CCTV and the statements necessary to support our investigations in a timely way, with a focus on prolific offenders.”
People are urged to report incidents of theft and any other crime to police on 101.
What’s the point? Fines they can’t or won’t pay. Come out of court then straight into shops and shoplift again and again. Then the cycle starts again and again.