Shoplifting and thefts down 10%, says police force

Shoplifting and theft offences in Cheshire have fallen by 10% during the last 12 months, police have said.

According to Cheshire Constabulary, this means the county has been bucking the national trend.

Assistant Chief Constable Alison Ross said her force was working more closely with retailers and local authorities, as well as making good use of CCTV footage and facial recognition technology.

"All the different technologies we now have to support businesses, not only to gather the evidence, but also identify the suspect, is incredibly important," she said.

Ross urged shop owners to continue to work with Cheshire Police to ensure their CCTV cameras are working properly, and to effectively share footage of any suspicious activity.

"Wherever you are in the community - whether that's a large business or a small business - we can give you advice relevant to your particular business," said Ross.

Carl Critchlow, chief executive of the Chester Business Improvement District, said while businesses had reported a reduction in shoplifting over the last six months, it remained a significant issue.

He said he wondered whether "we're seeing less shoplifting or whether we're just getting better detecting it".

Critchlow added: "I think that's the challenge and I think that's what we're working with - our businesses and the police - to try and understand.

"We are seeing improvements, but there is still probably a lot of work that we need to do in terms of reporting to make sure that all incidents do get reported and the police have a true understanding and a real picture of what the issue is."

Sophie Bryant, who runs The Gift Box in the Hoole area of Chester, said she continued to have problems with shoplifters.

She said police were inconsistent in the way they dealt with the problem.

"I think the police need to take more of a consistent approach to it," said Bryant.

"Every time I report something they have a different outlook on how they treat it.

"Quite often nothing happens, and then sometimes something will happen, but then they don't follow up with it.

"And I just think they need to be more consistent and come down harder on people."

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