Croydon Council is launching a pilot scheme to fit GPS tracking tags to persistent shoplifters in one of Britain’s most crime-ridden town centres. The move is part of a drive to reduce retail crime and improve safety for residents, workers and visitors, and forms part of Conservative Mayor Jason Perry’s zero-tolerance approach to crime and antisocial behaviour in the south London town.
How the scheme will work
Repeat offenders would have to wear ankle tags and could be excluded from specific areas, such as the town centre. Officials in Croydon have met with Sussex Police, which was the first area in the UK to successfully pilot the GPS technology, and are advocating for a national rollout. As in Sussex, tags will be put on prolific shoplifters using court-imposed Criminal Behaviour Orders.
Impact on local businesses
Like many London boroughs, businesses in Croydon town centre are falling victim to repeat offenders. There were 4,796 reported shop thefts in the town centre over the last 12 months, compared with 5,043 the year before, a 4.9% reduction.
Figures for the Daily Express' Stop The Shoplifters campaign show that nationwide the top 10% of offenders are responsible for around three quarters of total loss and harm in UK stores. One in seven incidents involve threats, aggression, verbal abuse or other serious behaviour, and one in 10 are violent or involve weapons. The shoplifting epidemic costs retailers £2.2bn every year.
Increased police activity
Increased Met police activity, including the use of live facial recognition cameras, has helped spark a turnaround in the capital. Benedict Selvaratnam, managing director of Freshfields Market in Croydon and co-founder of Croydon Business Association, said: “Shoplifting has a significant impact on businesses, particularly retailers. It is not simply the financial value of the goods being stolen. There is also the cost of additional security, and the pressure it puts on staff, and morale. Persistent offenders make staff feel unsafe at work, and many businesses feel frustrated when the same individuals return repeatedly.
“Where individuals repeatedly target shops and businesses, there needs to be a meaningful deterrent and a way of preventing that cycle from simply continuing. From my experience both as a retailer and through the Croydon Business Association, businesses want to see a system where persistent shoplifting has real consequences.”
Mayor Perry added: “Shoplifting is not a victimless crime. It threatens people’s livelihoods, drives up prices for honest customers and leaves shopworkers facing intimidation and abuse simply for doing their jobs. Our businesses have had enough of prolific offenders repeatedly targeting their shops, and so have I. My message is clear - that if you come to Croydon to steal, you should expect consequences. Zero-tolerance means backing our businesses and using every legal tool available to protect them. GPS tagging could help us monitor persistent shoplifting offenders, enforce exclusion zones and prevent the same people returning time and again to cause more harm.”
