The head of the Met Police urges retailers to “step up” against shoplifting
Sir Mark Rowley says police have doubled efforts to tackle store thefts but calls on retailers to help catch offenders
The head of the Metropolitan Police has said retailers need to "step up" and "do better" when it comes to helping the police catch shoplifters.
Sir Mark Rowley said the retail sector was right to be "cross" with the police for failing to do enough to tackle store thefts two years ago, but said they have since "doubled down" on their efforts and have made progress.
The Met commissioner is now calling for stores to work with the police more, commenting that "this is a team game".
Speaking to The Telegraph, Sir Mark said: "They were right to say to us, 'please step up more'.
"And we have done. They need to step up more.
"There are some of them who are fantastic and I'm not going to name a good and bad list, that would be invidious. But I'm just putting a marker down."
Sir Mark said in London over the last year, the police have "really doubled down" on the issue of shoplifting, adding: "We're making a lot of progress, but I need to challenge back now to the retail sector. They now need to do better."
He told the newspaper the Met had one incident where private security staff had been messaging shoplifters or street robbers to tell them when it was "clear" and "helping them commit their criminality".
He said some stores have refused to pass on CCTV video or images of thieves to police, and others would refuse to let their staff have time off to provide witness statements to the police or attend court to give evidence.
Sir Mark said some retailers have been "very supportive".
"They can give them time to give a statement and they will pay them work time to go to court. Others won't do any of that," he added.
"So if they're not prepared to roll up their sleeves as corporate victims, it's going to be tough for us to make progress."
Sir Mark said facial recognition technology meant police were able to identify shoplifters or robbers in at least 40% of cases when they had obtained CCTV images.
This was done by using the technology to check the picture of the individual against databases of offenders who had previously been arrested.
Sir Mark said one UK chain operates a central control room in which they send pictures of suspects to the police, adding that "some of them are great at collecting the material".
"They are identifying repeat shoplifters who are going from branch to branch of the same store," he added.
"So we can work with them and get a package of 30 or 40 offences committed by a suspect.
"We go after him, and charge him with all of those. So this is a team game. We're stepping up. They now need to as well."
Sir Mark said the Met's efforts at tackling shoplifting has allowed the force to reverse the rise in store thefts, with cases down 4.4% this year from April to December.