Gravesend businesses use new technology to fight rise in shoplifting

KentOnline / KMTV

Gabriel Morris visits business owners in Gravesend who are using a new scheme to help tackle shop theft to keep them safe after it's the highest it's been in seven years.

Transcript

00:00Terrorising shopkeepers and the number of reported incidents are on the rise.

00:05Kemperley saying shoplifting has reached a seven-year high.

00:09Gravesend is no exception.

00:11Off to High Street is this fashion boutique.

00:14Here they say it's becoming a growing issue.

00:18I think it's gone quite downhill with the clientele that come into town.

00:24You can spot the signs, they'll be in a couple of people and they'll distract you etc.

00:30But another time a lady, a customer actually alerted me because it's quite busy in the shop

00:35and she just popped the dress in there and I just followed her out and took it out basically and said you're barred.

00:40They're now part of a scheme that can report any suspicious behaviour.

00:46I've just seen a couple of undesirables. I do recognise them from the G-safe.

00:50They are hanging around making a bit of a nuisance of themselves.

00:53The Business Crime Reduction Partnership says they've recorded more than £100,000 worth of goods

00:59stolen in the past year alone in Gravesend.

01:02The scheme allows businesses to report crimes, upload CCTV

01:06and work together with police to try and catch offenders.

01:10But they say they're up against it with more and more people becoming involved in shop thefts.

01:15You find that there's so many different people also doing shoplifting.

01:19You've got opportunists, people who are doing it as a career lifestyle, organised crime

01:25and also people with substance misuse problems as well.

01:28The partnership works in conjunction with the local authority.

01:32For too long our businesses have been a lone voice in this area

01:36and the councils, both the County Council through my role and also the Borough Council here

01:41need to play a better coordinating role in getting all of the partnership agencies around the table

01:46so that we can solve some of these societal issues.

01:49Across Kent many other towns have a similar scheme

01:53and Kent Police has just launched the Retail Crime Board to bring together themselves with businesses.

01:58With a little less than 30% of crime going unsolved, they say this will help them catch offenders.

02:05I'd rather know about 100% of something and we can act on that

02:09rather than us know about 80% of something and celebrate a reduction in the crime statistics

02:14because that's artificial.

02:16What we want people to have is the confidence to come forward

02:19so we can deal with as much as we possibly can

02:21and therefore we give people the confidence and offenders are brought to justice.

02:26Kent Police say the number of reports being solved is on the rise.

02:31While shopkeepers across the streets of Gravesend and the rest of the county

02:35still say that's not enough to let their guard down.

02:38Gabriel Morris in Gravesend.

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