Rishi Sunak in Sussex: Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner welcomes PM’s crackdown on retail crime

Mr Sunak visited Horsham to launch a crackdown on retail crime on Wednesday [April 10], with assaulting a retail worker to be made a standalone criminal offence.

Under new government law, serial or abusive shoplifters will face tougher punishments as the Prime Minister sets out tough new action to crack down on retail crime and protect UK highstreets.

Mr Sunak met Horsham MP Jeremy Quin, the Sussex Police Crime & Commissioner Katy Bourne, and Chief Constable Jo Shiner, to discuss the new legislation during a visit to the town centre.

The Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner said the PM’s announcement sent a ‘clear message’ that retail crime will be taken ‘extremely seriously’.

Writing in her Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner newsletter, Katy Bourne said: “I was delighted that the Prime Minister visited our county to see, first-hand, how Sussex Police are relentlessly tackling business and retail crime, using unique reporting technology to speed up investigations and setting up a dedicated Business Crime Unit.

“The visit this week also acknowledges the tremendous work undertaken by numerous organisations across Sussex all working together to combat retail crime, which my office boosted in 2020 with the formation of our Safer Sussex Business Partnership.

“As mentioned in a previous newsletter, throughout the last year, I have been working very closely with 14 of the country’s top retailers to launch the Pegasus partnership - providing nearly £1 million to fund a specialist unit within OPAL - national policing’s operational arm for serious acquisitive crime.

“The analysts in OPAL will, for the first time ever, build a comprehensive intelligence picture of the number of organised crime gangs behind many shoplifting incidents across the country, helping to successfully target and dismantle them. Facial recognition technology will also be a key part of this.

“Retailers are currently being urged to take up the offer of training from OPAL on how best to submit intelligence and share data.

“I have long supported the national retailers’ call for ‘assaulting a shopworker’ to be made a standalone offence and was the first to suggest to Ministers that persistent shoplifters should be tagged so I am very pleased with this week’s visit.

“The announcements from the Prime Minister also send a clear message that these crimes are taken extremely seriously, that police will now have further tools and powers to get a grip on shoplifting and that policing nationally will robustly deal with the most prolific and violent offenders and gangs operating across our retail sector.”