The Herald joins two Warwickshire Police officers as they patrol the retail areas of Stratford looking for the tell-tale signs of shoplifters in action
YOU can’t help but go instantly into crime-busting mode while on a ride along with plain clothes officers from Warwickshire Police.
The Herald is out on the streets of Stratford on a Saturday lunchtime, patrolling shoplifting hotspots in the town centre and Maybird shopping centre, with PC Ian Wainwright and Sgt Ben James-Pemberton of the Investigation Standards and Outcomes (ISO) team to find out about the work they do.
Shoplifting has become an increasing problem across the country, and currently stands at a 20-year high, according to the Office of National Statistics.
Warwickshire’s ISO unit, formed a year ago, is tasked with tackling escalating retail crime, and has proudly just reported some excellent results. In just under 11 months, the team have made 255 arrests, which has resulted in 16-and-a-half years of prison sentences for shoplifters in the county. They have convicted criminals for the theft of around £80,000 worth of goods, with around £50,000 of these goods being seized.
“We investigate reported crimes but also proactively find offenders,” says Ben explaining their approach as we make our way up Bridge Street. “Our aim is to make sure shoplifters are always looking over their shoulder. Regular shoplifters know we are out there, they know we know who they are and they know we are looking for them. We work with businesses to help make Warwickshire a riskier place for shoplifters to operate in.”
As we walk and talk the two officers are all eyes and ears. “We’re out and about and will pop up anywhere,” says Ben.
I can’t but help mimic their swivel-headed alertness. Suddenly hyper-aware of potential wrong ’uns everywhere I look.
The most important thing the two are armed with are communication devices: walkie-talkies, smart phones and ear-pieces. It’s a surprise how constantly tuned in they are with retailers, security guards and CCTV operators. Tip-offs and updates are rung in and sent as texts, and there’s even an app – called DISC – that is used to send and receive alerts and share images of suspects, an invaluable system that’s all part of the Warwickshire Retail Crime Initiative that’s offered to all businesses in retail and hospitality.
“We’re always listening to CCTV operators, it gives us an edge,” adds Ben. “They know when we’re around, so they can contact us. We get given information from them and from the store.”
Heaping praise on the CCTV operators, Ben continues: “It’s all about finding the piece of the puzzle. And a lot of the time, we’ll get a little piece of info and we’ll be going ‘where does that fit in?’ And it’s exactly the same for CCTV operators, they are absolutely cracking at what they do, and we would struggle without them.”
The constant engagement carries on in real life too – nods and chats with store and security staff. “What’s going on?” “Everything OK?”...
The two bristle with energy, taking the proactive element of their jobs very seriously. Dressed in black skinny jeans, trainers and bomber jackets, they both look lean and agile and like they would gleefully chase and outrun any fleeing rascals.
A couple of street drinkers amble by clutching tins of beer. They are known to the officers, but don’t seem to be doing anything unlawful. Nonetheless Ian swerves off to observe and discreetly chat to the CCTV operators and other contacts to see if anything is going on.
“We have local prolific offenders, a lot of the time these individuals are substance abusers,” explains Ben about the different type of shoplifters they meet.
“Sometimes it’s young people. And then the other side is those that travel to offend. They will travel across the country, targeting one or two particular stores or certain items. They offend to make a living, it’s what they do.”
Despite being a veteran of street patrols, and having previously worked nights, Ben is still taken back by the audacity of shoplifters.
“Last Christmas we had a suspect that was going around wearing a Santa hat and beard while he was offending in an attempt to disguise himself. Other times we’ve stood and watched people put steak down their trousers – which they seemed to think was normal behaviour.”
Both Ian and Ben are disappointed to report that once steaks have left store premises, even if they recoup the stolen meat, it has to be thrown away. “It is such a waste,” adds Ben who says he’s fond of a steak at home.
And what happened to Bad Santa? “He was caught and received a six-month suspended sentence for 18 counts of shop thefts, and two attempted thefts.”
Some of the bigger, more serious cases involve foreign gangs that come over from countries such as Albania to shoplift.
“We prefer the word ‘group’,” says Ben. “‘Gang’ gives a misleading image of people running around in an obvious way.”
Not surprisingly, shoplifters comes in all shapes and sizes, and don’t conveniently have signs on their foreheads announcing their ill intentions. However Ben says there are some obvious traits and telltale signs, such as bulky bags and coats with concealed compartments, or just their behaviour.
“It might often be someone who’s acting in a suspicious manner doing X, Y and Z. Sometimes they will appear to have moved on, deterred. But then CCTV will go, ‘Hold on a minute, this person’s now appeared here…’ And then you start building up your information.”
Ben continues: “A lot of our work is intelligence-led, particularly the organised groups. We will have an idea of people or certainly vehicles involved and stuff like that. And that all builds up a picture and feeds into grounds to be able to use powers like stopping and searching someone or a vehicle.”
As we talk we walk by the back door of Marks and Spencer – an exit favoured by shoplifters – then up the alley by the library to Henley Street – another escape route.
“Shoplifters will use the back alleys,” explains Ben. “They’ll try and stay out of sight of the cameras. To match that mentality we’ll keep ducking, diving, and see what we can see.”
With no obvious situations in the town centre, Ben and Ian head back to the police station to grab their car (a modest unmarked Hyundai) and take a gander at what’s happening at the Maybird after they get a tip-off that a regular offender has been spotted.
Stratford’s Saturday traffic gives us ample opportunity to chat further as we head up Birmingham Road.
“Fundamentally we’re a results-driven team,” says Ben of their approach. “We’re there to get results, but we’re also there to provide a service, and the best service that we can provide is by stopping people, dealing with them, recovering property, and ultimately prosecuting people.”
He continues: “With young people if they’re first-time offenders, we don’t prosecute them, we deal with them in other ways including taking them home to have a word with their parents. It’s the same with older first-time offenders, we’re not there to criminalise people. We use out-of-court disposals – a community resolution, which is what it says on the tin. We’re resolving the crime in the community. That will involve property being returned and hopefully no loss to the retailer. We want to divert people away from offending, so that will involve victim awareness.”
He adds: “If we start coming across people again and again, that’s when ultimately the call has to be made, and it’s time to let the judicial system do its work.”
Disagreeing with the view that shoplifting is a ‘soft and victimless’ crime, Ben observes: “I don’t think any crime is victimless, because it all has an impact. Like with the possession of drugs, you’ve got them from somewhere, and what has happened down that chain? And equally, it’s the same with shoplifting.
“Retailers obviously take the brunt of the loss, but then it’s often shoppers picking up the increase in prices, the cost of security systems. Products we buy in shops get more expensive.
“Organised offenders treat shoplifting as a way of life, and it is their business. They come, they take thousands and thousands of pounds, and that’s not good for society, it’s not right. Fundamentally, it’s organised crime. With people travelling to the UK to offend, we will then use any means to legally disrupt that, including working with immigration.”
Ben, a former King Edward VI student who grew up in Stratford, joined the force in 2019. Ian has also served for five years, having come via a university route. They are both highly articulate and thoughtful. The pair say they are motivated by “a strong sense of righteousness.” In fact Ian was invited to join the newly set up ISO unit after he showed a steely commitment by nabbing a shoplifter while off duty at his local Sainsbury’s.
The two also come across as caring. They are clearly passionate about their work, but are also mindful of the public view of them
Talk turns to last year’s Casey Report which was damning over the behaviour of the Met Police.
Ben comments: “The public judge the police as one body. There is a fantastic quote from an unnamed county force senior officer regarding that, which I use a lot: ‘When the Met sneezes, we all get a cold.’ But we have a Warwickshire way of doing things. We’re not here to be oppressive or brutal in our approach. We’re here to do a job and get results, but we’re really nice about it,” adds Ben with a smile.
“There’s an element of humanity, of doing the right thing, in everything we do. If we see regular offenders, we’ll sit down and have a natter – we build a relationship. We’ll always make sure that we try to rehabilitate.”
At the Maybird there is action to be had; CCTV operators have clocked the ‘regular’ in TK Maxx.
“This gentleman is a drug user and has a long offending history,” explains Ben. “He pops up and disappears. He steals to sustain his drug habit. So he will take items, quickly try and sell them off, and then make a little bit of money to be able to go and buy his drugs for the day, and then he’ll disappear off the radar.”
There is no sign of him when Ian has a good scout round of the shop.
It’s not long before another call comes in – this time about a teenage blonde girl being spotted shoplifting in Superdrug. Counterintuitively, we head to Boots. “She’s already left Superdrug, and so it’s sometimes the case that offenders will be after similar stuff from Boots.”
Despite my hawk-eyed assistance, the girl in a black sweater with a cream tote bag is also nowhere to be seen. We do spot two tall alert-looking young men, dressed not unlike Ben and James. They are, it turns out, two more officers from the ISO team, passing through as they head to the Shires centre in Leamington.
“It does feel like Whack-a-Mole sometimes,” responds Ben to a question whether the fight against retail crime feels winnable.
“We have seen a clear reduction in offences linked to organised crime. We see trends of disruption where we have taken visible action. One example was last year at the Shires when to stop a high-value theft we had to put through a window of a car, and ended up arresting four individuals. Everybody saw all these plain-clothes police officers appear from nowhere, taking action. And they’ve told other people involved in the group, and they’ve then gone on to obviously spread the word because after that there were no further organised crime incidents at the Shires for a good few months.”
The team are not just involved solely in retail crime. Even though the public probably doesn’t notice them, Ben says they will make themselves known when needed.
“If we come across something happening, we are still police officers and we will identify ourselves and take action.”
An example of this very thing occurs as the officers giver me a lift back to town. We pass a man on the Clopton Road in a heavy coat with his hood up; meanwhile a youth on a bicycle goes by. Not obvious red flags, unless you’re experienced officers.
“Are you thinking the same?” says Ian. “Do you know, I am thinking the same. Shall we have a spin around?” replies Ben.
The clues are explained: “there was something iffy about the cyclist and it’s not uncommon for [drug] dealers to operate on bikes, the weather isn’t cold enough for hoods and he looked sort of familiar.”
Driver Ian makes a U-turn and follows the man as he heads down Kendall Avenue. The bicycle kid has disappeared but the man interacts with some youths parked in a VW, which races off, but not before Ben notes the number plate. It turns out to be a false plate – probably altered with the use of black tape.
We swerve to a stop by the hood-wearer, Ben and Ian leap out, identify themselves and immediately cuff the man by one hand. They talk evenly and reassuringly. The man admits to being a heroin addict, and has a drug pipe, prescription methadone and a large amount of cash on him. Even though it’s probable he was about to do a drugs deal, there is nothing the man can be held on, and he’s let go.
It’s the end of a typical Stratford kind of day, reckons Ben.
“Stratford tends to be one end of the spectrum or the other: sleepy with nothing happening or lawless with loads of people running around,” he says. “It’s been a middling day so far, but there’s undoubtedly more to come.”
