Major retailers across London are deploying new Metropolitan Police technology to submit evidence directly to officers and speed up the prosecution of shoplifters.
The system allows stores to send CCTV footage, witness statements, and other evidence to police within minutes, helping officers track, arrest, and build cases against offenders far more quickly than before.
Tesco (TSCO.L), Boots, Marks and Spencer, and Greggs are among the retail giants already using the technology, which is accessed via subscription across several London boroughs.
The initial rollout covered Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Greenwich, with the programme now being expanded significantly to additional parts of the capital.
From today, retailers in Southwark, Lambeth, Sutton, Croydon, Bromley, Ealing, Hounslow, and Hillingdon will gain access to the system.
Chief Inspector Rav Pathania, the Met’s lead for business crime, issued a direct warning to offenders as the expansion was announced Monday.
“Shoplifters should be under no illusion – we are increasing our capability to catch you and put you before the courts,” Pathania said.
The Met has reported that shoplifting is down by almost 4%, though several participating retailers have publicly contradicted that picture in recent months.
In April, Marks and Spencer’s retail boss Thinus Keeve said crime is “more brazen, more organised and more aggressive” and accused the government and London mayor of not taking the problem seriously enough.
“I keep hearing crime is falling, especially in London – something none of us believe, and very few people working in retail would see,” Keeve wrote in a letter published on the retailer’s website.
Boots has also been a significant target for theft, with a 17-year-old boy spared jail earlier this year after stealing more than £100,000 worth of goods from the health and beauty chain.
Greggs has taken the dramatic step of removing display counters from some of its stores in direct response to rising shoplifting incidents.
The Met says that when the new system has been used, there was a caution, charge, or other criminal disposal in 29.4% of cases, compared to just 7.3% before its introduction.
That improvement comes against a troubling backdrop, with figures from last year showing that more than 80% of shoplifting offences across the country resulted in no charge at all.
