Traders using WhatsApp to fight shoplifters

Sue Williams set up a WhatsApp group chat for businesses in Ross-on-Wye

High street traders in a market town have created a WhatsApp group to share intelligence on shoplifters in a bid to fight the crime.

About 95 businesses in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, have signed up to the chat called Shopwatch so they can keep track of known offenders in the town.

Owners said the scheme has helped them to tackle thieves and given them confidence for the Christmas period.

West Mercia Police said a new town centre team had been set up and that retail crime was a priority for officers.

Sue Williams, who runs Gallery 54 on High Street, set up the chat and said if one of the group’s members spots a known shoplifter they can message the others to warn them.

“I think what it’s doing is making traders more aware - they are looking for who comes in,” she told BBC Hereford and Worcester.

“It’s so easy to set up: one administrator, phone numbers and that’s all you need to do. It’s really easy and it costs nothing.”

Shopper Terry Brown described the scheme as a “great idea”.

He said: “They [the owners] have seen shoplifting in action and they just feel helpless because they’re gone and they’re not going to chase after them because they’d be leaving their shop exposed.”

Marion Treanor, another shopper, added: “It enables the shop keepers to be a little bit more confident that others are doing the same thing so it [shoplifting] might get spotted sooner.”

'Fully engaged'

Sgt Alice Bennet, of West Mercia Police, said an additional two officers had been dedicated to the town centre as part of the new town centre team.

She said officers were “fully engaged with businesses” and would continue to work with them to prevent crime.

“Ross-on-Wye is a close knit, rural market town with a community that communicates well with each other,” she added.