Humberside Police: Chief says shops should be 'designing out' thefts

Paul Anderson says stores can help defeat criminals by 'designing out' thefts

Shoplifting could be cut if retailers "design out" opportunities, Humberside's chief constable has said.

Paul Anderson, who took over earlier this month, said retail locations needed to be made less appealing.

He said: "It's about shops taking responsibility for this as well; they need to make sure the way items are stacked, for instance, doesn't allow people to walk in and take them."

Mr Anderson said shoplifting had been an issue since he'd been an officer.

Stores should be 'designing out' thefts, says Humberside Police new chief constable

However, Mr Anderson, who succeeded Lee Freeman, had a message for retail thieves.

"Let me be crystal clear to those who think they can steal with impunity, if you shop lift we will look at the CCTV and we will try to find you and arrest you," he said.

The officer told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the force typically received "in excess of 18,000 calls a month", adding this equated to about 8,500 crimes.

He said the force had "two broad brackets of crimes".

"One bracket is things like shop thefts, anti-social behaviour and vandalism," he said. "These are things often regarded as low level but they're often the crimes which impact people's lives the most.

"The way we deal with that is through community policing, I'm resolute on protecting that, it's key."

Mr Anderson said the other "bracket" involved crimes "that cause the most harm in our society and affect the vulnerable", such as attacks on children, drug offences and domestic violence.

'Good people'

He said the way to deal with anti-social behaviour was through "having a bobby on the beat who knows a community and who is committing offences".

The incoming chief said people would have noticed a difference in police officer numbers following a recent recruitment drive.

He said: "We've recently gone through an uplift and we've had 300 new police officers join the ranks.

"That's meant we've been able to reopen the station in Driffield and our response bases in Brigg and Pocklington."

Mr Anderson said he understood police needed to do more to build bridges with the public.

"Public trust in the police has taken a real battering," he said. "We've got examples from among our staff of far from perfect conduct.

"But what we do have is a good culture here that encourages people to take a stand and say that's not right. The majority of officers are really good people with kind hearts."