Forces crackdown on prolific retail offenders

• Up to 16 police forces to participate in new Prolific Retail Offender Pilot
• Police-recorded shop theft fell by 4 percent in the year ending March 2026, however behind much of this harm sits a small group of highly prolific offenders
• 19 operations adopted in the last six months by national intelligence unit tackling organised retail crime

Police leaders have welcomed an announcement from the Home Secretary today (Wednesday), to launch a pilot scheme tackling some of the most prolific retail crime offenders across England and Wales.

The announcement comes as part of Safer Business Action Week (SaBA) and a national partnership focus on tackling shop theft and abuse against retail workers.

Over the last three years, since the national Retail Crime Action Plan was introduced, policing has made significant strides in its fight against retail crime, strengthening relationships with retailers and greatly improving information sharing.

Better collaboration between policing, government, retailers and the security industry has led to a four percent reduction in shoplifting offences in the last year, however behind much of this harm sits a relatively small group of highly prolific offenders.

ACC Alex Goss, NPCC lead for retail crime, said: “Many forces and local partnerships are already delivering impressive work to collectively tackle this crime type, including providing training and support for retailers, advising on effective crime prevention methods such as the use of security systems and investment in technology, as well as developing reporting processes that make it quicker and easier for businesses to share information with the police.

“We welcome the Home Secretary’s announcement today, which provides policing and partners with additional support to tackle some of the most prolific retail crime offenders who continue to cause harm to businesses, retail workers and local communities.

“The programme aims to develop and test a more intensive, multi-agency approach to a small cohort of prolific offenders to reduce repeat offending, improve outcomes for retailers and communities, and provide an evidence base for future national policy.

“Nationally, we will continue to work closely with the Home Office and police forces to support development and implementation of the pilot and build on the progress already being delivered to tackle retail crime.”

While a small number of prolific offenders accounts for a large amount of retail crime, a significant proportion can be attributed to organised crime groups.

In May 2024, Opal – policing’s national intelligence unit to tackle serious organised acquisitive crime – launched the first national dedicated organised retail crime (ORC) intelligence capability within policing as part of the Pegasus Partnership, which encompassed a range of partners who came together to tackle ORC.

Since then, Opal has developed what has now become the largest national ORC incident-based data set, combining both law enforcement and industry data to map out potential organised crime activity across the UK, identifying where offenders are targeting multiple geographic areas and retailers.

Chief Superintendent Owain Llewellyn, Head of Opal, said: “The work of Opal is crucial in providing support to police forces and coordinating working with retailers to tackle those offenders who are operating across county borders and causing the most harm.

“The unit discovers, develops and co-ordinates intelligence at local, regional, national and international levels, taking referrals from police forces and retailers to then develop intelligence such as identifying offenders, linking offenders and/or vehicles through the Police National Database, looking at patterns of offending and sharing information packs about prolific offenders.”

In the last six months alone, Opal’s Organised Retail Crime (ORC) team has received 69 referrals from police forces and retailers, of which 53 were developed, resulting in 19 operations being adopted.

A total of 2,001 offences have been recorded and 145 offenders identified, of which 30 people have so far been arrested.

Since it’s creation in May 2024, the ORC has adopted 103 operations which have resulted in 287 arrests, 221 court outcomes including custodial sentences of more than 129 years and 23 deportations.

Of the OCGs identified and monitored through the work of Opal, there has been a 73 percent reduction in offending by these groups, demonstrating a clear impact in disrupting these high-harm networks.