Team making strides in fight against organised retail crime

Just over three months into opening up referrals from police forces and retailers, Opal, policing’s central intelligence team, has identified more than 152 individuals linked to organised retail crime and facilitated more than 23 arrests of high harm offenders.

Funded by the Pegasus Partnership, a business and policing partnership set up in October 2023 by PCC Katy Bourne to improve the way retailers are able to share intelligence with policing, a dedicated team within Opal now collate intelligence referrals to create a comprehensive national picture of organised retail crime offending.

The team analyses the referrals received, looking for opportunities to identify offenders and map offending patterns where individuals are targeting multiple police force areas. A package will then be collated and shared with the most appropriate police force to progress the investigation and take action against offenders.

One individual was recently sentenced to four years in prison after stealing over £55,000 worth of goods from different Boots stores across Wales. Opal’s work identified his pattern of offending which impacted a number of force areas and South Wales Police then progressed the investigation.

Another offender was undertaking high value thefts such as electricals, sunglasses, fragrances and baby products. His offending impacted at least 16 police force areas with offences totalling over £33,000. Opal developed further intelligence to support the location of individual and then Devon and Cornwall Police took on the investigation, arresting the man who subsequently received a 16 month prison sentence.

Several more investigations are in the pipeline with arrests of offenders responsible for further tens of thousands of pounds worth of thefts.

Stephanie Coombes is Head of Intelligence at Opal. She said:

“Opal has been carrying out this role for other crime types for a number of years and we have seen significant successes from having a national overview of what’s happening in the organised crime world.

“As we’ve seen, organised crime groups may be targeting one retailer using the same tactics across multiple regions and without a national team to bring together that information, we could have several police forces each looking into the same group. Our role is vital in centralising intelligence, building strong evidence packages and then working with the relevant force/s to deal with these high harm offenders.

“Our work can be as light touch as putting CCTV images through the Police National Database to identify an individual or as extensive as building a detailed intelligence package of offending across multiple areas and retailers but either way it’s proving extremely effective.

“For far too long these groups have been damaging retailers and communities with thefts reaching hundreds of thousands of pounds and we are now quite literally ensuring they have nowhere to hide.”

Assistant Chief Constable, Alex Goss, is National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Retail Crime. He said:

“We know retail crime has a significant impact on victims which is why we are committed to doing all we can to reduce thefts and pursue offenders, especially those prolific and habitual offenders, who cause misery within the community. 

“Late last year we worked with the Government to develop the Retail Crime Action Plan which sets out clear guidelines for the response to retail crime, including following all reasonable lines of enquiry. Police forces have embedded the plan in their operational work and we’ve already seen positive results and increased retailer confidence.

“This renewed focus, working alongside Opal’s highly effective intelligence work in tackling organised retail crime, is showing a marked improvement in our response, dealing robustly with offenders and supporting retailers of all sizes.”

Sussex PCC Katy Bourne said:

“Retailers, shopworkers and customers will be pleased to see the results of this unique collaboration between the retail sector and police.  Over the past two years, retailers and police business crime leads had been calling for a more co-ordinated approach that shared information about known offenders and suspects and their patterns of behaviour and movements.

“With 152 criminals identified for sustained criminal activity in just four months, the OPAL team have made a great start in mapping and disrupting organised retail crime which will give businesses, their staff and shoppers the confidence that police take shoplifting seriously.

“I would like to commend the OPAL team for their work and thank those businesses who had faith in my concept of Project Pegasus and provided vital funding to support this specialist intelligence capability.”

In the months May – August 2024, Opal’s intelligence team for serious organised retail crime has:

• Identified 152 high harm individuals involved in organised retail crime
• Affected 23 arrests, impacting at least 16 businesses
• Received 86 referrals from police forces, retailers and organisations
• Supported 47 businesses and organisations, impacting 45 police forces