SHOPLIFTERS beware – Wokingham is not a safe place for you, thanks to a new initiative launched by town centre stores.
They’ve teamed up with Thames Valley Police, Wokingham Borough and Wokingham Town Council to launch Shopwatch, a way to share real-time information about thieves.
Participating stores upload information to a central database, which then sends out alerts to others in the system, as well as reporting the thefts to the police so they can take action. It operates in a similar way to a scheme for pubs and clubs.
The scheme operates in the Wokingham town area, including Woosehill and Norreys, and has been funded for an initial two years thanks to the Community Safety Partnership.
PCSO Victoria Williams is one of the liaison team from the police who helped get Shopwatch off the ground.
“A few months ago, myself and my colleagues on the Wokingham Neighbourhood Team approached retailers saying they might want to get involved in tackling the issue of shoplifting and the related anti-social behaviour in the town centre,” she said.
“There wasn’t a current retail group looking at that and stores were trying to manage it individually. We brought the retailers together for a meeting and decided to form Shopwatch, to share information and tackle shoplifting.”
Retailers came together on Sunday for a meeting in Aldi where they were shown the ropes and the system, called Disc, is now in use. It is fully GDPR compliant.
Craig Breadmore, the manager of Wokingham town’s Aldi branch said Shopwatch would make a difference to the shopping experience for both staff and customers.
“Information was being shared in an ad hoc way between different stores. We’re now bringing everyone together and sharing it in the same way, and a way that is also legal,” he said.
PS Paul Bentley said: “If a theft has just occurred in store, or some anti-social behaviour outside, that can immediately be shared with other shops, so everyone in Shopwatch gets the message. We can target our patrols based on the information we’re getting.
“Previously, we’d go into a shop and they would say, ‘Oh, this happened three days ago’.
“If, with Shopwatch, we can deter and stop crime in the first place, that’s much rather where we would be, so we’re hoping it encourages people to report things using Disc, an easier and quicker process, that allows us to be in the right place, at the right time.
“It’s not going to stop it completely, but it makes it harder (for thieves).”
Craig is keen for retailers not currently in the scheme to sign up, and stressed it wasn’t just for chain stores in the town. The funding means it is free to join.
“Communication will improve between stores and the police, that’s what we need,” he said.
It is planned to get Shopwatch stickers for each participating retailer to display, so shoppers have confidence the store is part of the scheme.
And to any thieves thinking of targeting Wokingham, PC Bentley warned: “You will get banned from all premises that are participating in Shopwatch. It’s going to make it tough for shoplifters.”
An email address has been set up for retailers wanting more information about joining: wokinghamshopwatch@outlook.com
