Earlier this week I spent the day on the front line with officers from West Midlands Police, the British Transport Police and Safer Travel as they launched Operation Marigold in Walsall. I watched on as multiple arrests were made during the cop's continued battle to keep residents and visitors safe from criminal activity in their town centre. The new campaign - to tie in with the National Business Crime Centre’s (NBCC) Safer Business Action week which started on Monday, October 14 - sent out a dedicated team of both uniformed and non-uniformed officers who are working closely with businesses and targeting offenders who commit business crime.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, it's Dan here from the Express & Style and today we're joining West Midlands Police
00:03in Walsall as they launch a new shoplifting campaign across the region. Today we'll be
00:08joining the police on the ground, talking to businesses, talking to locals and talking
00:12to officers about what this can do for the locals and how it can help residents remain
00:16in a safe and happy town.
00:18I'm PC Tong, Courtney Tong from West Midlands Police. I'm based at Walsall Police Station.
00:23We're here today on Safer Business Action Week and today we're at Walsall Bus Station
00:27targeting shoplifters, around town centres and cross borders. So the knife arch which
00:32we're using today was coming from the Pocket Money Proceeds of Crime Act money. There's
00:36been a huge increase overall towards the shoplifting for different reasons, which could be like
00:42drug addiction, alcohol addiction. I see people struggling financially, mental health wise,
00:49which has led, because of the strain and the struggles people are facing and mental health,
00:53it's led to more violent shop thefts, such as they're now using weapons possibly, they
00:59might be assaulting the staff. So the knife arch is there just to help us if people are
01:04carrying weapons and using the bus lines to keep people safe, offer reassurance to the
01:08community, which it does do. We've had some good feedback about it as well.
01:11So today obviously we started nice and early this morning, but we've already had some good
01:15results. We already had a rest at quarter past, well just before quarter past ten this
01:20morning, with a prolific shoplifter. So that was, between again, all multi-agency working,
01:26I was here at the bus station with officers looking at the Cannock bus line, which is
01:31prolific targeted. When it's come over the radio from BTP and Safer Travel CCTV, that
01:36they've been made aware over the link radio, which is used by stores, a quick way to communicate
01:41with each other about our offenders, that there's a shoplifter that stole previously
01:44from a murgatory for £50 worth of stock that was heading down the town that had left their
01:49store. We was able to, from CCTV at Safer Travel, follow that person through the town
01:54to guide myself there, who we then arrested ultimately to take to custody.
01:59So we've used the knife arch quite a lot over the past few months on loads of different
02:03operations. We haven't implemented it today for shoplifting. Since January, the Neighbourhood
02:10Team alone, so Neighbourhood Team 1, 2 and 3, which cover the Walsall area, so this was
02:14without response, without investigations or our guardian or any of those people. We've
02:19had 74 arrests alone, which is absolutely brilliant.
02:23My name is Paul Williams. I'm 63. I think it's a very good idea. Yeah, if you can stop
02:30knife crime and shoplifting at the same time, it's a brilliant idea.
02:36And do you think it's something that's been sort of necessary and needed in recent times?
02:41Have you noticed it yourself living in the area?
02:44Unfortunately, yes. You know, you read the news and it's started, but now it's getting
02:54closer and closer and that's scary for somebody my age.
03:00Have you experienced any sort of, been a victim of anything of the sort over the years?
03:06Luckily, no. People who have suffered, it's bad for them, obviously. So anything we can
03:15do would be beneficial.
03:18So in terms of working with businesses, we've been working really hard alongside Tesco,
03:22Greggs, the council, support services such as the Beacon and anything like that that
03:28we can help support people. We had a meeting yesterday alongside with Tesco staff. There
03:34was three Greggs stores in Walsall Town Centre that all attended that were having issues.
03:38We had meetings where the council were there with us and the Beacon were there. And it's
03:42all about how the police can support the shops, but also what the shops are doing. So in regards
03:47to is their CCTV up to standards? Is it good? Is it in good positions? How's their stock?
03:52How's their security staff working? Are they actively engaging with people that they think
03:56are shoplifting to prevent it happening? Obviously making sure they're not putting themselves
04:02at danger or at risk by stopping dangerous individuals that may be a risk for them,
04:07ultimately. And working with community protection around, you know, if they're having issues
04:12with people outside the store, are they homeless? Are they street drinkers breaching any breaches
04:16or anything like that? Things like that.
04:18Working with businesses and across partnerships is definitely key to help reduce crime and
04:22make us aware of it. Because if it's not reported to police, we don't know about it. We can't,
04:27effectively, we can't solve a problem we don't know about. So working best with stores
04:33and us and the council and different, loads of different agencies is the way to best support
04:38shops and businesses and the offender ultimately. We don't want to just arrest an offender,
04:43send them to prison, they do their time, come back out and then it's just a vicious cycle.
04:47We want to ultimately stop that offender and help them to prevent it. And what are they
04:52doing? You know, is it a cry out from home? If it's a youth, something's going on that
04:55we need to know about that we can help. Is it drug addiction where we can help get them
04:58support from drug services? Is it alcohol where again we can get support for them? Is
05:02it a case of they're actually just really struggling with money and they need some help
05:06sorting out their benefits? Or that they're homeless and can we just get them a link in
05:09with the rough sleepers team? Are they aware of them? Who have we got working around that
05:12individual? The police don't hold all the knowledge is what I'm saying, basically. And
05:17everyone working together can really be the great support that someone needs. Because
05:22we can't offer all the support at the place that someone might need.