Retailers across Scotland can report incidents of shop theft more easily via a dedicated online reporting form, which went live yesterday (23 March).
The new form is designed to make it simpler and less time-consuming for retailers to report shop theft, while also reducing non-urgent, lower risk demand on Police Scotland’s call handling centres to support priority policing responses.
The country-wide roll out follows a successful pilot in Greater Glasgow Division, which was utilised by 18 retailers across more than 1,000 stores. During the pilot, timescales for creation of a crime report number have reduced from the required 72-hour period to frequent same day processing. In addition, a link to Police Scotland’s Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) system is provided once a crime report number is generated, enabling retailers to upload their CCTV footage immediately and allowing investigations to commence far quicker.
The retailer online reporting form for crimes of ‘theft by shoplifting’ can only be used in instances where the offender has left the store and where there is no associated threat, harm, risk or vulnerability. If there is another offence, in addition to theft by shoplifting, such as assault of a retail worker or vandalism, other reporting methods such as 101 or 999, in an emergency, should be used.
Assistant Chief Constable Tim Mairs said: “We recognise that the continued rise in retail offences across the country requires a strong policing response, however, many crimes are reported after an incident has occurred, meaning that priority must be given to answering and resourcing calls where there is a more urgent risk to public safety.”
He added: “Retailer feedback to date is positive, with many reporting that completion of the online form is easier than reporting via phone call or ContactUs [online form].”
Police Scotland is now working to improve the form’s usability. The development of the form supports the ongoing work to introduce a third-party reporting platform that can provide a consistent approach to reporting certain retail offences whenever they arise within Scotland.
