Over 1,790 shoplifting charges and detections; and 343 arrests have been made by Divisional Retail Crime Taskforce (RCTF) teams and RCFT-funded crime initiatives since the Taskforce was implemented in April.
Other headline achievements for the Taskforce include 363 retail worker offence charges and 1169 suspects identified. The Taskforce has submitted 459 Intelligence Logs, and identified 1,169 suspects and 31 Organised Crime Groups (OCGs).
What’s more, the Taskforce has completed 54 Disruptions against OCGs and carried out 189 Electronic Briefings
The Taskforce claimed that retail partner feedback had been “overwhelmingly positive” with retailers “highly complementary of the early successes of the Taskforce approach”.
Margaret Anne Clark, Chief Operating Officer Services, Scotmid Co-operative, said: “Tackling retail crime and anti-social behaviour is a key priority for the Society as we work to keep our stores safe and welcoming for colleagues, members, and customers. We are delighted to be working in partnership with Police Scotland’s Retail Crime Taskforce to strengthen our approach. Their support — from training our retail colleagues to developing effective in-store strategies — has been invaluable. They’ve helped bring much-needed focus to retail crime and its impact on our colleagues and the communities we serve, and it’s vital we sustain this momentum.”
Maggie Oliver, Police & Partnership Manager, North Zone, Sainsburys, said: “We have seen some improvement in the targeting of offenders by the Retail Task Force and look forward to seeing some further improvements within the City, with the assistance of the teams regarding the prolific offenders colleagues deal with on a daily basis. The use of the Retail Workers’ Act has been great in providing support our
colleagues in the store.”
Retail Crime Taskforce Key Performance Indicators (to 17th November 2025):
- 1794 Shoplifting Charges/Detections
- 459 Intelligence Logs Submitted
- 363 Retail Worker Offence Charges
- 343 Arrests Made
- 1169 Suspects Identified by RCTF
- 31 Organised Crime Groups Identified
- 189 Electronic Briefings Disseminated
- 54 Disruptions Against OCGs
