Arrests after retail crime crackdown

Eight people have been arrested during a week-long campaign to target shoplifting in Surrey.

Officers and PCSOs visited retail staff in Guildford and Waverley, while plain-clothed behavioural detection officers, trained to spot suspicious behaviour, blended in with shoppers.

Surrey's Police and Crime Commissioner said retail crime caused victims "financial, emotional, and sometimes physical harm" and also impacted the wider community.

Lisa Townsend, who joined patrols in Farncombe, warned shoplifters: "The person browsing the aisle beside them could be a Surrey Police officer."

The commissioner has vowed a return to "back-to-basics policing" in her Police and Crime Plan, a blueprint for the force's priorities over the next three years.

She said that Surrey Police's progress had been "really impressive" over the course of the year but that she had heard "loud and clear" that more must be done to tackle retail crime.

About 200 members of the business community took part in a survey launched by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) and Surrey Police in March.

The OPCC said a report on retail crime and the force's response will be published in the coming months.

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