The hidden line of defence: An intelligence-led approach to tackling retail crime
ow can technology and intelligent data collection help tackle prolific shoplifters and organised crime?
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Retail crime is on the rise. According to the British Retail Consortium, there are now 16.7 million incidents of shoplifting a year, meaning shop thefts have doubled in the past three years. What is particularly concerning, though, is that whilst we’ll always see some one-off shoplifting incidents, this recent uplift is being driven by organised and increasingly violent crime committed by prolific offenders.
Whilst the likes of CCTV and body-worn cameras and emergency alarm systems have been around for many years, technology has needed to advance further and faster to rise to this evolving threat. It’s a combination of the latest technology
and with our exceptional security colleagues that will give us the edge over criminals and help keep spaces, customers and colleagues safe.
Providing a lifeline
Shoplifting is not a victimless crime. More than one in ten shopworkers have suffered from violence or abuse at work, with an average of 1,300 incidents taking place each day. I hear the stories behind these numbers from colleagues on the shop floor and am saddened that they face this kind of violence at work, especially whilst working to keep the public safe.
For shopworkers who work alone, in isolated spaces like stock rooms, innovative technology like lone worker devices can be a lifeline. These small handheld devices send the exact GPS location and medical data for the relevant individual to our monitoring team, either
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when a button is pressed or the device senses extreme movement. The monitoring team can then undertake a real-time risk assessment, listening in to assess the level of threat, speaking to the colleague directly through the device if it’s safe to do so, and calling the emergency services when necessary.
Forecasting threat
In the early days of my career as a store detective, we didn’t have much support beyond the shop floor. Technology like the lone worker devices and intelligence software has really changed that, providing security teams with the right information, at the right time, to make sure they can make the right decisions to keep frontline officers and the public safe.
For example, our Merlin Protect 24/7 software gives our security teams access to real-time data on local and national
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