The Association of Convenience Stores has welcomed the government’s decision to earmark 13,000 police officers as part of its Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.
The Guarantee, set out in the Labour Party’s election manifesto, will put dedicated policing teams in “every community” in England and Wales, with “named, contactable officers” that residents can raise issues with and report crime to.
The initiative will be rolled out from July 2025, with plans to complete it by 2029. An early focus of the programme will be to establish named local officers, target town-centre crime and re-establish neighbourhood policing so residents and businesses become used to seeing officers on the beat. Guaranteed patrols will also take place in busy areas at peak times
The ACS’ chief executive, James Lowman, says dedicated officers are “desperately needed” in light of growing incidents of theft and antisocial behaviour, and that “having a named police officer known to a retailer can make a huge difference”.
The ACS reported in March this year that retailers experienced 6.2 million incidents of theft over the past 12 months, a 10.7% rise on the previous year, though only 500,000 of these thefts are said to have been reported to police. Retailers are said to under-report crime primarily due to a lack of confidence any follow-up investigation will take place, with shopkeepers saying there is a perceived lack of interest from overstretched officers.
Shopkeepers are losing £316m to thieves a year according to the ACS, while an estimated 87% of staff have been subject to verbal abuse over 1.2 million incidents. Government figures, meanwhile, show 90% of crimes are left unsolved,
Announcing the initiative, Keir Starmer said: “Policing has become reactive, picking up the pieces after crimes have occurred”, and that the Guarantee would put “prevention back at the heart of policing and ensuring police are back on the streets.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper added that “everyone deserves local, visible policing they can trust”.
