Latest news with #DarrylPreston
Yahoo
26-07-2025
- Yahoo
Worker threatened with weapons by shoplifters
A convenience store worker has described being threatened with weapons when challenging shoplifters as incidents increase across a county. "I've been threatened with knives, with hockey sticks, every day you're seeing something get worse," said Kieran Essex, 27, who works in a shop in Peterborough. Figures from Cambridgeshire Police show reports of shoplifting have more than doubled over the past five years and Mr Essex said it was a "pandemic". Darryl Preston, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said work was taking place to tackle the issue. Mr Essex has been working in retail for nine years and said there were now "countless" amounts of shoplifters. He said he has experienced "physical contact" with offenders on numerous occasions. "I have had to tackle people at the door, have pursued them outside and have even had people drive off with me inside their car window." He said recently the shop was targeted by shoplifters over four days in a ten-day period. "Everyone is just trying to survive," Mr Essex said. In 2020 3,006 shoplifting incidents were recorded by Cambridgeshire Police across the county, this figure rose to 3,161 in 2021, 4,331 in 2022, 6,046 in 2023 and 7,352 in 2024. Vidyut Soni, the owner of Premier City News in Peterborough, has been looking for ways to tackle the problem. "It's brazen, not blasé, but brazen. Everything that we sell we have to account for. "We need to find ways to actually make it better, or otherwise it can potentially ruin the whole business. "Trade is not easy. Things are very tight in the economy and we don't make much money anyway." Pep Cipriano, the chief executive officer of Peterborough Positive, a business improvement area organisation, said the city was not alone in having rising rates of shoplifting. "Shoplifting in Peterborough, like most towns and cities, is on the increase. "We work really closely with the police to try and combat it and we've just got the recent announcement about new police officers coming to the city centre... which means on a daily basis we'll see more police on the street." Preston said: "There are ongoing operations taking place to deal with these issues in a concerted way – an example of which would be the 1,600 shoplifting charges brought by [Cambridgeshire Police's] south spree offending team since its creation in September 2023. "I continue to fund problem-solving posts in each of our county's community safety partnerships who are working with the police and other partners to tackle shoplifting. "The sharing of local intelligence through schemes such as Shop Watch and the provision of Safer Business packs are both helping to support retailers in preventing, responding and recovering from incidents." Det Ch Insp Christian O'Brien, from Cambridgeshire Police, said: "We are doing everything we can, working with the business community and with the courts. "We're... trying to put in place criminal orders to try and prevent the people from committing the offences. "We also work with partner agencies to help the people committing these crimes, because a lot is fuelled by different addictions." Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. More stories like this Shoplifting and weapons offences on the rise Pushchair shoplifter jailed for nine months Watch: Man caught with Creme Eggs stuffed in jacket Related internet links Cambridgeshire Constabulary Peterborough Positive Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Police and Crime Commissioner
BBC News
26-07-2025
- BBC News
Peterborough shop worker threatened with weapons by shoplifters
A convenience store worker has described being threatened with weapons when challenging shoplifters as incidents increase across a county. "I've been threatened with knives, with hockey sticks, every day you're seeing something get worse," said Kieran Essex, 27, who works in a shop in Peterborough. Figures from Cambridgeshire Police show reports of shoplifting have more than doubled over the past five years and Mr Essex said it was a "pandemic". Darryl Preston, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said work was taking place to tackle the issue. Mr Essex has been working in retail for nine years and said there were now "countless" amounts of said he has experienced "physical contact" with offenders on numerous occasions. "I have had to tackle people at the door, have pursued them outside and have even had people drive off with me inside their car window."He said recently the shop was targeted by shoplifters over four days in a ten-day period."Everyone is just trying to survive," Mr Essex said. In 2020 3,006 shoplifting incidents were recorded by Cambridgeshire Police across the county, this figure rose to 3,161 in 2021, 4,331 in 2022, 6,046 in 2023 and 7,352 in 2024. Vidyut Soni, the owner of Premier City News in Peterborough, has been looking for ways to tackle the problem."It's brazen, not blasé, but brazen. Everything that we sell we have to account for. "We need to find ways to actually make it better, or otherwise it can potentially ruin the whole business."Trade is not easy. Things are very tight in the economy and we don't make much money anyway." Pep Cipriano, the chief executive officer of Peterborough Positive, a business improvement area organisation, said the city was not alone in having rising rates of shoplifting."Shoplifting in Peterborough, like most towns and cities, is on the increase."We work really closely with the police to try and combat it and we've just got the recent announcement about new police officers coming to the city centre... which means on a daily basis we'll see more police on the street." Preston said: "There are ongoing operations taking place to deal with these issues in a concerted way – an example of which would be the 1,600 shoplifting charges brought by [Cambridgeshire Police's] south spree offending team since its creation in September 2023."I continue to fund problem-solving posts in each of our county's community safety partnerships who are working with the police and other partners to tackle shoplifting. "The sharing of local intelligence through schemes such as Shop Watch and the provision of Safer Business packs are both helping to support retailers in preventing, responding and recovering from incidents." Det Ch Insp Christian O'Brien, from Cambridgeshire Police, said: "We are doing everything we can, working with the business community and with the courts."We're... trying to put in place criminal orders to try and prevent the people from committing the offences. "We also work with partner agencies to help the people committing these crimes, because a lot is fuelled by different addictions." Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
14-07-2025
- BBC News
Cambridgeshire shoplifting and weapons offences on the rise
A county saw a drop in recorded personal robberies and home burglaries over the past year - but a rise in shoplifting and possession of weapons offences, according to its police and crime Preston, the elected official who oversees policing in Cambridgeshire, said officers were "working hard to respond to demand".Cambridgeshire had 1,732 police officers on the beat at the end of March, which is the same figure as last year, and itself a record commissioner, who was re-elected for a four-year term last year as the Conservative candidate, has produced a draft annual report covering local policing in the year to April. Preston said: "With more officers in our cities, towns and rural areas through proactive recruitment and improvements to call handling, the constabulary is working hard to respond to demand."He added that police funding remained a "big issue" in the county and that trust in policing was an "ongoing" problem nationally."It is important to remember that the majority of officers and staff enter policing for the right reasons – to tackle crime and keep communities safe." Compared with last year, 11% fewer personal robbery offences were recorded and there were 9% fewer instances of residential other offences increased annually – there was a 22% increase in shoplifting and a 17% increase in possession of weapons report said that police response times had improved in general, from 20 minutes last year to 14 minutes in recent months on said shoplifting was a rising national trend and that the force's Spree Offender Team had seen 1,639 charges since September patrols in 20 locations regarded as hotspots had led to 160 weapons being taken from streets, the report draft report will be discussed at a meeting of the Cambridgeshire Police and Crime panel in Peterborough on 17 July. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
