14-05-2025
Shoplifting squad swoop on Glasgow city centre - arresting "prolific offenders"
Cops combine big shops to scour CCTV and swoop on targets suspected of major organised shoplifting operations
A major crackdown on retail crime saw suspected "prolific" offenders busted.
A squad 31 plain-clothed and uniformed officers, including two from British Transport Police, homed in on suspects after tip-offs from retailers in Scotland's busiest shopping centre.
The Glasgow operation, coordinated by the Retailers Against Crime (RAC) group, resulted in five arrests plus an additional 12 people charged with offences including shoplifting and drug possession.
Stephanie Karté, National Operations Manager at RAC, said: 'A good number of offenders were prevented from shoplifting and causing anti-social behaviour on the day.
'Days like these are so important and it brought police, security staff and retailers together to build relationships and help fight the ongoing battle against retail crime which is a substantial problem and can seem extremely overwhelming.
'We are all working to the same objective – to stop retailers being hit with thefts and incidents of antisocial behaviour - and we all want to make a difference by working together. Everyone has a part to play and it's great to see so many retail staff getting involved and our Days of Action getting busier each time.'
The RAC team used intelligence from the SentrySIS crime-fighting tool, which sees users share real-time information about thefts and other incidents, to draw up details of the most active shoplifters in the city.
Staff from Glasgow retailers gathered for a morning briefing before being supplied with APEX radios to contact police officers if they spotted suspects in their store or on the streets.
One security officer who joined the Day of Action said: 'The overall consensus was that it was a phenomenal day with a real sense of camaraderie and good results in terms of deterring several people from shoplifting.
'I've been involved in the RAC Days of Action for about five years now, I've attended every one and this was the best yet. They have evolved into something very important and make a real dent in the criminality we see in the city centre which has increased massively in recent years.
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'It gives retailers more confidence to see people getting caught and arrested.'
A Loss Prevention Officer involved in the crackdown added: 'We went out into the streets as part of a team and were able to deter and disrupt a lot of known criminals as well as gathering intelligence on others.
'It was a useful experience and as well as catching criminals, it enables us to build better relationships with city centre police officers.'
Figures from the British Retail Consortium's annual crime survey released earlier this year highlighted how retail crime is 'spiralling out of control' with 55,000 thefts a day across the UK – an all-time high - and violent and abusive incidents rising by 50% last year.
And RAC figures detail how incidents of violent crime are surging with 1674 reported to the organisation by members during 2024 from a total of 11,890 offences.
Retailers Against Crime is a national retail crime partnership, established in 1997, which aims to detect and prevent crime by sharing information on local and travelling offenders with members and partners throughout the UK.
