Since November 20 Essex police have made 104 arrests for shop theft, of which 63 have been charged.

Last week, 34 people were arrested for shoplifting with 19 subsequently charged with theft offences and other related matters.

Six people were arrested in each of the Braintree, Harlow and Southend districts between Monday 11 December and Sunday 17 December for shop theft. Five were arrested in Tendring, four in Chelmsford, three in Colchester, two in Thurrock and one each in Epping Forest and Uttlesford districts. 

Sergeant Christian Denning says: "Shoplifting is not a low-level crime. It can have a detrimental effect on shop staff and customers, who are exposed to threats and abuse. It can push prices up too, as retailers seek to recoup their losses."

He adds: "The proceeds of shop theft can feed into bigger networks of criminal activity, which, in turn, use that money to fund drug supply lines and other organised crime which causes misery in our communities.

"Where we identify this, we work with regional and national partners to identify those responsible and bring them to justice, just as we do with the more opportunist shoplifters."

A total of 18 of those arrested for shop theft in the last four weeks tested positive for Class A drugs. Christian says: "People often steal to fund their drug habit so we want to prevent their need to commit theft in the first place by turning them away from drug use."

He adds that those who tested positive for Class A drugs will be referred to a specialist drug treatment programme, with one of those three drug treatment services the force works with.

Essex Police's specialist Business Crime Team has been working with retailers to encourage them to report shop thefts, assaults, and abuse of shop staff.

The team works with police forces nationally, sharing intelligence and information with them, the National Business Crime Centre and retail chains.

Under their 'Open for business, closed for crime' initiative, there was a 19.3% rise in reports of shoplifting in the year to 31 October 2023, compared with the previous 12 months. 

This enables the Business Crime Team to "identify emerging issues, work with business to mitigate risk, and provide evidence of patterns of offending behaviour".