ACS (The Association of Convenience Stores) have welcomed the government’s pledge to place thousands of police officers, community support officers, and special constables across the UK’s neighbourhoods with the aim to reduce shoplifting, theft, and antisocial behaviour.

Today (Wednesday 11th September), the Policing Minister has announced a nationwide rollout of a new specialist training programme for neighbourhood police officers developed by the College of Policing, which aims to kick off this plan by improving standards and consistency across the country’s police forces.

The programme, named ‘The Neighbourhood Policing Pathway’, is currently going through a series of pilots in regions across England and Wales to help upskill officers to tackle daily issues that are faced by local communities. The Neighbourhood Policing Pathway training programme is expected to exit its pilot stage in March 2025 and then be rolled out across all forces.

Figures from the 2024 ACS Crime Report show that there have been over 76,000 incidents of violence recorded in the convenience sector over the last year, and over 5.6 million incidents of theft. ACS has been calling on the Government to take action in tackling the UK’s retail crime crisis, specifically by focusing additional police resources on neighbourhood policing to protect local communities.

ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “We welcome the focus on training officers to engage with local shop owners to enhance crime reporting and gather intelligence. Often our members are disappointed by the response they get from their local police force, but this a step in the right direction to tackle the chronic shop theft problem that retailers are dealing with across the country.”

You can find more information by visiting the gov.uk website here.