ACS has welcomed an announcement from the Home Office that there have been nearly 2,400 additional police and community support officers hired into neighbourhood roles over the last six months.
In April last year, the government committed to put 3,000 neighbourhood officers into frontline positions within 12 months to drive down anti-social behaviour that is blighting town centres and residential areas. Data from the first six months of this period – up to the end of September 2025 – shows that this target is on course to be met, with 2,383 police officers and Community Support Officers now in neighbourhood roles. This marks a significant step towards delivering the government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, which includes a pledge to double police personnel into neighbourhood roles with an additional 13,000 by the end of this parliament.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “Neighbourhood policing has been devastated after a decade of austerity under the previous government. To make matters worse, too many forces ended up with officers behind desks doing HR and admin. I am putting police back where they belong – on the beat, fighting crime and catching criminals in our communities.”
Association of Convenience Stores chief executive James Lowman said: “We strongly welcome the Government’s ongoing plan to put more police on the streets to keep communities safer. Retailers are already noticing the difference in the local police presence in their communities and the relationships that they’re building with neighbourhood policing teams, but this momentum must be backed up by the rest of the justice system. When crimes like theft and abuse in store are reported, they should be investigated and the criminals responsible must be put on a path to stop the cycle of reoffending.”
Figures from the 2025 ACS Crime Report show that over half of independent convenience stores (52%) now rate their relationship with their neighbourhood policing team as very good.
The announcement follows two major initiatives in 2025 aimed at tackling retail crime, the Winter of Action and the Safer Streets Blitz, both of which involved putting more police patrols in town centres and on high streets as well as local action to tackle anti social behaviour.
ACS' 2026 Crime Report will be launched on 18th March at the Safe and Responsible Retailing Conference in Birmingham. The report will reveal the current state of crime committed against the convenience sector, including new figures on theft, abuse, organised crime, reporting, and retailers' perception of the police.
