Fermanagh police run retail crime workshops

Shop staff in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, are to receive more training on how to cope with retail crime. Already, scores of local staff have attended training sessions under the 'Business Watch Initiative'.

The Business Watch training package aims to guide staff through all the processes they need to know about in dealing with retail crime so that they can be confident in taking the appropriate actions.

Constable Hazel Gray, the Crime Prevention Officer at Enniskillen said: "When a person is detected committing an offence  the value of the stolen property may be small, but its associated costs are far in excess of the amount. If you consider how much it costs the retailer to deal with the offender; how much time and resources it costs the police to make enquiries, including compiling reports for the Public Prosecution Service, and how much it costs the Court system to bring the person to justice, you can see just how much it is actually costing honest decent citizens of Fermanagh".

She asks: "Is it not better to prevent a crime than detect it after it has been committed?".Her advice to deter criminals include simply asking the person, 'Can I help you?' or 'How would you like to pay for that?. "Being vibrant and proactive makes your shop less attractive to the thief", she says. "It also helps secure your long-term employment and can mean that new jobs are created purely because the public like to visit shops that are known to be safe, crime-free and friendly."

Read the rest of this item from the Fermanagh Herald here