South Ayrshire shoplifting problem probed at council meeting

Councillor Philip Saxton, chair of South Ayrshire Council's service and partnership performance panel, asked officers about the issue at a meeting this week.

He said: “There’s an indication that shops are seeing increased shoplifting, and there’s going to be more, now that we’re in Christmas time, in the town centres.”

Recent statistics released by Police Scotland actually show a marked decrease in shoplifting incidents in South Ayrshire.

The force's Q2 Performance Summary Repor reveals there were 505 shoplifting incidents recorded from April 1 to September 30, while 575 took place during the same timeframe in the previous year, a drop of 12 per cent.

However, the 2024 figures are still significantly higher than the five-year average, which stands at 454.2.

The report said: “The prevalence of shoplifting is replicated across Ayrshire and nationally. Our dedicated town centre officers and locality officers have positive relationships with our retailers and are working collaboratively sharing intelligence and ensuring all opportunities of identifying offenders is undertaken and thereafter bringing those persons to justice.

“Organised retail crime groups continue to operate throughout Scotland.

"Where we have had successes arresting those responsible disrupting such criminal groups we share intelligence nationally and through Retailers Against Crime.

"We continue with an operating model of each major supermarket having a single point of contact (SPOC). The purpose of the SPOC is to identify and report offenders promptly as some offenders have committed numerous thefts within these premises.”

South Ayrshire area commander, Inspector Stuart Dougan, acknowledged the problem at the recent local authority meeting.

He said: “We’ve got an issue around the shoplifting, and have a couple of points that I am quite keen to highlight.

“So, we’ve got a really good intelligence network across South Ayrshire.

“It’s good in terms of tackling shoplifters and we’re working closely with the retailers, not just in the town centres, as you will appreciate some of the major retailers are outwith the town centres.

“We’re really keen to work, number one, to make sure that they’ve got the provisions in place.

“Number two, make sure we’re sharing information about what’s going on, we do research trends and share those trends with partners and retailers against crime.

“And number three is a real focus going into the next couple of weeks, going up to the festive period.”

He said that they want to see more officers in the town centre.

Insp Dougan said: “We’re making sure that the community knows that we’re out and about supporting retailers at what will be a busy time.

“And also just making sure that we’re in and about speaking to the retailers.”

Insp Dougan pointed out that the increase in shoplifting was not confined to South Ayrshire and that they had intelligence of the types of products being targeted by shoplifters.

This intelligence is then passed on to partners and businesses.

He added: “Our festive action plan starts in earnest next week.

“In terms of that, it’ll be a host of  high visibility patrols through the town centres, making sure we are in the areas at the right times, to support the retailers with quick investigations and quick apprehensions when we need to take action in that space.”