'We've chased shoplifters down the street'

A shop owner has described the mental toll shoplifting has and how her staff get "so angry" they have chased offenders down the street.

But Julie Teckman, who runs Vintage Guru in Northampton, said recent schemes and more visible policing had improved the situation in the town centre.

Her shop was one of those visited by policing minister Dame Diana Johnson as the government launched an initiative to have greater protection for town centres from crime and anti-social behaviour.

Although Ms Teckman praised police, she said shoplifting "really affects people quite badly".

Ms Teckman said: "There are opportunist thieves who come in and feel it's OK to take stuff if they can get away with it.

"Then there are other people who are desperate who come in because they're trying to steal things just to make some money."

Ms Teckman spoke about the emotional effect on her and her staff.

She said: "It's the knowledge that someone's come in and taken something from you and walked out, and some people are very, very brazen about it because they think you can't do anything about it

"We've chased people down the street.

"I would never put any of my staff at risk, but you get so angry when someone comes and takes something and does it in a brazen way that you feel you want to do something about it."

Ms Teckman said initiatives such as the "anti-crime pod", along with greater police presence in the town centre, was starting to pay off.

"It's that sort of support knowing that someone's on hand," she said of police officers in the town centre.

Nicola Davis-Lyons, the neighbourhood inspector for Northampton Central, said it was "really important that the businesses here see us and that the people that are here see us".

She said the types of crimes that occurred in town centres, such as anti-social behaviour and shoplifting, were "quite complex issues to solve".

Ms Davis-Lyons said: "You can't police your way out of a lot of those things."

She said the force had involved partners such as local council and community groups to help with "secondary issues", alongside the offending.

Ms Davis-Lyons added one change police had made to the town centre was that "officers will only be out on foot".

She claimed there had been a reduction in violent crime and sexual offences in the area.

She added: "Seeing a police officer walk past, we know it impacts that feeling of safety."

Speaking in Northampton, Dame Diana Johnson, the Labour government's policing minister, said she agreed with Insp Davis-Lyons.

She said: "There's the obvious issue around people feeling much better when they see a police officer.

"I have lots of people saying to me they don't see the police officers enough in their local area."

Dame Diana said the government was committed to adding more neighbourhood police officers and to cracking down on crimes such as shoplifting.

She said: "It's theft, no matter whether it's a small item for five pounds or something that costs hundreds of pounds.

"It's wrong and it's a criminal act that people are undertaking."

The minister praised Northamptonshire Police and the work going on in the town centre and its work with retailers, saying it was an "important relationship".

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