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The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has welcomed the announcement of a new Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee from the Government, aiming to ensure that every community across the country will have dedicated and specialist neighbourhood policing teams.

It follows a manifesto commitment from Labour to put 13,000 more neighbourhood officers on streets - an increase of over 50% according to the Home Office.

The detail of the measures announced this morning (10 April) include each neighbourhood having named, contactable officers to tackle the issues facing their communities, helping to restore trust that policing is working to keep people safe.

As well as this, every neighbourhood in England and Wales will have dedicated teams who will spend their time on the beat with guaranteed police patrols in town centres and other hotspot areas at peak times such as Friday and Saturday nights. There will also be a dedicated antisocial behaviour lead in every force, working with residents and businesses to develop tailored action plans to tackle record levels of antisocial behaviour.

ACS chief executive, James Lowman (above), said: “More neighbourhood police officers are urgently needed as one part of the solution to growing shop theft, anti-social behaviour and other crimes typically committed in the communities where people live, shop, socialise and work. Having a named police officer known to a retailer can make a huge difference and we want to see this become the norm for our members.

“We need to see these officers deployed in a way that really makes a difference in the heart of communities. Targeting this resource at town centres and at peak times when crime is highest might not be the right approach in every area. Shops and communities further away from major centres feel especially exposed and rarely see police officers. Police forces and Police & Crime Commissioners need to make sure these locations see the benefit of increased policing.

“What really matters is what these new officers do. Everyone knows the way to tackle retail crime: retailers must report every incident, the police must investigate every incident and identify prolific repeat offenders, and the courts must apply effective penalties that break the cycle of re-offending. Our members are interested in these results and will be judging this announcement by its success in delivering this.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The heartbeat of our Great British policing tradition is seeing bobbies on the beat, but for too long, too many communities have been feeling abandoned as crime soared and neighbourhood police disappeared, even when local crimes like shop theft, street theft or blatant drug dealing rose sharply.

The ACS’ full Crime Report is available here while the full announcement from the Home Office on the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee is available here.

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