SGF seminar celebrates partnerships
RETAIL crime was firmly in the spotlight at Police Scotland’s training college at Tulliallan last month with retailers and industry figures gathering for the Scottish Grocers Federation’s annual retail crime seminar.
This year’s event covered a broad spectrum of criminal behaviour affecting retailers including violence, theft and illicit trade.
Among the speakers on the day were Police Scotland inspector Alistair Anderson; Jim McFedries, head of profit protection Scotland; Kenny MacAskill, former Scottish government cabinet minister and sitting chairperson of the Scottish Anti-illicit Trade Group; Colin Levy, retail operations manager at Certas Energy.
Focusing on the issue of proxy purchasing, inspector Alistair Anderson provided an update on the ongoing ‘You’re asking for it’ campaign, which sees Police Scotland work with retailers throughout North Lanarkshire to tackle underage drinking, antisocial behaviour, crime and violence.
The inspector revealed that when the scheme was piloted in Motherwell and Wishaw, reports of street drinking were down by 53%, with youth disorder rates also dropping by 15%.
Anderson added that engagement with convenience retailers had been vital to the scheme’s success.
“What is important to us is working with SGF and getting retailers involved. We had to ensure we gained the trust of retailers because they are a vital cog in our partnership working,” he said.
Scotmid’s Jim McFedries turned the day’s agenda to the issue of violence and abuse against retail workers, while providing examples of some of the incidents the Scottish multiple’s staff have been involved in.
“Violence against shopworkers is very much on the way up and that’s no different for Scotmid,” he said.
McFedries backed his claims up with Scotmid internal data which showed a steady increase in violence over the last five years, with an increase in incidents of 47% since 2013.
Kenny MacAsklill was also on hand to discuss the current status of illicit tobacco in Scotland.
MacAskill told seminar attendees that the illicit tobacco market is being operated largely through organised crime, making cooperation between stakeholders crucial to stamping it out.
“Crime knows no borders, it is international and it requires us to work together,” he said.
“I look forward to working with you, you are the people at the coalface, your input is essential but, it’s what we do collectively that matters.
“It’s not just a job for the police or HMRC, it’s not just a job for the big companies looking to close down counterfeit, it’s the responsibility of us all to keep our communities safe and to keep serious organised crime out of our society.”
