Rotherham: Coffee and deodorants on top of list for shoplifters

South Yorkshire Police seem to be winning the fight against retail crime in Rotherham.
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Police

According to the force there was a ‘slight’ decrease in the number of shop lifting offences reported in May.

It comes after police launched operations and incentives to tackle the problem.

Police received reports of 161 offences of retail crime in Rotherham throughout April and 148 offences have been reported throughout May.

The top three products again were food - 53 incidents, alcohol - 32 incidents and cosmetics - 20 incidents, followed by clothing and cleaning products. Jars of coffee and Lynx deodorants are currently being targeted in stores.

The estimated cost of all items stolen in May totalled almost £11,000.

In total, 38 offences have seen people charged to court, 12 fixed penalty notices have been issued and two cautions made.

Chief inspector Richard Butterworth said: “Although we have had a reduction in shoplifting last month, this continues to prove a challenging crime to tackle, even though we are arresting and detecting such a considerable amount of these offenders.”

“I am committed to reducing this crime in the borough and we are continuing to maintain our efforts, but admit that this needs a great deal of focus from the police.”

“Working closely with stores, we have prevented crime trends at those locations and continue to arrest or caution offenders as soon as identified.”

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