Co-op stores in region see a fall in burglaries and robberies following crackdown

The retailer has marked one year since it rolled out a string of new measures to try and stop incidents and protect its staff and customers.

Last year, Co-op fitted stores with external motion detectors and a centrally monitored CCTV system which allows staff to call for assistance at the touch of a button.

The new measures sit alongside a range of others such as product GPS trackers, additional ATM anchors, gas suppression systems and stringent cash controls.

Craig Goldie, loss prevention advisor at Central England Co-op, said: “We are so proud to have recorded big drops in the levels of burglaries and robberies at our stores following the successful rollout of a range of new measures last year to combat the problem. We were and still are aware that incidents such as robberies and ATM thefts are frightening for store colleagues, who are our first priority, and this is why we were determined to act.

“Robberies dropped by 30 per cent compared to a 508 per cent national increase and burglaries also fell by six per cent compared to a 137 per cent national rise.

“All of these measures have, as the figures show, already started to deter criminals and, most importantly, ensure our colleagues and customers feel safe. But we will continue to constantly assess these problems to ensure that incidents continue to fall and that our stores are safe places to work and shop.”