Swindon town centre retailers save £100,000+ through training to spot shoplifters

inSwindon BID Company Ltd represents over 470 Swindon town centre businesses to help create a vibrant town centre in which businesses prosper, communities thrive and visitors value the centre as a destination of choice.

Street Team Ambassadors, employed as part of inSwindon BID’s five-year business plan, provide a safe and welcoming presence for the town centre. Part of the Street Team’s role is working in partnership with local businesses, Wiltshire Police and Swindon Borough Council, to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.

A key Street Team initiative is to provide Swindon retailers with loss prevention training to help them identify potential shoplifters in stores. This inSwindon BID programme helped town centre retailers save more than £100,000 in 2019.

The loss prevention training is part of the wider DaySafe initiative managed by inSwindon BID. DaySafe – Swindon’s Intelligence Partnership provides a radio network to both daytime and evening economy businesses across Swindon. The radios are used to share intelligence across the membership and is backed up by a secured intelligence sharing website and discussed at monthly DaySafe and PubWatch meetings. The aim is to work together with Police and other members to provide a safe and secure working environment for staff resulting in a pleasant experience for our visitors.

Jamie Quinton, a Street Team Ambassador who runs the town centre loss prevention training commented: “It’s vital that we support our retailers in ways that allow them to thrive, and we’re thrilled that this training is working. The £100K saving has increased from £72K in 2018 because we’re working smarter in how we share intelligence across our network. As more businesses join the DaySafe scheme, we’re building and sharing insights to increasingly prevent and deter crime in this community.”

Di Powell, inSwindon BID CEO continues with: “I’m delighted by the success of our DaySafe scheme. Our partnership working with Wiltshire Police, Swindon Borough Council and all DaySafe and NightSafe members ensures Swindon is a safe and friendly place to visit.”

PC Paul Bezzant, of the Swindon South Community Policing Team said: “The DaySafe scheme has been a really positive initiative for Swindon town centre. It is very encouraging to hear that it has helped retailers save a significant amount of money in the past year through a more joined up approach and improved sharing of intelligence amongst businesses to deter shoplifters and other criminals.

“We will continue to work closely with inSwindon BID to support our town centre and ensure it remains a safe place for people to work, visit and shop. We are fully committed to tackling anti-social behaviour and crime and would urge anyone who witnesses crime in the town to report it to us immediately.”