Wilmslow town centre now benefits from a new information sharing agreement between Cheshire Constabulary and the Wilmslow Business Group.
The agreement will allow members of the scheme to vote and ban people who have been involved in an incident in or around their premises such as theft, fraud or anti-social behaviour. These individuals will then be banned for a period of time from all town centre premises which display a Shop Watch window sticker at their doors. This is backed up by Cheshire Constabulary who will offer support to any business that has a banned individual in their premises.
The Shop Watch Scheme also features an 'Offenders Gallery' which will allow members of the group to log in and access a secure website to view police photographs of the offenders who have been banned - enabling businesses to educate their staff on who is banned from their premises.
Currently the Wilmslow Shop Watch scheme has 7 banned people, photographs of whom will be displayed on the secure website for the next 12 months. As more Wilmslow retailers join the scheme there is the potential for a lot more individuals to be added to the system.
PCSO Chris Hopkins said "This has been over a year in the making and it's a project I'm very proud to be a part of, it will allow businesses to effectively manage offenders that they don't want in their premises.
Shoplifting and other offences are a problem for many businesses and the ability to share our information with this group will help in the ability to reduce crime and make Wilmslow an unattractive target for criminals."
Sergeant Gardner said "This is one of 5 similar schemes in the town supplying information to our partners in the night time economy, schools, councillors and social landlords .This new scheme now closes the gap which has previously been exploited by criminals operating in our town during business hours."
Steve Morris, Manager of Sainsbury's and Chairman of the Wilmslow Business Group said "As a member of Wilmslow Business Group and a retailer myself this is one of the best initiatives for us to help combat shop lifting."
To find out more or to become a member of Shop Watch please contact Chris Hopkins; [email protected] or 0845 458 6374.
Wilmslow Business Group meets monthly at Hooper's restaurant, the meetings are open to all, for further information call 01625 460023.
Photo: Sainsbury's Manager and Chairman of Wilmslow Business Group, Steve Morris.
