Essex Police clamping down on shop worker abuse
11 people have been charged with assault in the past two weeks in Essex, as Police in the county see a rise in offences against shop workers.
Officers in Essex are clamping down on offences against shop workers, which they say has risen since lockdown.
In the past fortnight, Essex Police have arrested 58 people on suspicion of shop theft in the county, and of those, 11 have additionally been charged with a total of 14 assaults on shop staff.
Since 1 January, officers have made a total of 454 arrests for shop theft across the county.
Essex Police business crime sergeant Christian Denning says retail workers go to work to help their customers, not to be assaulted.
Sergeant Denning said: “No-one goes to work expecting to be assaulted but, nationally, we are seeing a rise in assaults on shop staff. We don’t tolerate any type of assault and, through our Open For Business, Closed For Crime campaign, we encourage retailers to report assaults and anti-social behaviour to us, as well as thefts - so we can take action.
“We will work hard to obtain charges where we have the evidence to build a case. And our specialist business crime officers provide retail chains and individual stores with specific crime prevention advice to help keep their staff safe and their premises secure.
“Staff should feel safe when they are at work and customers should feel safe when they are shopping.”
Retailers can report any crime or anti-social behaviour online at www.essex.police.uk/ro or by ringing the non-emergency number 101.
To report a crime in confidence, contact Crimestoppers. Or if it’s a crime in progress, always ring 999.
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