A FOCUS on cracking down on shoplifting in Colchester has led to a dozen arrests in the last week, according to the police.

Essex Police officers recently arrested 20 people across the county on suspicion of shoplifting, with 14 subsequently being charged with theft offences and other related matters.

A total of 12 of those arrests took place in Colchester and were made between October 30 and November 5, accounting for 60 per cent of those arrested.

Sgt Christian Denning said: “Most shop theft investigations are carried out by officers locally to bring offenders to justice.

“But our team reviews every shoplifting case and, where we believe a CBO would be justified to help to protect retail staff from repeated abuse from offenders and stores from recurrent offending, we work with our local colleagues to apply to the courts for them.

“As well as banning offenders for an extended period of time from the stores they have been targeting, CBOs can include conditions which seek to help divert offenders from their criminal behaviour.”

Sgt Denning and his team are also working with retailers and other businesses in the city to advise them on how to stop such crimes from happening in the first place.

He added: “We’re dedicated to supporting businesses across Essex and, through our Open for Business, Closed for Crime initiative, we also work with them to encourage them to report crime to us, whether it’s theft of goods or for abusing or assaulting staff".

Arrests were also made in Basildon, Chelmsford, Epping Forest, Southend and Tendring.