Police in Mansfield caught up with five shoplifting suspects – thanks to an intra store radio network linking staff directly with patrolling officers.
The Town Link radio system, supplied by Mansfield BID, was used to full effect after two offences were reported on Monday and Sunday last week.
Officers were called to Sainsbury’s shortly after 4pm on Monday 24 March after smoking cessation products worth nearly £3,000 were stolen.
Two teenage boys, aged 15 and 14, were detained nearby, and another suspect was pulled over after by police in Leicestershire.
Thomas Harte, aged 30, of Mere Lane, Leicester, later pleaded guilty to two counts of shop theft.
Hart, who also admitted to two unrelated thefts at other Nottinghamshire supermarkets, appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Cout on Wednesday 26 March and was given a nine week prison sentence suspended for 12 months.
He was also ordered to pay compensation.
The boys remain on police bail as investigations continue.
The Town Link system was also instrumental on Sunday when electrical items were stolen from the B&M Bargains store in Baums Lane
Thanks to information given over the airwaves, a car was pulled over a short time later and various stolen items were recovered.
Two people, a 24-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy, were arrested and remain on bail
The Town Link radio network is administered by the Mansfield Business Improvement District (BID) – with handsets in operation by shop staff, police officers, CCTV radio operators and door staff in the night-time economy.
Inspector Kylie Davies, district commander for Mansfield, said:
“The Town Link radio network is one of our most useful tools in combatting these kinds of shop thefts.
“This system allows us to gather crucial information from witnesses, secure evidence and, ultimately, catch up with offenders before they can get away.
“These two excellent results were the latest in a long line of successful shoplifting interventions that have seen the he number of offences committed in Mansfield fall by nearly 40 per cent over the last year.
“This has been achieved by putting in place measures to deter both the organised criminal groups targeting our retail parks, and the prolific individual offenders who regularly steal goods from the town centre.”
Sergeant Cat Darby, of the town centre policing team, said:
“The officers involved with these incidents did a great job to detain these suspects so quickly and process the available evidence in a timely manner. Cases like these take a lot of hard work to pull together and I am thankful to them for their diligent and professional work.”
