ESSEX Police have issued figures to highlight its latest purge on shoplifting and Thurrock has come out as a region where just a handful were caught.

a statement from the force says: "Our officers made 50 arrests for shoplifting across Essex in the past fortnight, with 36 people subsequently charged with a total of 131 offences of shop theft and five of assault.

"At court, we will be seeking criminal behaviour orders against seven of them.

"We use CBOs to tackle the underlying causes of persistent and prolific offending, such as requiring offenders to engage with drug and alcohol addiction support services.

"And of course, they can be used to exclude offenders from stores they have been targeting.

"Arrests are mostly made by our local policing and community policing teams but our Business Crime Team provides specialist advice where necessary."

Sergeant Christian Denning says business crime officers also spend a lot of time engaging with retailers across the county, looking at ways they can protect their businesses and keep their staff and customers safe and secure.

"We also work with retailers to encourage them to report crime to us, through our Open For Business, Closed For Crime campaign.

"This enables us to tailor our crime prevention advice to take new crime trends into account.

"We also emphasise the importance of providing us with as much evidence as they can, such as clear CCTV footage and witness statements.

"The stronger the evidence we can provide at court, the higher the chance of a conviction.

"And it can also be used to support our applications for criminal behaviour orders against persistent offenders.

"Conditions can be attached banning them from the stores they target and requiring them to attend drug and alcohol treatment courses. Through this we look to halt the reasons many offend and break the criminal cycle.

In the past four weeks, 93 arrests have been made for shop theft* across Essex. Between 1 January and 16 June 2024, that figure rises to 677.

Between 3 & 16 June, 14 people were arrested in Southend; 13 in the Chelmsford district; nine in Colchester; six in Thurrock, five in Tendring and three in Basildon.

The statement continued: "As well as the charges against 36 of those we arrested, investigations are ongoing in seven other cases. One person was cautioned and no further action will be taken against six others.

 "Criminal behaviour orders are designed to tackle the most serious and persistent anti-social individuals where their behaviour has brought them before a criminal court.

"CBOs also tackle the underlying causes of offending and, where appropriate, require offenders to engage in treatment services, such as drug and alcohol addiction support.

"It is an offence to breach the terms of a CBO and courts can impose a jail term or a fine, or both, for an adult convicted of breaching them."

• Arrests for shop theft. This relates to the number of arrests our officers have made. A person may have been arrested more than once for theft from a shop during the time period. And they may have been arrested for more than one offence.