A POLICE chief has warned his force will no longer be able to tackle shoplifters in Southend town centre as he has to prioritise other crimes.

Ch Insp Simon Anslow, district commander in Southend, is to axe his retail crime unit, which compromised a town centre beat team of six police officers and six PCSOs.

It is being scrapped as part of restructuring of the force’s neighbourhood teams in the wake of swingeing cuts to policing.

He has called on traders and businesses to now step up to the plate and make sure they are protecting themselves from shoplifters.

Ch Insp Anslow said: “My local policing teams are always stretched to the limit with the likes of domestic incidents and assaults.

“With the changing structures and emerging crime trends, these are forcing us to prioritise much more keenly than we did before as our resources have diminished to cover the entire world of criminal behaviour.

“It is a withdrawal of a dedicated team to deal with shoplifting. But let me assure you I am still dedicated to keeping people safe in the town centre, I just can’t use resources on preventable retail crime.”

He added that even for a routine £50 theft, it costs the taxman £500 in policing time – even if the case doesn’t reach the courts.

No jobs will be lost as part of the restructure.

Ch Insp Anslow said local policing team would not prioritise shoplifting over worse crimes and will no longer have a dedicated team on the issue.

Essex Police is having to find £46million worth of cuts from its budget from 2015 to 2018, having already had to save £43million.

Mick Thwaites, former police commander in Southend, said that the cuts are now showing consequences – but crime should never be tolerated.

He said: “I do understand why the police are having to do this as it’s a consequence of the cuts.

“A crime is a crime whatever it is, and hopefully society considers this something not acceptable.

“It’s more difficult to steal a car, or break into a house, than to shoplift and I’m always worried when we don’t deal with crime, but I understand what the police are saying when they say shops have to be more responsible.”

'Move sends wrong message to thieves'

CUTTING the team that deals with Southend’s shoplifters sends out the wrong message, it has been claimed.

Martin Terry, Southend councillor responsible for public protection, voiced his concerns after businesses were told to beef up their security after the retail crime unit was axed.

Southend's Business Improvement District, (BID) which has funded extra police during the night on the High Street for the past two years, will instead look to its members – the town’s traders – to shore up their security and work together to tackle crooks.

Traders say they want to work with police to make their shops safer.

He said: “It sends out the wrong message totally. Government cuts are shrinking the police’s resources and forcing the police to make changes, and someone needs to stand up to this and do something.

“It’s unsustainable at the moment and in the future it will become even more unsustainable if the police continue to face cuts.”

The BID says that it will ask its street rangers to keep an eye out for shoplifters, while businesses will network closer with each other to ban shoplifters from stores on the High Street.

But Mr Terry added: “I know the BID will do its bit, but people want to see a uniformed police presence in the town.”

Between April to July last year, 13 of the total number of recorded offences in the town centre – 124 crimes – were shoplifting.

That represented a five per cent decrease.

Dennis Baldry, who is manager of the Victoria Shopping Centre, said: “Nationally, it’s a concern for everybody, and it would be nice to see more officers on the beat, but the state of the economy means that the police are working with less resources.

“We understand the police are under a lot of pressure financially so we will, as traders, support them as much as we can.”

However, Bryan Andrews, who runs Andrews jewellery, outside the town centre, in Shoebury, said he was 'not devastated' to hear the town centre police team was being scrapped.

He improved his security systems, particularly CCTV, after his shop was raided three years ago.

He added: "Quite honestly, for the last umpteen years, we have just looked after ourselves and made sure our premises are well protected and we have CCTVs.

"I can't see how the police can be effective in combating this type of crime unless it is patrolling the streets."