Shop staff bag top marks in police radio scheme training

Police have taken to the airwaves to train shop staff in Bakewell on the reporting of suspicious incidents and crimes in the town.

Officers from Bakewell Safer Neighbourhood Team have been recruiting more retailers into the ShopWatch radio scheme over the past few teams.

It links all shops signed up to it with each other and directly to police, meaning staff can share suspicious activity or sightings over the radio quickly and give officers an early warning about potential crimes.

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Part of the project – which is co-funded by the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce – has seen officers test the staff on their use of the system.

The team sent an appeal for shops to be on the lookout for a particular person, with retailers radioing back to ask for more details and to speak to each other about possible sightings.

PCSO Hayley Grundy, from the team, said: “It’s a great system and really useful for getting the word spread quickly about shoplifting, suspicious incidents or people.

“But they key to it working is for the shop owners and staff to use it properly and we had a great response to the training.

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“The aim is to prevent crime in Bakewell and it’s encouraging that the retailers have taken the challenge on so well.”

The training took place on Friday, September 6.

If you are a retailer in Bakewell and want to sign up to the scheme, contact the Safer Neighbourhood team on 101.

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