Convenience retailers have welcomed the announcement of a new Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee from the government, aiming to ensure that every community across the country will have dedicated and specialist neighbourhood policing teams.
As announced by prime minister on Wednesday (9), communities will be safer and trust in local policing will be restored under plans to put police officers back in our neighbourhoods.
New measures will ensure every community will have dedicated and specialist neighbourhood policing teams, ending the postcode lottery on law and order.
Under the government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, crimes like vandalism or antisocial behaviour will be less likely to turn into more serious and violent offences, boosting confidence and security in local communities across Britain.
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will put 13,000 more officers into neighbourhood policing roles by 2029, an increase of more than 50 per cent.
The early focus of the plan will be to establish named local officers, target town centre crime and build back neighbourhood policing, meaning hard working people can feel safer and more secure in their daily lives.
Additionally, every neighbourhood in England and Wales will have dedicated teams who will spend their time on the beat with guaranteed police patrols in town centres and other hotspot areas at peak times such as Friday and Saturday nights.
There will be a dedicated antisocial behaviour lead in every force, working with residents and businesses to develop tailored action plans to tackle record levels of antisocial behaviour, which is blighting communities.
Welcoming the new measures, convenience store retailers body ACS chief executive James Lowman said, “More neighbourhood police officers are urgently needed as one part of the solution to growing shop theft, anti-social behaviour and other crimes typically committed in the communities where people live, shop, socialise and work.
"Having a named police officer known to a retailer can make a huge difference and we want to see this become the norm for our members.
“We need to see these officers deployed in a way that really makes a difference in the heart of communities. Targeting this resource at town centres and at peak times when crime is highest might not be the right approach in every area.
"Shops and communities further away from major centres feel especially exposed and rarely see police officers. Police forces and Police & Crime Commissioners need to make sure these locations see the benefit of increased policing.
“What really matters is what these new officers do. Everyone knows the way to tackle retail crime: retailers must report every incident, the police must investigate every incident and identify prolific repeat offenders, and the courts must apply effective penalties that break the cycle of re-offending.
"Our members are interested in these results and will be judging this announcement by its success in delivering this.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said, “The heartbeat of our Great British policing tradition is seeing bobbies on the beat, but for too long, too many communities have been feeling abandoned as crime soared and neighbourhood police disappeared, even when local crimes like shop theft, street theft or blatant drug dealing rose sharply.
"That’s why this government is determined to get police back on the beat and into our town centres.
"It should not matter where you live – everyone deserves local, visible policing they can trust, and with our Plan for Change and Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will tackle this postcode lottery and restore policing to our communities.”
Figures from the 2025 ACS Crime Report show that over the last year there have been over 6.2million incidents of shop theft recorded by convenience retailers, in stark contrast to the fewer than 500,000 incidents recorded by the police for the entire retail sector.
The top three reasons why retailers don’t report incidents of crime to the police are:
1. No confidence in a follow up investigation
2. Perceived lack of interest from the police
3. The time it takes to file and process reports
