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The undertaking came at a meeting between the NFRN trade body, the commissioner and police officers earlier this month.
The NFRN met the commissioner, Alan Billings, and key police officers to support the South Yorkshire force’s latest measures to defeat shop crime.
The force has a special point of contact for retail crime, PC Tony Nicholls, and has also recently appointed a lead senior officer for retail, chief inspector Gareth Thomas.
One of South Yorkshire’s district councils has new software that enables shopkeepers to upload CCTV onto the council’s systems without an officer having to call – something that saves police time and speeds up the process of the getting critical information to the authorities.
The commissioner agreed this should be implemented in all districts across the area.
The NFRN highlighted the vulnerable situations in which independent retailers find themselves and said they are usually unable to afford dedicated security officers.
It was agreed that independent retailers require a simpler method of reporting crime and that some find themselves too busy to complete lengthy online reports.
But the police officers said that lack of reporting means vital intelligence is lost, and patterns of crime may be missed.
This can mean that when someone is caught and goes to court, the full extent of their crimes is unclear, and a lesser sentence is given.
The commissioner also said he would meet again with local retailers to hear their personal stories, and that he will reference retail crime in his forthcoming Police and Crime Plan.
The NFRN has already had meetings with police and crime commissioners in other parts of the country, recently welcoming the creation of a new business crime team by Sussex Police.
