Direct charging scheme speeds up justice in shoplifting cases in Nottinghamshire
A new process being used by Nottinghamshire Police is enabling officers to charge shop thieves more efficiently.
Since start of October 2025 police have charged 119 people with 244 shop theft offences through the direct charging scheme which is being used forcewide.
At least 238 hours of officer time has been saved and reinvested back into policing in our local communities, and keeping people safe, as a result of the scheme.
The introduction of this process has reduced officer time spent dealing with suspects (adults 18+) for shop theft offences by removing the necessity to interview in cases where there is clear and overwhelming evidence.
Superintendent Chris Pearson said: “Operation Retail has improved our response to retail crime investigations. By implementing a more efficient process we can ensure that offenders are charged and put before the courts even more quickly.
“One of the direct benefits, both for the public and our police service, has been that our officers can spend more time out on patrol and visible in our communities where the public rightly expect them.
“This is one of the many ongoing things we are doing as a force to prevent and reduce retail crime, to crack down on offenders, and to protect our communities.
“As we have shown through our targeted operational activity, including arrests made over the Christmas and New Year period, tackling retail crime is a key priority for us.”
Chief Inspector Steven O’Neill added: “We continue to work together with our retailers, our partners, and the public to disrupt and dismantle organised retail crime groups.
“Many of our offenders are prolific shoplifters who have no regard for local retail businesses and commit offences to fund drug or alcohol addictions.
“Through innovative schemes like our Open 2 Recovery project we will continue to work with individuals who choose to engage with us, with the aim of reducing reoffending by tackling the underlying root causes of why offenders commit crime and rehabilitating prolific offenders who are entrenched in substance use and are causing harm to communities through chaotic lifestyle choices.
"Our retailers are also playing a big part in helping us to charge shop theft suspects more quickly - by gathering the high-quality evidence in the first place.
"The work we do with crime intelligence platforms is also key here - these systems allow partnered retailers to directly upload high quality court-ready evidence to the police, often bypassing traditional, more time-consuming reporting methods.
"If the evidence is strong and sufficient for a charge, the suspect could be charged without the need for an interview."