![](https://emergencyservicestimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ESS-Button-resized.png")
A specialist national policing unit has made significant progress tackling organised retail crime, making 93 arrests impacting 28 organised crime groups and high harm individuals collectively responsible for over £4m (£4,060,942) in losses to retail businesses.
The team within Opal (policing’s national intelligence unit for serious organised acquisitive crime) has been operational since 1 May 2024 and is funded by the Pegasus Partnership, a joint initiative between the Home Office, policing and retailers and spearheaded by PCC Katy Bourne. It facilitates the sharing of intelligence to gain a clearer picture of those who are behind the increase in retail crime.
Opal’s team receives referrals from police forces and retailers and builds intelligence packages, mapping out offending across the country and providing investigative support to bring the highest harm offenders to justice. A package will then be collated and shared with the most appropriate police force to progress the investigation and take action against offenders.
The upcoming publication of Opal’s Organised Retail Crime Threat Assessment will provide a detailed insight to the scale of offending and the increasingly sophisticated nature of the groups involved in shop thefts. The assessment aims to further support policing and retailers in understanding the situation and the most effective ways to tackle this crime wave.
“We know that organised criminality has a significant impact on retail crime with offenders targeting multiple force areas and multiple retailers in the hope of going under the radar. Our centralised unit means we can build a detailed picture of offending across borders so there is quite literally nowhere for these individuals and groups to hide.
“Our work can be as light touch as putting CCTV images through the Police National Database to identify an individual or as extensive as building a detailed intelligence package of offending across multiple areas and retailers but either way, it’s proving extremely effective.
“It’s like a jigsaw puzzle and we bring together all the pieces to be able to take down those causing the greatest damage to businesses and communities.
“By working closely with retailers and organisations, like Business Crime Reduction Partnerships, we’re able to support them in gathering intelligence and submitting referrals so we can be even more effective in identifying offenders. Our colleagues in local police forces then do a fantastic job in progressing the investigation, making arrests and bringing charges. It’s a real team effort and we look forward to seeing it progress even further over the next few months.”
Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman, National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for acquisitive crime.
To read similar articles, check out our Frontline channel