The Offending to Recovery programme of offering treatment to prolific shoplifters who are stealing to fund their (highly expensive) drug addiction has gone Birmingham-wide, a business summit in the city heard on Wednesday night.
The event was by the West Midlands police and crime commissioner (PCC) Simon Foster. The PCC’s policy officer Esther Whittock reminded the audience how the programme (O2R for short) was begun by PC Stuart Toogood in the suburb of Erdington in 2018. The idea; to reduce offending, by diverting serial offenders who were stealing from shops to buy drugs, by offering treatment or placing them in residential rehabilitation. Police and drug treatment workers work together on identifying ‘clients’, including use of retailers’ intelligence (of thefts from stores). The ‘client’ is assessed and since January 2022 may undergo a pre-admission course before any residential rehab. After-care may include ‘dry houses’.
Police acknowledge that such drug treatment takes time, and that the person going through it may relapse. Most ‘clients’ have been depending on drugs for 20 or more years. Some 35 were identified as spending between them about £26,000 a week on illegal drugs; amounting to £1.35m a year. Besides the thefts, the addicts might be violent towards shop staff who tried to stop them. Besides the financial loss to the retailers, they had come to have little to no confidence in the police.
Referrals
Of the first 60 referrals, some 27 withdrew from the programme or were classed as ‘inactive’. Of the other 33, some 27 went into residential rehab. Of those, 20 were discharged early, which included three who were dead (a sign of the effects of drug addiction). The programme had some 96 referrals in 2023, including from retailers. In the last financial year, 17 were admitted to residential rehab; 11 completed. The others might have gone onto another, prescribed, drug such as Buvidal.
Of interest to retailers who face routine thefts from their local addicts, clients in rehab have been given questionnaires. They reported that they spend a minimum of £500 a week on drugs (one said as much as £2000). Hence the monetary value that can be put on the programme, for the saving to retailers of stock (that’s sold at less than store price, to get cash to buy drugs). Of more intangible value is how those treated may have their family and children back in their life.
The event heard that the programme may expand; that the PCC is in talks with councils beyond Birmingham. The report made plain that far from everyone who begins the treatment stays abstinent; a sign of how hard it is to get off drugs and the related crimes; even if the shoplifters have had enough of the life and say that they want to stop.
The evening at Millennium Point was part of the PCC’s consultation towards his Crime Plan 2025-2029, due for publication early in 2025. The consultation period ends on October 14. Last month His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) moved the force out of its enhanced monitoring process, ‘Engage’, or ‘special measures’ due to shortcomings in services.
The event also heard from Simon Down, the PCC’s head of policy, pictured; and Karen Woolley, development manager in Staffordshire and the West Midlands for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). A recent FSB report on the ‘future of the high street’ pointed to crime or anti-social behaviour as among the biggest risks to high streets according to the small firms based on them.
More in the November edition of Professional Security Magazine.
