Norfolk Police teamed up with a supermarket to roll back crime by dedicating a Special Sergeant to patrol the store.
Special Sergeant Graham Gowland has been posted into ASDA supermarket, Drayton High Road, to support the work and regular patrols carried out by officers from the Hellesdon and Horsford Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT).
The extra high visibility will help to deter potential thieves and anti-social behaviour, deal with any incidents and provide reassurance to shoppers.
Special Sergeant Graham Gowland, who has been with the Constabulary for 10 years said: "Being dedicated to ASDA will further re-enforce the work of the Hellesdon and Horsford SNT and help to deter and prevent shoplifting and anti-social behaviour in the store and car park".
General Manager Dave Lennox said: "It is really good to work so closely with the police. In the past we did have limited contact and only involved the police in a reactive way to deal with any problems that occurred.
"We are now we are taking a full proactive approach, supporting the Special Sergeant in store, having regular contact with the local police and 10 members of staff have shown an interest to join the Special Constabulary to help police our store".
Inspector Brian Pincher said: “This is an excellent partnership which will hopefully reduce shop theft. If not, I am sure we will see more shoplifters caught and prosecuted.
"ASDA already catches more than most other supermarkets in the whole county and by using Special Constables will mean regular officers are released to patrol the neighbourhood more.
"We already know that when police staff are in the shop crime drops, this way police will be there practically all the time. In addition when the store has their own staff trained as Specials, shoplifters need to be aware that some members of store staff will have the full powers of a police officers and they could be arrested and dealt with in the same way".
ASDA is fully supporting the new initiative and members of staff are currently signing up to become Shop Specials, where they will be trained up and have the same powers as police in uniform and during their paid job.
