Facewatch launched to cut crime in Newbury

Members of Facewatch can share information about local offenders and crime prevention measures and there is a public area on the site where Newbury town centre can be promoted as a place to shop and socialise.
The project allows retailers to file a report of a crime to police, send CCTV footage and offender images, cross reference the offender images with a top 10 database and link up with Facewatch users from surrounding areas to tackle the issue of travelling offenders.
There is also a smart phone app which will allow members of the public to search by postcode for people that the police would like to speak to.
The managing director of Facewatch, Simon Burgess, said that the idea came about as the response to crime from police was not quick enough.
He said: “It just helps speed up the progress in terms of reporting a crime, being able to link offenders and help the police in these times of great police cuts.
“If we can help the police arrest 10 people, that’s a lot of money saved and a better community.”
The system is being launched through the Newbury Shopsafe scheme and its chairman Chris Rose said that, as the shopsafe scheme had proven to be very successful, they wanted to approach the Facewatch people to help promote crime reduction in West Berkshire.
He added that there would be an “undoubtable” benefit to retailers from both a crime reduction point of view and also their relationship with the police.
From January 2011 to November 2011, there were 287 reported crimes of shoplifting and in the same period in 2012, this had dropped to 151 reported crimes.
Pc Ray Breach, from Newbury town centre police team, said that this decrease in reported crime of 47 per cent was down to the links between the shopsafe scheme and the police.
Wilkinsons’ store manager and shopsafe treasurer, Nigel Morrison, said: “As a retail branch manager and a leader of my team, it is reassuring to have the knowledge that the West Berkshire Shopsafe Scheme has 18 years experience of reducing crime in Newbury.
“I hold the welfare and safety of my customers and team members in the highest regard. I believe that it is vital that we, as a town centre community, work as a partnership to combat crime, share information and intelligence.
“I am happy to support the introduction of the New Facewatch web-based system that will utilise the latest technology to give all of the scheme members more time and more efficient, up-to-the-minute and reliable intelligence.
“We need to continue to reduce crime in our community by working together, to further improve the safe shopping environment we promote in Newbury.”