Opinions divided over Thatcham town security
However, the ShopSafe scheme is still going strong, West Berkshire Council insists
WHILE some Thatcham traders have this week voiced their support for the town centre's ShopSafe scheme, others claimed they had not heard anything about it for years.
Their reactions come after three shopkeepers said last week that they felt their businesses would be better protected and criminals deterred if the position of CCTV cameras were made public.
Ellen Randall, of Stitch in Time, the Broadway, also said that a security scheme in the town centre had stopped operating.
However, West Berkshire Council spokesman Phil Spray said that ShopSafe, a partnership between the police, West Berkshire Council and the businesses in town, had been operating for about eight years and was still going strong.
He said: “The scheme is designed to deter retail crime by enabling members to communicate via a radio link and alert each other to potential concerns.
“Thatcham neighbourhood police team members also carry ShopSafe radios when they are on duty.”
He added that the scheme was there, if necessary, for ShopSafe members to radio through to the CCTV control room to alert them to a crime or antisocial behaviour, but it was primarily there for traders to alert each other to trouble.
Some traders were keen to praise the scheme.
The manager of the Co-operative store in the Broadway, Paul Roberts, said that ShopSafe was a good scheme, that his store used it and that both it and CCTV were needed.
He said: “They go hand in hand.
Without the ShopSafe scheme you still need the eye in the sky.
“The communication channel would be a lot more murky without it.”
Customer services manager at Waitrose in the Kingsland Centre, Philip Bell, said that his store also used ShopSafe, but added that the safety of the store and its customers was not reliant upon it.
He said: “We use it on a regular basis.
“It means that we can be slightly more prepared.
“Despite the fact that some of us are in competition, it is a good thing having a range of contact with other people in the community.
“It's not the be all and end all, though – we could live without it.
“We know what areas of our car park are covered by CCTV and that is more of an interest to us than the town's CCTV.”
However, The Family Bookshop in the Broadway agreed with Ms Randall, saying that even though it was on a list of businesses in the scheme, it had not heard anything about it for years.
