After reviewing its Food Stores for security, Central England Co-op has upgraded or put in place new measures – and is telling criminals that targeting the convenience supermarkets (pictured, Stanton Road, Burton upon Trent) is ‘not worth the risk’. The Co-op reports specialist tracking devices installed on items from cigarettes to ATMs; centrally monitored CCTV which allows colleagues to call for assistance at the touch of a button, a change in closing times and a review of the way security guards are used. The retailer’s Loss Prevention team has also been working closely with non-bank ATM provider Cardtronics to prevent the internal safe from opening if gas or explosives are used.
Craig Goldie, Loss Prevention Advisor at Central England Co-op, said: “We are aware that incidents such as robberies and ATM thefts are frightening for store colleagues, who are our first priority. We are doing everything we can to prevent incidents like this from happening, but if something does happen we offer them support and counselling both from within our business and specialists.
“Now we have put in place new and improved tools to work with the police and partners to help bring the perpetrators to justice. We want our message to be clear – it is not worth the risk to target Central England Co-operative Food Stores and we are doing everything in our power to combat crime in our communities and keep people safe when they shop.”
The central monitoring system allows colleagues to press a button to alert a control room who will then be able to watch what is happening on CCTV and call for assistance from the 999 services if required. External motion detectors have been fitted outside of the stores and will be activated outside of trading hours. When activated they will switch on CCTV cameras that will allow operatives to monitor and act if an incident escalates.
The retail co-operative has some 8,000 staff and covers 16 counties – West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
