We are now bringing our day of live coverage to a close.

Shoplifting is a blight on many communities, causing daily problems for retailers and customers, and is often linked to wider societal issues such as addiction and organised crime.

Over the course of the day we have looked at the rate at which shoplifting has risen over the last decade, the issue of prolific shoplifters and shoplifting gangs, and the violence and intimidation faced by shopworkers.

Retailers have told us how they have to hide items such as Pokemon cards and even baby forumla behind the counter, and we have had reporters in court seeing how the justice system deals with shoplifters.

Former shoplifters have even spoken to the BBC about how they feel about their crimes.

We have also been hearing about how shops, the police and communities are fighting back, with Shop Watch schemes, social media, facial recognition, and electronic tagging for prolific offenders.

See more of our coverage from your local area by tuning in to BBC One at 18:30 or catching up later on iPlayer.

Asha Patel
BBC News

Jack was once considered one of the worst three retail crime offenders in Nottingham's city centre.

"I used to get bullied and sent into the shop as a little kid, to rob sweets and stuff before school for the older kids," he tells BBC Radio Nottingham.

"Someone said to me at one point, 'why are you just robbing things to giving it away for free to people, and then that was it'," he adds.

Jack (pictured) was arrested more than 50 times before he received the support of a recovery programme which helped him turn his life around.

Today he says he has a family again, a job, and has even worked alongside the police to help improve security within shops to deter shoplifters.

Phil Shepka
Political reporter, Cambridgeshire

A police force says its work to crack down on persistent shoplifters has improved its detection rates and lifted its national ranking.

Cambridgeshire Police says it has risen to being fourth in the country for detecting the crime from 27th place last year.

Det Ch Insp Chris O’Brien, the force's strategic lead for retail theft, says introducing the new dedicated offender teams to target the most prolific offenders over the last 12 months has driven "significant improvements".

"We're now sitting in the top four best performing forces in the country," he says.

O’Brien adds banning repeat offenders from town centres has also been an effective tactic in combating shoplifting.

Jonathan Morris
BBC News

Businesses in Cornwall are using a new app to warn each other about suspected shoplifters.

Devon and Cornwall Police is working with UK Partners Against Crime (UK-PAC) on the scheme, which allows retailers to record incidents and alert nearby businesses when an offender is in the area.

Sarah Shaw, from Penzance Business Improvement District, says retailers can use a chat function to share details about thefts, including what was taken and descriptions of suspects.

The information can then be viewed by other businesses, police officers and town marshals.

She explains that alerts often prompt shop managers and staff to be on the lookout for people linked to reported incidents.

The app is operated by UK-PAC, which collects information from retailers and helps identify repeat offenders by linking crimes reported in different locations.

Stephen Manners, from the organisation, says businesses might not always know who a suspect is, but sharing information across a wider network can help identify offenders and build stronger cases.

More than 800 incidents have been reported to Devon and Cornwall Police through the system in the past three months, according to UK-PAC.

Retailers are also using radio networks and working together to recover stolen goods as part of wider efforts to tackle crime.

Tony Fisher
BBC Three Counties Radio

Image source, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire

A system that helps retailers report offences such as shoplifting is being hailed a success by police.

The Auror retail crime platform was rolled out in Hertfordshire in April, allowing large retailers to report crimes via an online app directly to police and upload images or CCTV footage.

Supt Jamie Fowler, of the Hertfordshire Constabulary, who leads on retail crime in the county, said it had helped bring "more offenders to justice".

The platform helped identify 27 linked offences in one instance, he added.

There has been a 50% increase in reports of retail crime in September so far, compared with the same month last year, according to Fowler.

He said his team has noticed a similar increase in the number of suspects identified.

Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire Jonathan Ash-Edwards (pictured), told the BBC he had made funding available to smaller and independent businesses to use a "similar innovative system".

The ambition is to expand the app - known as ShopSafe Alert - across the county into a single coordinated system.

If so, then it was expected Hertfordshire would be among the first areas in England to adopt this approach, project leaders said.

Susana Mendonca
BBC London political correspondent

Image source, Supplied

The Mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry, says he plans to roll out a pilot scheme to electronically tag prolific shoplifters within the next couple of months.

If it happens, it will be the first of London’s 32 boroughs to take such an approach.

He told the BBC he was talking to the Metropolitan Police about how it could work.

He said: "It's a tagging system that essentially is put on the individual.

"It's run through the police and the local court system, so we're working with both of those at the moment.

"We're [looking at] doing it as a trial period to see how well it works before we think about rolling that out any further."

The tagging scheme was first introduced in East Sussex last year by Conservative Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne.

That scheme had a small number of prolific shoplifters fitted with lightweight GPS ankle tags monitoring when they entered shopping areas which they had been banned from by the courts.

Croydon Council has said shoplifting has come down in the borough in the past year.

It said there were 4,796 reported shop thefts in the town centre over the last 12 months, compared with 5,043 the year before.

Read the full story here.

James W Kelly
BBC News

Sainsbury's has suspended its use of live facial recognition technology at a London branch after a customer was wrongly challenged as a shoplifter and escorted out.

Matt Arnold (pictured) was buying items at the East Dulwich store in August when he was stopped by management at a self-service till and told he could not be served due to an incident "earlier in the week".

Describing the experience as a "terrifying glimpse of the future," the 46-year-old warned retail surveillance tech risked humiliating customers.

It could also create a system where staff felt compelled to follow automated alerts without applying human logic, he claimed.

Arnold argued that, even if the technology was as accurate as Sainsbury's claimed, the 0.2% error rate was "a lot of people when millions go into a Sainsbury's shop each week".

The supermarket said it had apologised to Arnold and claimed the mistake was "caused by human error".

Critics have called for the technology to be scrapped.

Read the full story here.

Zoe Applegate
BBC News

Image source, Suffolk Constabulary

Tim Passmore, Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk, says his local police force has been trying new technologies to help both catch offenders and prevent shoplifting.

He said he hoped it would boost detection rates as 51% of the Suffolk Constabulary's shoplifting investigations were unsolved, which is "not where we want to be".

He said: “Because of that, we’ve got two new town centre teams… where they’re going to focus on dealing with shoplifting, and new operations.

“Not everybody's supportive of it, but if facial recognition is there - we've done one or two trials in Suffolk - that does act as a deterrent because you're likely to get caught."

Ben Godfrey
Correspondent, BBC Midlands Today

As supermarkets step up security measures to tackle shoplifting, one customer said repeated basket checks in store left him feeling embarrassed, paranoid and that he was being treated like a criminal.

Chris Shaw said he was repeatedly selected for rescans after forgetting to scan a packet of tissues while using Sainsbury's SmartShop service at a store in Leamington Spa.

Although staff reassured him at the time the mistake had been resolved, Shaw said he was repeatedly stopped for checks in the months that followed.

He said: "I thought I was going crazy.

"Does the guy on the security desk at the front of the store also take an interest in me? Are members of staff looking out for me around the store?"

The experience left him feeling as though the supermarket viewed him as a criminal, Shaw said, despite it being a genuine mistake.

SmartShop lets customers scan their shopping as they go, using a handset or smartphone. They then pay at a station before leaving the store.

After raising the issue with the company, the 36-year-old, from Stratford-upon-Avon, said he was told customer behaviour could be used to identify higher-risk shoppers for additional checks.

Sainsbury's said rescans were based on a range of factors, not customers' personal information, and did not imply wrongdoing.

You can find out more here.

Tom Burrows
Senior Journalist, Newsround

Dozens of independent shops and one of the UK's biggest retailers have told Newsround they are moving popular products, including Pokémon cards and NeeDoh toys, away from open shelves to stop them from being stolen.

John Lewis, the department store business that owns Waitrose, told Newsround that in some shops Pokémon cards "are located in customer kiosks which help keep our products secure".

Other large stores have taken similar steps, including HMV, which previously moved Pokémon cards behind its counters because of high demand and the risk of theft.

Smaller independent shops told Newsround they have had to "buy cabinets to lock popular items up" to avoid them being stolen.

Clodagh Stenson
BBC South Investigations

Disposable barbeques worth £120 gone in seconds. Piles of chocolate bars grabbed. A small child in a balaclava, fleeing with fruit.

These are some of the more shocking examples of shoplifting Erdogan Yigitoglu has captured on his CCTV, some of which he has posted online.

For six years, the convenience shop owner in Bournemouth, Dorset, has seen social media as his most effective weapon in his fight against shoplifters - an issue which he says loses him thousands of pounds every year.

He estimates that 40% to 50% of people captured stealing in the videos return to pay for the items.

Many now avoid his shop entirely, he tells the BBC.

Yigitoglu added he only posted when it was a clear-cut, obvious theft, and would remove a video if he felt the person was truly apologetic and offered a "good excuse".

"Shoplifters damage the business, the environment, country," he says.

"They're stealing from your pocket, my pocket, everybody's pocket."

Paulette Edwards
BBC Radio Sheffield

In Worksop, Nottinghamshire, retailers have found a way to fight back against shoplifters.

Every member of the town's Shop Watch scheme has a radio linked directly to the local council control room, allowing shopkeepers to alert operators when a shoplifter is active in their store.

Philip Jackson (pictured), a retired retailer who chairs the Worksop Business Forum and Shop Watch, says the system “works quite well” for them.

He said: "If you've got a shoplift active in your store, you can radio control for the cameras to be put on your door.

"The control room will then pick that person up, follow that person and, if necessary, get hold of the police."

Jackson says the system is increasingly important as shoplifting incidents have "gone up like there is no tomorrow".

He describes one incident a few years ago when a single store was targeted five times in one day by brazen shoplifters who told staff: “You know the drill, get out of my way.”

He said: “It's really, really difficult to control and it's difficult for the retailers, as most aren't allowed to get involved in some cases.

“And that's down to the insurers of their business. They don't want to see staff getting injured.”

Will Jefford & Joshua Askew
BBC News

Farrah McNutt, from Leicester, first shoplifted a pair of school trousers when she was 13 years old.

She says her shoplifting then "spiralled".

"I started stealing more and more," she tells the BBC. "It just became a daily habit to me during school hours. Sometimes it was for a sandwich - sometimes it was for pure greed.

"That ain't something I'm proud of."

The reformed thief said she had been told it was a victimless crime and did not think about how it affected the businesses she was stealing from.

“I had older generations telling me that there's loads on the shelves, you can take what you like, the stores aren't going to miss one or two items off the shelf,” she says.

“Being 13 or 14, you don't really think of the long-term effects.

“What if every single person took a product off the shelf or what if they had to pay out of their own pocket?”

The 32-year-old adds it was only in 2014, having done research into the number of thefts from shops, that she realised she had to change.

“When I spoke to the store owners - they were independent stores - it actually really touched me,” she tells the BBC.

“They were saying this has got to come out of my own pocket, I might actually have to close.

“It really struck me, so I spoke to more and more store owners and I actually started seeing the major problem that this is.”

McNutt now runs Catch the Thief UK, a business that offers advice and services to stores to prevent crime.

Lewis Adams
BBC Essex

Darren has been stabbed with needles and held at gunpoint during an 18-year career on UK high streets.

But Darren is not a police officer, nor a criminal. He is a store detective - an undercover security guard who poses as a customer to catch thieves in the act.

He tells the BBC: "You do go home sometimes thinking: 'Why am I in this job?'

"But I see it as, if I have to pay for my stuff, everybody has to pay for their stuff."

Shortly before he meets the BBC in Northampton, he has foiled a man who swiped chocolate bars from a shelf, pocketed them and walked out.

"It's very busy. You could name any store and I can guarantee it will be robbed that day," said Darren, whose surname is being withheld to protect his identity.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police says thefts have a "significant impact" on businesses, staff and communities, and tackling offenders remains a priority.

You can read more here.

Paulette Edwards
Presenter, BBC Radio Sheffield

Image source, Getty Images

Police in South Yorkshire say a scheme linking retailers directly with neighbourhood police officers has made a real difference, with shoplifting offences dropping by 65% over the last couple of years.

The Shop Watch scheme is open to businesses in the market town of Thorne and those who sign up receive tailored messages and warnings via WhatsApp, including photos of known shoplifters and people of interest.

Sgt Jim Housley says the scheme has been used for the last two years and has helped shopkeepers gain an understanding of what evidence is needed to bring perpetrators to justice.

He said: “So, before, we were told by many staff that an offender would enter their store, they'd take items from that store, but then that's where the investigation would stop.

“They wouldn't be aware of the process of what evidence we would need to proceed the matter to court.”

Housley says, in addition to the scheme, police continue to carry out regular patrols in the area.

Alex Bish
South East Investigations

On the shop floor, businesses have been spending millions boosting security measures to cut crime.

Paul Gerrard, director of campaigns, public affairs and policy at the Co-op, said thefts in its stores had been falling but, despite the investment, there were still too many offences.

"Crime is still twice what it was before the [Covid-19] pandemic, so it is better. But, against historic norms, it's still extremely high."

However, he also said police responses to theft had been improving.

"Before the Retail Crime Action Plan, external, police attended about two times out of every 10. They're now attending seven times out of every 10."

Gerrard also said he wanted the government to do more to prevent repeat offenders.

He said: "It could be employment and rehabilitation programmes, but we have to have a serious look.

"The prisons will just get fuller and my colleagues in store will continue to face crime unless we tackle reoffending."

Ross Pollard
Somerset Reporter, BBC West

We've been out to visit a team that has been working across Somerset for decades to catch criminals by using 230 meticulously placed CCTV cameras.

Staff at the Somerset Council-run control rooms monitor live feeds every second of every day, alerting police, shops and restaurants when a prolific offender is in the area.

Manager Jamie Lipton (pictured) told us her team are the eyes in the sky, while local police say they provide "invaluable" support to officers and council staff.

Jamie said: "We have our well-known hotspots in certain towns and our well-known offenders that we will obviously pick up on.

"Everywhere I go, I watch people. Luckily enough, it's the perfect job for me because I'm just so nosy."

Nationally, data obtained by the BBC shows that just 270 suspects were connected to more than 28,000 shoplifting offences.

• Read more about our visit to the CCTV control room

Katharine Da Costa
South Investigations reporter

Shoplifting offences tend to be highest around big towns or cities, with police figures showing Reading in Berkshire is one of the hotspots in the south of England.

Here at Reading Magistrates' Court, staff tell me they deal with a lot of shoplifting cases, mostly involving food and drink being taken from supermarkets rather than high-end luxury goods.

They say it is often linked to repeat offenders stealing to feed addictions.

Today the court heard Joshua Gibbons, 32, from Thatcham, was accused of stealing £110 worth of alcohol and £100 of pet food, as well as assaulting three police officers.

The court heard he had 38 previous convictions, and an addiction to heroin and cocaine.

The judge asked him whether he was fed up of being in and out of custody.

Gibbons said: "Yes, I don’t want to go back [to prison]…I’ve got my kids, my job; I could go full-time."

Gibbons said he wanted to get support to come off the drugs and had been clean for four days.

Gibbons was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.

The judge said: "It’s in your hands. If you’re pulling a fast one, you’ll be found out soon enough."

Joshua Askew & Oliver Whitfield-Miocic
BBC South East

Image source, Sussex Police

The BBC has been in court today reporting on a separate case, but in a sign of how prolific this crime is a shoplifter is also being dealt with.

Matthew Greenaway, of no fixed address, was sentenced to a year behind bars at Crawley Magistrates' Court for a string of 45 offences - including 14 for shoplifting.

The court heard the 41-year-old stole £3 worth of Snickers bars on 25 July. It led to a verbal argument with security during which he threw punches and bit a person's arm.

In an incident the previous month, he took five steaks totalling £75 from Marks and Spencer and shoulder-barged a female staff member out of the way.

Greenaway stole just under £950 worth of goods during his shoplifting offences, which occurred over a two-month period - in some cases multiple times per day.

His other offences include exposure, assault, resisting arrest, criminal damage and assaulting a police community support officer, being drunk and disorderly, possessing a knife and theft.

Zoe Applegate
BBC News

Police are urging bargain hunters to consider whether cheap goods they spot may have been stolen from threatened shop workers.

Sgt Christian Denning, who leads Essex Police’s business crime unit, says people should think about the human cost to retail workers when stores are raided and goods stolen.

He has appealed to buyers to always question why brand new items available at places such as car boot sales might be so cheap.

“If something was £10 and you see it for £5… who has actually had to be a victim for that £5 to be dropped off?” says Denning.

“Don't think so much about the big stores and the owners of these stores, think about the people on the front lines in these stores and how much they're having to suffer for you to get a bargain.

“Be proud of being a good person.”

It is a sentiment echoed by Northamptonshire Police, with one senior officer saying shoplifting is often committed by people linked to organised crime or those suffering from addictions.

“Most people are not going to go out shoplifting, they would find that abhorrent,” says Ch Insp James Willis.

“But there is a culture where people are prepared to turn a blind eye - a bit of a nod and a wink, a bit of a Del Boy laugh and a joke about buying bargain goods.”