By July, every neighbourhood in England and Wales will have named officers responding to public and business queries within 72 hours, the government has pledged.

Speaking during a recent House of Commons debate on police presence on high streets, minister for policing and crime prevention Dame Diana Johnson outlined plans to boost neighbourhood policing and tackle rising retail crime.

She said: “By July, every neighbourhood throughout England and Wales will have named contactable officers. These officers will know their areas and build relationships with residents and businesses, and they will understand local concerns.

“In too many instances in the past, residents felt they had no one to go to. By July, there will be a guaranteed response time to local neighbourhood police queries from members of the public and businesses of 72 hours.”

Shadow crime minister Matt Vickers revealed that he recently met with representatives of the Fed who suggested a grant scheme could help combat retail crime.

SGF reveals ‘devastating’ retail crime impact costing avg. local shop £19,673 per year

He said: “I met representatives of the Federation of Independent Retailers, who shared their experiences of retail crime and the way that the use of in-store facial recognition and AI technology is making a real difference.

“They suggested that a grant scheme could help them to take the fight to criminals; I would be delighted to hear whether the minister has given any consideration to introducing such a scheme.”

Johnson also pointed to government investment in neighbourhood policing, adding: “We have already made £200m available to forces to kick-start year one of our programme, which will support the first step of delivering 13,000 additional officers into neighbourhood policing roles.”

Vickers also criticised the government’s approach to taxation and business, and called for stronger enforcement of retail crime laws.

He said: “Although we were pleased to agree on stronger laws in the Crime and Policing Bill to address offences on our high streets, such laws are meaningless without proper enforcement and punishment.

“The government’s jobs tax and the slashing of small businesses is putting the survival of many of our high street businesses at risk.”

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