A STAGGERING 40 stores have signed up to join a pioneering project aimed at stamping out retail crime in the Kingfisher Centre, writes Becky Procter.

The Retail Crime Operation was relaunched in February after a rocky start but the scheme has flourished in the last three months.

The operation works to tackle shoplifters and anti-social behaviour in the centre by sharing information among members and collating evidence against offenders.

A total of five exclusion orders have also been placed on people in the last three months, which bans them from entering the centre.

Before the Retail Crime Operation came into being, nobody had ever been issued with an exclusion order.

Operation chairman Carl Bishop said: "It seems to be working very well - we started the scheme with just 12 shops signed up to it.

"Members gather and share information which is then put into a report.

"We have a collator who collects all the evidence and once someone has three reports against them, centre management are contacted to issue an exclusion order."

Mr Bishop, who is the food manager for Marks and Spencer, said members also had a policy if a person was banned from one shop, they were banned from all.

He said: "If anybody is caught shoplifting in a member's store, the information is passed on and that person will be banned from going into any shop signed up to the Retail Crime Operation."