Supplementary written evidence submitted by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (SOC0057)

Dear Dame Karen and members of the Home Affairs Select Committee,

We would like to thank you for the opportunity to support the Committee’s ongoing inquiry into Serious Organised Crime (SOC) and its impact on local communities. SOC groups pose a significant threat to legitimate businesses operating with our local communities. It is therefore encouraging that the Committee is focusing on this issue.

We write to you following our public appearance before the Committee on 16th June 2026, to provide further information on the issues facing businesses and action we’re taking to tackle this threat.

Landscape of enforcement agencies tackling retail crime:

The Opal team operate in partnership with policing and private industry to identify, disrupt and dismantle SOC acquisitive criminality, which includes organised retail

crime. Opal Staff are made up from a combination of intelligence analysts

and intelligence development officers, as well as secondees from private industry and policing.

Opal target SOC across the UK, focussing on organised crime groups (OCGs) who utilise cross-border offending as an enabler for their activity.

OPAL work closely with the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC), who provide support, guidance, and training to help prevent and tackle business crime. The NBCC also undertakes intelligence functions, supporting police forces to engage with the business community to prevent and investigate business crime.

The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), the body which represents and co-ordinates activity for UK police Chief Constables, also has a Volume Crime portfolio, led by North Wales Police’s Chief Constable, Amanda Blakeman. This portfolio provides coordination and strategic

leadership, bringing together police forces, government bodies, and key partners to deliver support for front line officers and to develop new initiatives to tackle volume crime – including retail and business crime.

There is also an international footprint. OPAL works closely with Europol and Interpol to help police forces build a national and international picture of offending across and beyond local borders.

The benefits this has is providing an ability to link police and intelligence systems with industry data, creating more accurate pictures of threats. It also helps informs local policing activity, such as supporting Clear, Hold, Build activity, which the national lead for SOC, Deputy Chief Constable Wendy Gunney, briefed the Committee on, in April 2026.

How can level of reporting of retail crime be improved:

The level of reporting requires significant improvement. It must continue to improve in order to understand the true scope and scale of this threat.

Based on OPAL’s Industry data from thirty-three retailers, only 19% of all retail crime was reported to the police. Whilst an improvement from previous years, this still requires significant focus.

Proportion Organised Offences Reported to Police:

OPAL now hosts the organised retail crime intelligence team, which enables retailers to submit incident data directly to help identify patterns, travelling offenders and organised groups.

Analysis for the industry data was updated to mirror these improvements and increase data integrity. Therefore, please note there are two figures for 2024 allowing comparison with 2022 / 2023 / 2024 with accuracy and then 2024 / 2025 (and subsequently 2026) with accuracy. The below tables are based on data from 33 retailers.

Retail Crime:

Organised Retail Crime:

Describe the cooperation between retailers and law enforcement:

OPAL are currently enhancing their capabilities to identify high-harm offenders and establish links between organised offending series. This includes the use of retrospective facial recognition solutions and close working with the Home Office to maximise and strengthen opportunities between new and existing solutions to support identifications.

OPAL are also supporting a number of strands across the Tackling Retail Crime Together (TRCT) strategy including hosting the retail crime fusion cell. This will bring together data across all police forces and as many retail partner agencies as possible to provide insights via an interactive self-service partner portal accessible supporting the identification of previous unconnected series of offending, the identification of high-harm individuals, the identification of high-harm places and dynamic interactive alerts.

What role does neighbourhood policing (NHP) have to tackle retail crime:

Neighbourhood policing (NHP) plays a critical role in tackling wider SOC, as was highlighted by Temp/ Deputy Chief Constable, Catherine Akehurst, during the previous public hearing.

NHP activity is aligned to the national 4P framework (Pursue, Prevent, Protect and Prepare). The 4P framework provides a structured, system‑wide approach to tackling SOC. NPH teams contribute directly to the disruption of organised retail crime by providing local intelligence and identifying emerging threats. Their engagement with communities can also inform wider enforcement activity.

NHP support targeted disruption operations, warrants and patrols that impede the activity of organised networks operating at a local level.

They also help community resilience by providing guidance to residents, businesses and local institutions on emerging SOC risks, including organised retail crime, contributing to a safer local environment.

NHP also support community preparedness by helping reduce the impact of SOC and organised retail crime when incidents occur. They provide reassurance and stability following SOC-related harm, maintaining public confidence, and supporting recovery in affected neighbourhoods.

What impact does OPAL and Operation Pegasus have on organised acquisitive crime: Operation Pegasus is a collaborative initiative between retailers and law enforcement bodies aimed at tackling organised retail crime. It includes OPAL, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, the NPCC, retailers and government departments.

A series of metrics have been provided below to demonstrate the impact of OPAL and Op. Pegasus:

Success indicators

• 294 Referrals, 201 supported by OPAL, resulting in 87 Ops.
• 73% reduction in offending under OPAL Ops in 2025.
• Reductions in offending across all UK forces.
• 100% disruption of offending groups responsible for over £2.5M worth of loss in 2025
• 632 high-harm individuals identified, with 264 arrested.
• 108 sentences resulting in 120 years 2 weeks custodial sentences over 100 other associated court outcomes including CBOs, fines, driving bans etc
• 243 vehicles identified linked to the commission of ORC offences.
• 22 deportations
• 232 intelligence submissions into policing
• 102 seizures including 51 vehicles including the recovery of £47,616 worth of goods.

Referral breakdown by sector:

• Supermarkets 89, Fashion 32, Health and Beauty 28, DIY 23, Telco and Electronics 22, Speciality Retail 8, Cross-Sector (including department stores) 9.

How does OPAL shape further responses to acquisitive crime:

OPAL shapes, influences, and advises the National Crime Agency on the national Serious Organised Acquisitive Crime threat, operating as the NCA SOAC threat desk.

In addition, the Retail Crime Fusion Cell will act as the single source for data to understand true nature of retail crime. This will help shape further responses to acquisitive crime as it will be the key to enabling the other pillars in the TRCT strategy supporting data-led activity.

What opportunities or challenges does the Police Reform White Paper provide tackle retail crime:

The current police structure was established in the 1960s when the nature of crime was different. Also, the current national landscape of policing consists of several national bodies who hold various operational, strategic and advocacy functions.

The Police Reform agenda provides a once in a generation opportunity to reform its structures so that it is fit to tackle crimes of the 21st century. This will be key in ensuring police forces are equipped to tackle to changing nature of organised retail crime.

First, the focus on local and neighbourhood policing, and a higher visibility of the police prioritising responding to local needs will improve public and retailer’s confidence. As a result, retail industry’s relationship with police will hopefully increase crime reporting. In addition, the continuing drive of the “Safer Town Centres” pillar of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee and Policing and Crime Boards, set to replace Police and Crime Commissioners in 2028, provides an opportunity to allow a greater focus on local policing.

In addition, the National Police Service may present an opportunity to streamline national functions, supporting policing to better tackle modern day threats through streamlined co-ordination and communication across the country.

The National Performance Framework also detailed within the White Paper has the opportunity to ensure that all forces are delivering a standardised response to retail crime.

It is also encouraging to see the White Paper’s strong focus on technology. This will enhance investigative opportunities, such as live facial recognition and enhancing response to online retail crime (the Fraud Strategy will also support this).

Finally, the National Data and Analytics Office / New Crime Prevention Unit in the Home Office will allow a more dedicated focus on data and national co-ordination, to continue to produce a more detailed picture of the whole approach to retail crime, including the sharing of best practices.

What should the newly announced Home Office High Street Crime Unit prioritise:

The High Street Priority Crime Unit has some crossovers into OPAL’s work, however it is more

focussed on the sale of illegitimate goods and stolen goods offloaded locally in a less organised fashion.

We welcome the Committee’s ongoing interest in tackling SOC within our local communities. We look forward to awaiting the outcomes of this inquiry.

Yours sincerely,

Owain Llewellyn

Chief Superintendent, Head of OPAL

Aug 2026