Police have arrested 13 people on suspicion of shoplifting within the past fortnight in Southend. 

Ten of these people have been charged with a total of 37 shop thefts and one has been charged with three counts of assault. 

The Southend town centre team launched operation raker last September to target persistent offenders responsible for thefts, assaults and public order offences. 

Two officers have been dedicated to working with Southend Council's community safety officers, the business improvement district rangers and retailers to identify and arrest individuals and prevent their offending from escalating. 

Town centre team Sergeant Steve Wells says this focus is "paying dividends", as can be seen by the volume of arrests in the past fortnight.

“Officers have considerable local knowledge, which, together with our close working relationship with retailers, the city council and the Bid team, means we can identify and arrest those individuals who are causing the most harm in the city centre.

“And we operate a drug test on arrest scheme where people arrested for acquisitive crimes, such as shoplifting and burglary, are tested for cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin when they arrive in custody.

“If that is positive, they are required to attend an assessment for a specialist drug treatment programme with Forward Trust.

“People often steal to fund their drug habit so we want to prevent their need to commit theft in the first place.”

Cases involving two people arrested between September 2 and 15 are still being investigated while no further action will be taken against one.