Waitrose and John Lewis are offering free coffees for police officers who visit its stores in a bid to crack down on shoplifting and violence against staff.
In a letter to the Police Federation union, John Lewis Partnership said officers can use the subsidised staff canteen “as part of efforts to strengthen relationships and tackle retail crime”, The Times reports.
The retail giant has dubbed the initiative “thanks a latte”.
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Officers, including police community support officers, can get free hot drinks at Waitrose coffee machines if they bring a reusable cup.
In John Lewis stores, they can use the staff’s subsidised canteen, where hot meals cost between £2 and £3, and use quiet staff seating areas and bathrooms.
Assaults on employees in Waitrose shops have roughly doubled since 2020, according to the British Retail Consortium.
The premium supermarket’s owner said it was seeing “rising numbers of shoplifting offences – often by organised gangs as well anti-social behaviour”.
John Lewis had already increased the number of guards and “security-trained” staff, improved CCTV and rolled out body-worn cameras to staff who wish to wear one.
The retailer’s head of security Nicki Juniper said that the rise in thefts is not a result of people trying to put food on the table in the cost of living crisis, claiming the retail giant is targeted by “professional shoplifters stealing for greed”.
She added: “Just having a police car parked outside can make people think twice about shoplifting from our branches.”
Meanwhile, shoplifting has reached record levels at Co-op stores, with an average of nearly 1,000 incidents each day in the first half of this year – an increase of 35%.
Earlier this month Co-op Food boss Matt Hood hit back at supermarket profiteering accusations, claiming it is being used to justify the rocketing surge of shoplifting.
The chief executive told The Telegraph he was “disappointed” people were defending shoplifters after MPs accused the grocers of inflating prices.
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4 Comments. Leave new
Ok, I thought this was illegal. Paying the police to attend – doesn’t that just make it a private police force which is ultimately open to corruption. When do they start giving them £50 notes instead of coffee and subsidised meals? Cheaper and more effective than store security I suppose. Oh and now all the police do is hang about Waitrose drinking coffee all day instead of having the ‘community hour’ at Costa.
It’s bribery. Police Officers are supposed to do their job “ without fear or favour” . The problem is, the useless CPSO’s who have been recruited. They are not sufficiently bright.
Oh that’s funny because when I worked at John Lewis
a few years back, I said that the police could use our subsidised canteen but our management said they didn’t want police to be seen in there?
The Police are too busy to come out for shoplifters so I would be amazed if they have time to come out for a free coffee…