Winner – Best Safety, Security and Resilience Scheme Association of Town and City Management (ATCM) Awards 2025

Lincoln’s ground-breaking shop theft initiative has been recognised on the national stage, winning the ‘Best Safety, Security and Resilience Scheme’ at the prestigious Association of Town and City Management (ATCM) Awards 2025.

The award celebrates an innovative partnership between Lincoln BIG and Lincolnshire Police, launched in early 2024, to address rising incidents of retail theft in the city centre. By embedding one of Lincoln BIG’s City Centre Wardens into the crime reporting process, businesses have been empowered to quickly and effectively report thefts, while officers have been able to focus their efforts on investigating and tackling offenders.

The scheme involves City Centre Wardens supporting local businesses to gather vital information, including initial complaint statements, theft details, and CCTV footage, key evidence for securing convictions and Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) against persistent offenders. The result? Faster prosecutions, a visible drop in repeat offending, and improved confidence in city centre safety.

Association of Town & City Management Judges commented on the scheme;  “Lincoln’s Civilian Investigator scheme offers an innovative, crime-reduction model that seamlessly blends crime reporting, evidence collection, and police statement support, providing direct, on-the-ground assistance to businesses affected by crime. The initiative has delivered tangible results, with nearly £15,000 in stolen stock recovered, 205 charges filed, and a noticeable strengthening of trust between local businesses and the police. It was also a key factor in the positive Lincoln BIG ballot result. By saving 428 police hours and sparking interest from other regions looking to replicate the model, the scheme stands out as a shining example of collaborative, cost-effective, and scalable innovation in crime prevention.”

By streamlining the evidence-gathering process and facilitating successful prosecutions, the scheme helps secure sentences and civil orders that not only deter repeat offenders but also provide pathways to rehabilitation, especially in cases involving addiction.

Sergeant Steve Parker of Lincolnshire Police praised the scheme, noting: “This has been part of our work targeting volume offenders who have been identified as committing a disproportionate number of crimes against the public.  We have been prioritising prosecutions and spending our time targeting offenders who have had the most impact on the public in Lincoln, which has meant we have secured court sentences and court orders which can help reduce the impact of their crimes.

Firstly, what the scheme has done has freed officer time relating to 214 theft investigations. Realistically I would need to allocate 2 hours of officer time per theft this would account for the time it would take for the officer to travel to the store, obtain the statement and collect/exhibit the CCTV. The role has saved us 428 hours of officer time. What this has allowed us to do is free up those officers’ hours to focus on other city centre matters that had a benefit on the city, time that would not have been available and therefore would have led to problems not being resolved effectively due to lack of time.

 Secondly, securing prosecutions that lead to Community Orders/ Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBO) ,suspended sentence orders or prison sentences are designed to prevent future offences and rehabilitate and divert the offender. Shop Thefts are usually committed by offenders with addiction issues or lifestyle necessity and what these types of sentences are designed to do are to support an individual and enforce rehabilitation that are reflective of that individuals need to offend. If these orders work, it brings addiction issues and lifestyle issues under control therefore reducing the need to offend and therefore reduce the offending impact on the city centre businesses. For offenders who don’t comply in the community then prison is able to do the same but within a controlled environment before phasing an individual back into the community.

The benefit of obtaining Prison sentences, suspended sentence orders or community orders has benefits to the city by working to reduce offending by individuals. As these convictions have been obtained against “prolific offenders” there will now be a significant number of city centre crimes that have not occurred and can’t be quantified.  When I refer to this benefit, I don’t believe the impact is only seen within shop thefts but other city centre crimes. For example, assistance prosecuting a certain individual for shop thefts brought a drastic reduction in city centre cycle thefts when he was sentenced to a period in prison. Our intelligence indicated that this individually was responsible for a high volume of city centre bike thefts but unfortunate evidentially difficulties meant we could not prosecute for each individual cycle thefts. By focusing on that same individuals shop thefts it lead to his prison sentence which immediately led to a drastic reduction in city centre bike thefts immediately afterwards.

In closing, this role is so crucial to the city centre and one of the most effective roles I have come across in my 20 years of policing. The amount of benefit brought to the city by one role has exceeded my expectations. The street wardens do an excellent job on a daily basis deterring offenders but I have always felt that when an individual has a strong addiction issue, deterring them will only displace the theft problem somewhere else. By prosecuting individuals leading to effective court sentences, working to remove the addiction issue that led to the initial problem in the first place prevents the need to deter an offender, as the offender does not exist in the first place if their addiction issues are controlled.”

Additionally, the City Warden's contribution has been invaluable. With 205 evidential packages produced that led directly to charges being brought. As a result of those 205 charges, the courts issued 75 prison sentences, 28 suspended sentences, and 37 community orders. These convictions enabled us to secure Retail-focused Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) against Lincoln’s 30 most prolific shoplifters. CBOs, which are granted upon conviction, make it a criminal offence for those individuals to enter any retail premises in Lincoln City—except for one designated store where they are allowed to shop. This has provided a further layer of protection for our retail community.

The initiative aligns closely with Lincoln BIG’s broader safety and security strategy, which includes daily patrols by trained City Centre Wardens, partnerships with businesses, and proactive crime prevention campaigns.

Lee Roberts, Operations Manager at Lincoln BIG, said: “I am proud that the ATCM have recognised this scheme and for Lincoln BIG to receive such a prestigious award. The project was created to support our city centre businesses in the face of rising shop theft, and the results speak for themselves. It proves what can be achieved when public and private sectors work closely together with a shared goal of keeping our city centre safe and welcoming. This recognition highlights Lincoln as a leading example of best practice nationwide.”

This national recognition is a testament to Lincoln’s forward-thinking approach to urban safety – reinforcing that strong partnerships, smart innovation, and community trust are key to building safer, more resilient city centres.

More details on these efforts can be found at: https://www.lincolnbig.co.uk/welcome/safety-security/