Wokingham Town

Tackling thefts in the Wokingham Town Centre & Embrook/Woosehill & Norreys areas

The Neighbourhood team will target individuals that cause the most demand and look for opportunities to arrest them at the earliest opportunity. We are working with our partner agencies to offer support and preventative work with individuals where appropriate. We are also looking at further longer term measures to help prevent issues occurring in the first place.
We have arrested and charged individuals for thefts from shops and thefts of pedal cycles, with convictions at court for these offences.

A robust approach to tackling retail crime in the Thames Valley has been introduced by the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC). Developed jointly with retailers, business groups and Thames Valley Police (TVP), the PCC’s Retail Crime Strategy sets out tangible actions to tackle shoplifting, retail crime and violence towards shop workers.
The strategy aims to support businesses and create a hostile environment for those who commit crimes in the local economy by focusing on 6 key pillars – Intelligence, Enforcement, Partnership, Prevention, Justice and Reassurance. It also includes the creation of a Business Crime Team within TVP to improve investigations and identify prolific offenders and, with the rollout of Operation Purchase, the Force’s operational response to retail crime, increasing the visible presence of police officers and PCSOs in retail spaces as well as improving the officer response to reports, particularly incidents involving violence towards staff.
A core aim is to enhance the collaboration between businesses and the police to better tackle retail crime in addition to the policing response. To help facilitate this, access is being provided to Disc – an online information-sharing and reporting platform which allows retailers to report and access information about crime such as shoplifting and anti-social behaviour (ASB). The system, which can be accessed as an app, also makes reporting to the police faster and more efficient as users can submit a crime report directly through the platform, removing the need to call 101. We believe these measures will deliver a more visible, targeted and robust response to retail crime, increase the security and confidence of local businesses and help make high streets and retail spaces across the Thames Valley safer for the community.

The Wokingham South Policing Team recently received several responses to their neighbourhood surveys highlighting concerns from residents around speeding on Toutley Road, Emmbrook.

PCSO Williams recently organised a joint Speedwatch session with the Community Speedwatch Team. A number of vehicles were recorded travelling in excess of the speed limit and on this occasion the drivers of the vehicles will be educated about their speeding.

Community Speedwatch is a national initiative where proactive members of local communities join with the support and supervision of their local police to record details of speeding vehicles using approved detection devices. To join a local Community Speedwatch group and be involved in tackling speed related issues, please visit:
https://www.communityspeedwatch.org