Shop staff in Enniskillen are to receive more training on how to cope with retail crime.

Already, scores of local staff have attended training sessions under the 'Business Watch Initiative'. The next training session is scheduled for Tuesday 24th June in the Townhall, Enniskillen and will be on the subject of 'Personal Safety'. Messages will be circulated via Ringmaster to all Business Watch members with further details.

The Business Watch training package aims to guide staff through all the processes they need to know about in dealing with retail crime so that they can be confident in taking the appropriate actions.

Constable Hazel Gray, the Crime Prevention Officer at Enniskillen revealed that retail crime costs businesses, both large and small, several hundred million pounds,' effectively making the shopping experience more expensive for everyone - except, of course, the criminals'.

"When a person is detected committing an offence", she explained, " the value of the stolen property may be small, but its associated costs are far in excess of the amount.

"If you consider how much it costs the retailer to deal with the offender; how much time and resources it costs the police to make enquiries, including compiling reports for the Public Prosecution Service, and how much it costs the Court system to bring the person to justice, you can see just how much it is actually costing honest decent citizens of Fermanagh".

She also highlighted the psychological trauma that an offender may have caused the shop floor staff, and she suggested: "Is it not better to prevent a crime than detect it after it has been committed?".

Turning to subtle ways to deter the criminal, Constable Gray said it could quite simply be asking the person, 'Can I help you?' or 'How would you like to pay for that?.

"Being vibrant and proactive makes your shop less attractive to the thief", she went on. "It also helps secure your long-term employment and can mean that new jobs are created purely because the public like to visit shops that are known to be safe, crime-free and friendly.

At the first training session, 'Observation Skills' the importance of recording accurate descriptions was emphasised so that Business Watch members are alerted early via "Ringmaster" when suspicious persons are in business premises.

The second training session on 'Shoplifting – Your Powers' recapped on the ways of preventing theft and then went on to explain the elements of theft and the 'any person' power of arrest.