Store detectives are catching record numbers of shoplifters - from schoolchildren to pensioners - figures released today show.
In the past year, they have detained 607 thieves - compared to about 490 in the same period two years ago.

They believe they have tackled the hard core of more than 40 persistent thieves
- many of them drug addicts - by banning them from shops and circulating their
photographs.

Police are now concentrating on first-time, or opportunist, shoplifters who are
easier to spot because their methods are less sophisticated.

Graham Collins, intelligence officer for Citywatch, said: "These figures
show that if you come to Leicester to steal then you are going to be caught.

"We are getting much better at catching these people who give in to
temptation and just have a go at stealing. They are the easiest to catch, it's
like picking cherries."

Most of the offenders, whose details are collated by police daily, tend to be
criminals who travel to the city from outside Leicestershire or people who get
caught after committing one or a small number of offences.

The shops, all members of Citywatch - the business equivalent of Neighbourhood
Watch - share photographs of known offenders and act jointly to ban them from
entering their premises.

Dick Pollard, city centre police's community co-ordinator, said: "The
thing shining through over the past few weeks is that most of the people who
are being arrested are not the ones we know. It's the opportunist thieves who think they will get away with it, but of course they don't.
They're often stealing low-value items and they have to ask themselves if
it's really worth ending up with a criminal record for the sake of something so
cheap."

Mark Williamson, chairman of Citywatch and head of security at Fenwick, in Market Street, said: "The prolific offenders are barred from our shops. The ones we're mainly catching now are the kids seeking a thrill, or pensioners who steal food because otherwise they'd go hungry. We also get people coming in from other towns where the shops have banned them."

Shoppers welcomed the record level of arrests.
Martin Baines, 32, from the Narborough Road area, said: "We
all end up paying because prices go up when the shops try to cover the cost of
their losses."