A CRIME initiative which will make it harder for serial shoplifters to reoffend has been launched at a Scottish shopping centre.

Motherwell Shopping Centre became the first in Scotland to join crime-fighting authorities at the launch of the new initiative yesterday.

The outdoor centre in North Lanarkshire has been working collaboratively with the Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC) and Police Scotland to launch the #copdog retailers’ crime reporting initiative.

The #copdog project aims to improve the way shoplifters are reported by retailers and reassures the public that shoplifting is taken seriously.

It is understood that those retailers signed up to the scheme will fill out a form once a shoplifted incident has happened on their premises.

The retailers are encouraged to review their own CCTV to pass onto police so that when officers are arrive they have full details of the incident.

It is also hoped that the new method will allow officers to identify any serial shoplifters within the shopping centre.

Geraldine El Masrour, Centre Manager at Motherwell Shopping Centre, said: “We have an excellent partnership with SBRC and Police Scotland who work with us tirelessly and this initiative is definitely one which will help our retailers and customers feel safer, especially as we work towards the Christmas period.

“Motherwell Shopping Centre’s retailers have jumped on board with #copdog and are all excited about it and look forward to seeing the benefits.”

Retailers including Primark, Boots and Argos will all display the cartoon sticker of the #copdog in their windows to show customers they are part of the initiative.

It is hoped that the initiative will be rolled out across other shopping centres in the country.

Lorraine Jarvie, Business Resilience Officer for SBRC, said: “It’s great to see the stores at Motherwell Shopping Centre getting behind the initiative.

“#copdog will help raise awareness within the centre and promote a safer shopping environment for retailers and customers.

“The initiative will also make it harder for repeat offenders to shoplift and we hope that when other centres see the benefits of this crime reporting initiative, it’ll be taken on by them in future.

“We’re really proud to be part of this initiative which will help create a secure environment for the local businesses to flourish in.”

SBRC exists to create a secure environment where business can trade securely, regardless of size and sector. SBRC leads a number of key work streams across Scotland including retail, financial resilience, secure transport and the night time economy.