Meet the Leeds police officer praised for his 'invaluable' work tackling shoplifting in the city and stopping repeat offenders

PC Phil Underdown, was commended for his work in preventing shoplifting crime in Leeds city centre at the Leeds District Awards Evening recently, where he received the ‘Solving Problems With Partners Award’.

DC Underdown, who has worked closely with businesses, retailers and city centre partners, gave the YEP an insight into what measures police have taken to prevent the rise in retail crime and where he thinks the issue stems from.

DC Underdown, who is originally from Seacroft, joined West Yorkshire Police in 2016 at the age of 39, having previously worked for the anti-social behaviour team at Leeds City Council. He had worked closely with rough sleeping issues in the city centre as an officer, which made his transition into a role tackling anti-social behaviour and shoplifting a perfect move.

Upon starting the role, DC Underdown recognised that a great deal of persistent shoplifting offenders are from the city’s homeless community, which he said was fuelled by alcohol and drug problems.

“I think it’s wrong to put a lot of it down to the cost of living crisis”, he said. “A big part of it is the rough sleeping element and I know from experience that there is a lot of support and information out there. But in most cases it’s a question of whether or not they want that help.

“In a lot of cases the stolen goods are sold on to feed addiction and I think drug issues have increased post-Covid.”

DC Underdown set about an engagement and reassurance programme and conducted over 150 visits to premises to urge them to report shoplifting crime and ensure they added victim impact statements.

He said: “I went round all the shops and delivered a presentation called ‘Help Us to Help You’ so that we could get the message out that when people are arrested, the staff would express how they had been impacted personally. This would then go to the CPS and allow them to apply to judges for tougher sentences and orders.”

This, he explained, was key to ensuring that frequent perpetrators were handed Crime Behaviour Orders (CBOs), which can prevent them from entering the city centre and certain stores.

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“All too often at court the victim is not heard over the defence”, he said. “And I think that does feed into the occasions when the sentences are not great. But the idea with the orders is that it acts as a greater deterrent.”

In the last year he has overseen 20 orders being handed out, he said, including one to a serial thief of deodorants dubbed the “Lynx thief”.

He said: “We know in a lot of cases they are going to reoffend but with these it means they will be hit with tougher sentences when they do.

“In the case of the Lynx thief he was stopped and searched after the order and found with a can of Lynx on him. It was a breach of the order and so he was sentenced for another 16 weeks.”

PC Underdown said that this measure of increasing the use of CBOs has been taken up across the country following a large national spike of shoplifting.

He added that he hoped those carrying out the crime would make use of the services available while in prison to help with their addictions and conditions.

But, he said, his main drive for tackling the issue is for the victims, adding: “Success for me is getting a message saying ‘thank you’.

“Another thing we tell businesses is that they are coming onto private land, and your premises, so if you want to follow them around because they are suspicious or tell them to leave then you can.”

PC Underdown’s work has made him a familiar face to store owners around the city centre, and he was praised for his work when receiving his award recently.

A statement from Leeds BID read: “‘Phil’s interaction, training, and communication around shop theft has been invaluable.  His tenacity has shone through, and the results speak for themselves.

“Phil’s work highlighting the infinite challenges of prolific offenders, the links with ASB, begging and commercial burglary, and the critical impact on the safety, perception and cleanliness of the city centre has brought key focus to this national issue.”

He said he was delighted receive the award and recognition from his peers and cohorts, adding: “It was really nice to be recognised and a proud moment for me and my partner. It has only spurred me on to do more because it shows people are getting on board with what I’m doing.