ShopWatch Radio

Essential Edinburgh have been working closely with Police Scotland to tackle a rise in retail crime in the City Centre.

In late 2024 Essential Edinburgh consulted with the Prevention Intervention and Partnerships Department (PIP) on the introduction of a ShopWatch Radio scheme for the City Centre.

The aims were for:

• Retailers to be in direct contact with one another, providing support with ongoing incidents and sharing live information about offenders.
• Retailers to be in direct contact with Edinburgh Council’s CCTV, enabling best evidence to be captured, and for tracking of offenders in real time.
• Retailers to have direct contact with city centre police officers and the newly formed Retail Crime Team to enable officers to apprehend offenders and take action when they were in the area.
• To demonstrate to offenders that Edinburgh City Centre is a “hard target” for shoplifters.

In April 2025 ShopWatch Radio – fully funded by Essential Edinburgh – was introduced, linking retailers together with Police Scotland’s Retail Task Force and Edinburgh CCTV Hub. There are 75 retailers signed up and in the first year of combined operation of Check Out & Shop Watch Radio (2025-26) solved theft by shoplifting offences increased by 100% Vs the 5-year mean, and was up 38% annually.

“Shop Watch Radio combined with the invaluable Check Out retail security project, has seen great successes in preventing and detecting crime. Police Scotland looks forwards to continuing our strong and productive relationship with Essential Edinburgh into the future.”

– Police Inspector Stephen Quinn, City Centre Policing Unit

For information about joining, please get in touch

In year 1 of combined operation of Check Out & Shop Watch Radio (2025-26) solved theft by shoplifting offences increased by 100% Vs the 5-year mean, and was up 38% annually