Belper woman arrested during Operation Antler

Operation Antler, which is being piloted throughout Amber Valley, sees officers carrying out increased patrols around town centres in the run up to Christmas in a bid to deter thieves and catch shoplifters in the act.

At around 12.55pm today (Thursday, December 18) a woman entered Boots Chemist on King Street in Belper. She took a number of items from the shelf, placed them into a child’s push chair and left without offering payment.

An officer, who was carrying out patrols in the area at the time, was alerted to the incident over the ShopWatch radio system and was passed on the details of the suspected shoplifter.

A 24-year-old woman was arrested in the area a short time later on suspicion of theft and will be questioned by police shortly.

To find out more about the operation or to speak to your local Safer Neighbourhood team call 101, the non-emergency number for Derbyshire police.

Officers are asking member of the public to get involved with Operation Antler on Twitter by monitoring updates using the hashtag ‘#operationantler’.