| Figures released today, following the conclusion of Operation Crackdown, also revealed that stolen property worth more than £6000 had been recovered.
Police declared the initiative a success, adding it should send out a message to would-be criminals they run a high risk of being caught.
The operation took on two phases, the first involving plain-clothes officers working in conjunction with security staff from city centre stores.
In the space of a little over three weeks, a total of 59 people were arrested or reported to the Procurator Fiscal, 47 of them on suspicion of shoplifting.
A high-profile phase was then launched at the start of December, running through the sales period to January 7, to provide reassurance to the thousands of people flowing through the city centre.
Figures for that period included 54 being arrested or reported for alleged shoplifting, with a further 13 facing charges on other matters.
Police confirmed they had recovered stolen property with a total value of £6240 during Operation Crackdown.
Sergeant Malcolm Harvey said, “We know there are certain people who come into town with the sole purpose of shoplifting.
“We operate an intelligence-led approach targeting these people and work in close partnership with loss prevention officers, using resources such as the Radiolink network.
“It has been a successful operation, and I would say the help we get from the retail sector at what is a very busy time of year for them is very important.”
Dundee has long been at the forefront of the fight against shoplifting and other retail crime and the number of crimes has decreased over the past three years.
That same period has also seen a rise in the detection rate, to the point where around nine in every ten shoplifting incidents reported in the city centre results in an arrest.
Police stressed they believed the number of arrests in the last two months was the result of improved intelligence and detection efforts, rather than an indication of a growing problem in the area. |
