Police chiefs have admitted they have had “limited success” in a blitz on shoplifting in Perth city centre.
A high profile campaign was launched this summer after an alarming spike in thefts from local stores.
New stats reveal the number of reported incidents rose by more than 43% from 135 between April to June 2016 to 194 in the same period this year.
Police Scotland has conceded its clampdown – including increased patrols and new court orders – was not entirely successful.
Chief Inspector Ian Scott, the area commander for Perth and Kinross, said thieves quickly got wise to patrols in and around High Street and St Catherine’s retail park.
He said: “There has been an increase across Scotland of acquisitive crime. Different areas have different themes. For example, our colleagues in Dundee have seen quite an increase in robberies.
“Within Perth and Kinross, that has manifested itself in other areas. Theft by shoplifting has seen a large increase, mainly in Perth city centre.
“We put various responses in place to try and reduce that increase. However, it has been with limited success, its fair to say.”
Mr Scott said: “We found that this tended to displace the offenders into other areas, so while it was taking the problem out of the High Street, it was putting it to Edinburgh Road, Crieff Road and onto Bridgend.”
Addressing a meeting of Perth and Kinross Council’s housing and communities committee, he said: “About four out of five shopliftings that were reported in Perth and Kinross were detected and are being brought before the courts.
“The causes of this can be numerous. We find that the individual is often in some sort of crisis, maybe related to mental health or more often related to alcohol and drug misuse.
“While we are looking to prevent these crimes, we are also looking at how we and our partners can work with those individuals to try and support them to lead active lives.”
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service was involved in the crackdown to prepare exclusion orders for certain offenders, banning them from particular stores.
The majority of those caught shoplifting were from the local area.
