06/08/2025
Clive Hammond
Simon Foster, West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), told Police Oracle that the region's award-winning Offending to Recovery (O2R) programme is helping drive reductions in retail crime while transforming lives, as it prepares to expand again next year.
O2R, originally introduced by West Midlands Police (WMP) in 2018, uses addiction-trained police officers and specialist staff from the drug and alcohol service to ensure pathways for those committing crimes as a result of narcotic use are open.
Working closely with retailers, the probation service, local charities and others, these addicts are given support through the support of health professionals, academics, government advisors, and other experts.
Nationally, research suggests that 70 percent of retail crime is committed by people with an addiction, and data that looked at the force’s region in particular found some staggering results.
Among them, the PCC told Police Oracle, included how a group of 35 individuals, who were assessed as part of an academic evaluation on the original O2R pilot, were stealing goods worth at retail of upwards of £78,000 a week between them.
This amounted to around £4 million each year. After the items were sold, the individuals were spending £26,000 on illicit drugs between them each week, amounting to around £1.3m per annum.
“It’s a staggering amount of money, isn’t it,” Mr Foster said. “And it just illustrates the sheer scale of the challenge.
“It’s one of the reasons why the O2R programme is an important part of that strategy to deal with the issues around retail crime and shop theft, which includes violence against shop workers as well.”
The service is free, offering people the opportunity to have a fresh start in life and remove the need to commit those crimes.
Packages of support on offer match the individual’s needs and is delivered locally at a pace matched to the person requesting help.
And next year, O2R will expand further, with Sandwell and Solihull completing the reach across the West Midlands.
There have been capacity issues, but in order to combat this, Mr Foster said officers were receiving training to be part of the programme.
He continued: “They’re working with substance misuse workers who are embedded within the project as well, the reason for that being it provides for a more joined-up approach to identifying individuals in terms of suitability for rehab and other treatments.
“We want to ensure that as many people who need the service are able to access it. I guess that’s the very simple ambition here.
“Ultimately, it is about preventing and tackling retail crime – that’s very much the key.
“We know, and this is not just in the West Midlands, it is across the country, that retail crime, shop theft and violence against shop workers has remained a significant challenge for high streets and town city centres.
“A part of that is community policing and neighbourhood policing. Making sure that offenders are brought to justice whenever appropriate.
“But equally, part of it is also about investing in prevention and rehabilitation, and this project is about exactly that.”
Mr Foster invests £100,000 annually into the programme, and in June, some of O2R’s success stories were shared, including that of Keely Knowles, once one of Birmingham’s most prolific shoplifters, having stolen millions of pounds worth of goods.
She is now 18 months clean after a 29-year heroin addiction. Keeley, who first injected at the age of 13, credits O2R with helping her reconnect with her family and rebuild her life.
“O2R doesn’t just help people recover – it gives them their lives back,” she said earlier this year. “I’ve met nieces and nephews I didn’t even know existed. This programme saves lives. It saved mine.”
Given its proven success in the West Midlands, the O2R model has now also been adopted by Nottinghamshire Police, marking a significant step forward in tackling addiction-driven crime across the UK.
Gary Chapman, O2R manager at West Midlands Police, added: “The expansion of O2R beyond Birmingham is a major milestone. We’re already seeing incredible results in Coventry, Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton. This programme is about hope, recovery and real change.”
The programme’s impact is not only personal but economic.
Data suggests that if O2R successfully rehabilitates just 20 offenders a year, it could prevent up to £1.14 million worth of goods being stolen from shops in the first year alone – and up to £2.2 million in the second year.