LIVERPOOL is going to be 1 of the 1st UK Cities to trial “Safer Pods” to tackle shoplifting and anti-social behaviour. The launch is part of National Safer Business Action Week, which begins on:- 10 November 2025, shining a spotlight on the work of partnerships across the UK to reduce retail crime. 

Liverpool Business Improvement District is the 1st in England to work with Safer Group, the developers of Safer Pods, which create a visible and tech driven deterrent for shoplifting and anti-social behaviour around stores and businesses. 

The Safer Pods are mobile and act as a visible deterrent. They work as intruder detection units, monitoring activity inside and outside a store using a ground-level CCTV system. If a prolific shoplifter walks into the store and an incident, like theft or anti-social behaviour, occurs, the retailer can activate the cameras using an app, without challenging the suspect. The CCTV evidence can be requested by police or the store by calling a 24-hour security control room. 

Liverpool is one of 250 Business Crime Reduction Partnerships (BRCP) in the UK. The BID Safety Partnership sees Liverpool BID working alongside Merseyside Police, Liverpool Nightlife CIC and Liverpool City Council and most importantly the businesses themselves. The partnership includes two full time Merseyside Police officers who provide BID Levy Payers with a direct response to non-emergency enquiries about safety, crime prevention including cyber-crime, anti-social behaviour and security issues seven days a week; The DISC Intelligence Sharing Platform allows intelligence sharing across businesses in the City; Intelligence Sharing Briefings, which discuss safety issues across the BID; City Watch officers are funded by the BID to monitor the Radio Link network, which has over 180 active digital radios operated by businesses themselves to provide reassurance and intelligence sharing, operating 24 hours a day.

Shaun Holland, Director of Operations at Liverpool Business Improvement District, said:- “This Safer Pod is much more visible to those out and about, so it will act as a deterrent in a much more proactive way. Things like CCTV are vital for safety, but they are often hidden and can be incredibly useful for evidence gathering once a crime has been committed. This is much more in your face and obvious, so it’s a tactic for stores to show potential criminals  that if anything untoward happens, they’ll be caught on camera immediately”.