Shopkeepers in Coventry are being offered the chance to fire questions at the people who steal from them.

A panel of shoplifters from different parts of the country is coming to Coventry to face questions from city centre traders.

A seminar entitled ‘Meet the Shoplifters’ is being organised at Coventry City Police Headquarters, Little Park Street, Coventry at 10 am on 14 September.

It will be hosted by Chris Brown of the City Centre Company who says:

"The seminar will be open to those traders who are our members.

"It will be an opportunity for them to discover what makes shoplifters tick. They can hear first hand what tricks are used to beat security systems and avoid detection.

"Shoplifting costs millions of pounds a year and the City Centre Company is doing all it can to cut down on city centre crime.

"We have an extensive and effective network of closed circuit television cameras and we are operating exclusion orders from more than sixty shops on those local people who are convicted of shop crime.

"We are conscious however that there is more that can be done and more that can be learned about the ways of criminals. We are urging all our members to take advantage of this opportunity to learn ways of improving their security."