Retailers are being encouraged to tackle shoplifting by "meeting and greeting" suspicious characters as soon as they walk through the doors.

Staff at shops in Leicester city centre will be encouraged to chat in a friendly fashion and offer to help suspects as they browse.

The method – known as "prevent and deter" – is already used in many shops.

Its supporters believe paying close attention to thieves is often enough to pressurise them to leave.

Many other shop assistants and security guards wait until a theft has taken place before they move in.

But now letters have been sent to more than 100 stores urging workers to try prevent and deter in the next few months.

The advice has been offered jointly by police, city centre manager Sarah Harrison, Safer Leicester Partnership and Citywatch, the Neighbourhood Watch equivalent for shops and bars.

Citywatch is planning a series of courses to help train staff to spot suspects.

Graham Collins, intelligence officer at Citywatch, said: "Rather than let a shoplifter wander around, the idea is to make life uncomfortable for them.

"The last thing thieves want when they walk into a shop is to be looked in the eye and spoken to. They want to go unnoticed.

"We think a uniform policy across the city will help reduce thefts."

Dermot Breen, a former retailer and chairman of Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce's city centre committee, said: "It's going back to the old way of a shopkeeper meeting and greeting people as they come through the door.

"If it's one of the well-known prolific thieves, they can just tell them to leave.

"But there are a lot of opportunist thieves, too. If the staff are not sure but are suspicious, they can use this meet and greet method to deter them.

"If they wait until something has been stolen, they may well lose their security guard or member of staff for a minimum of four hours.

"The key is to get a uniform response to shoplifting across the city centre.

"If traders pick it up, we believe we will make it exceedingly difficult for thieves to operate here."

A clothing shop manager, who asked not to be identified, said: "We act in a very discreet fashion. If we have suspicions about someone, we're all over them but in a very friendly way.

"Eventually, they realise they won't be left alone and they give up.

"I can't understand why some shops seem to sit back and wait for the stock to go into a pocket or a bag. The way we work keeps our staff on the shop floor at all times."

Inspectors this year highlighted shoplifting as one of two areas where police in the city were failing to reduce crime. The other was bicycle thefts.

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