A retail group is calling for government action on crime affecting independent shops.

The Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed) has repeated calls for targeted government funding to help improve security, following the announcement of investment in facial recognition technology for police forces.

Hetal Patel, national president of the Fed, said: “Ever since the number of incidents of shoplifting and other retail crime began to soar, we have lobbied politicians and the government to provide a targeted £6,500 grant scheme to improve security in smaller stores through CCTV and facial recognition.

“Following this latest initiative to give police forces hi-tech tools to tackle crime, now is the perfect time to help independent retailers boost their in-store security and dovetail with the police to deter criminals and catch repeat offenders.”

The group has also welcomed the Home Office’s announcement of the Police Reform White Paper and action to make police presence more visible as part of the Neighbourhood Police Guarantee.

Under the reforms, response officers will be expected to reach the scene of the most serious incidents within 15 minutes in cities and 20 minutes in rural areas, and forces will be expected to answer 999 phone calls within 10 seconds.

Mr Patel said: “For far too long we have raised the issue of a lack of police presence in local neighbourhoods and poor response times.

“Retail crime has reached epidemic proportions in recent years and is up 72 per cent compared to 2010 levels according to the Government’s own data.”