MORE than £5,000 of shoplifted stock has been recovered this year as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

Street rangers, who are part of the York BID team, have been working alongside police, shopkeepers and council staff.

Since the scheme was launched 18 months ago, they have recovered £5,225.37 of shoplifted stock.

Elliot Sawyer, operations manager at York BID, said: “This figure includes items that people have been deterred from stealing; by which I mean the rangers could have caught them in the act, for example.

“Not all of the incidents are high value thefts, many are relatively small, but they soon add up to the businesses affected.”

In January, the officers became the first members of a private security firm in the country to be given certification by the Secretary of State for their ethical use of body-worn cameras.