Shepparton police’s Operation Securus team, a dedicated team of five officers targeting retail crime — theft and violence against workers — in Greater Shepparton, has arrested 91 alleged thieves since the operation began four months ago, in May.
The most commonly stolen items, according to local police, are groceries, alcohol and clothing.
Among those arrested are 28 alleged repeat offenders, including a 41-year-old Mooroopna woman who has been arrested 17 times since the launch of Securus.
She is currently on remand.
Others include a 33-year-old Kialla man, who allegedly threatened staff at a High St, Shepparton, liquor store on August 30.
Police executed a search warrant at a Kialla address on September 2 and arrested the man after a report was made to them.
He was charged with threatening to inflict serious injury, and threatening a customer-facing worker.
A 51-year-old Shepparton woman was also arrested in Shepparton on August 25, after allegedly filling a shopping trolley with more than $800 of groceries and leaving a Kialla supermarket without paying the day before.
Police recovered most of the allegedly stolen products and the woman was charged with theft.
The 33-year-old Kialla man and 51-year-old Shepparton woman were both bailed to appear in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court at a later date.
According to the latest crime data, retail theft increased by 50 per cent in the year ending March 2026.
Operation Securus was established to reduce shoplifting offences across Greater Shepparton, but also to catch prolific thieves who use aggression and intimidation tactics in an attempt to get away with their crimes.
“We’ve seen time and time again offenders feeling entitled to take things without paying and then threatening anyone who tries to stop them,” Goulburn Valley Tasking and Coordination Inspector Anna Parkinson said.
“This is something we simply won’t tolerate, and that’s why our team is taking retail theft in Shepparton so seriously.”
Insp Parkinson said the main focus of the operation was to make staff and shoppers feel safe and deter further theft.
“The success of Operation Securus in such a short time frame is reason to why we will continue targeting the city’s worst shoplifters,” she said.
Operation Securus will continue indefinitely, with uniform members having a highly visible presence in the CBD and retail precincts.
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