SECURITY staff have earned the praise of Cleveland Police for helping to arrest a number of thieves in the past eight months.
The most recent criminal spotted and caught by closed-circuit television operators at Stockton's Wellington Square Shopping Centre was a man police had been searching for.
The security team are members of multi-agency Stockton Pro-Active Arrest Unit and patrol the mall on foot as well as monitoring security cameras.
Rob Gildersleeve, centre manager at Wellington Square, said: "We have forged a good working partnership with the Pro-Active Arrest Unit and are pleased we have been able to offer the team our help and assistance in the fight against crime."
A team of nine security officers man the open-air shopping centre and multi-storey car park 24 hours a day.
A police spokesman said: "We have had a very successful start to the year with a number of wanted people being arrested. This has greatly increased with the help of vigilant businesses and the general public including Wellington Square."
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