A police chief today warned Bradford retailers to "get their act together" and do more to tackle about 50 heroin addicts responsible for a wave of shoplifting in the city.

Chief Inspector Ray Shepherd, of Bradford South Police, said some shops were not doing enough to deter the hardcore of shoplifters responsible for more than half the 1,000 offences committed in the division from April last year.

Chief Insp Shepherd believes a number of retailers have only themselves to blame for the level of theft in their stores.

Some city centre shops have no security guards or CCTV cameras, and in one case a store used cheaper 'dummy' security tags rather than the more expensive electronic versions - meaning they were totally ineffective.

Chief Insp Shepherd said: "Some retailers in the city centre need to get their act together and become more proactive regarding retail theft.

"For example, they need to employ more uniform security guards, have more visible CCTV equipment and generally not make it as easy for people to steal things from their stores.

"Until this happens shoplifters will continue to be an unnecessary problem for the police when we could be channelling our efforts into other areas of crime that the general public are more concerned about.

"There are some very responsible retailers in Bradford, but it's the ones who are not as responsible that let the others down," he said.

The police's Retail Theft Unit, which revealed the hardcore of 50 drug addicts were responsible for more than half of these crimes, is part of a dedicated squad of 12 officers seeking to combat city centre crime and force out yobs, thieves and muggers.

Last year it arrested 408 shoplifters and returned £23,000 of stolen property to retailers in the city centre alone. From last April to March 31, more than 2,500 shoplifting offences were committed in the whole of the Bradford district.

But the actual cost to shops in terms of stolen goods is believed to run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Former C&A staff who set up the Lost Boys clothes shop in the former Brown, Muff & Co building blamed shoplifters for its closure. Jeff Frankel, president of the Bradford Retail Action Group, said he accepted some of Chief Insp Shepherds' points but argued that it was still the police's job to arrest shoplifters when they committed a crime.

"While we appreciate what the police are saying, it has to be remembered that it is wrong to steal, under any circumstances.

"At the end of the day if a criminal offence takes place then it's the police's responsibility because that's what they're paid for," he said.

And Jim Griffin, past president of the Bradford Chamber of Trade, said many small businesses struggled with the cost of improving security measures.

"If you've got a small shop you can't afford to employ specialist security guards, you have to rely on your existing staff," he said.

"The cost of arming your shop against these criminals is very expensive.

"The police are there to catch these thieves and we rely on them to do that and to arrest them.

"We will do our best to assist them, but at the end of the day that's what they're there for."

As part of the battle against crime in the city centre, West Yorkshire Police Fraud Squad has also launched its Thumbprint Signature Scheme to combat credit card fraud, with shoppers leaving their thumbprint behind as identification when making a purchase.

Aimed primarily at mobile phone shops, the squad hopes to roll out the scheme to all city centre retailers.

Catherine Riley, manager of the Kirkgate Centre, said they took a partnership approach with the police.

"You have to be aware that the police have serious crimes to tackle as well as shop theft," she said.

"Anything we can do to help the police by having good security procedures should be taken."

PC David Simpson, one of the city centre patrol team, is picturedin the control room of the CCTV centre