Drama at the Co-op

This all sounds very familiar. A few years back when a small Sainsbury's opened near by I was browsing the first aisle when I came to what I thought was a staff member on their hands and knees clearing out the bottom shelves of chicken and meat into 2 big bags. I stopped beside him and he calmly turned to me and said " do you want to be in here, pet?" so I replied it's ok thanks I'll wait till you finish. It had crossed my mind why didn't he have a shop waistcoat on but I thought nothing more of it till I'd passed and moments later he was legging it out of the shop up the road. Staff members calming went to the door looked up the road saw him meet his friend, identified him then calmly went back to doing what they had been doing.

To this day it still brings chuckles to a friends throat, if it is ever recounted, the fact I said to him it was ok I'd wait till he finished.

Needless to say security changes were brought in to that shop.

Lucky I worked in a bookshop and you become attuned to people who are in the shop for the wrong reason. So I see shoplifters all over the place! Perhaps you're just oblivious to them ...

My local Debenhams looked a bit like a war zone earlier this week. I walked to the entrance as I was returning a dress and there were four armed Police outside. It put me off a stroll round the shops rather than being reassuring. Perhaps they should have been at the Co-op !

Until we stop behaving so kindly towards people who have no qualms about stealing then it will only get worse. In the small town near us a group of caravans regularly park near the local supermarket; the children go in and cause havoc, running about shouting and knocking things over, while the adults 'shop' and then walk out. Nothing has ever happened; the police are called but often don't come, and if they do there seems to be 'nothing they can do'. I can believe that as their powers are so limited.

Our local shopkeeper (not in a quaint village but Greater London), not only had thousands of pounds worth of goods (alcohol and cigarettes) taken from his small shop, but was held at knifepoint. All caught on CCTV but police not really interested and didn't turn up for two days! I suppose it's because it's more commonplace in London.

Years ago, as I was walking towards my house with my little DDs I saw a young man run towards me & into my front garden. I shouted at him and he looked panicked and turned and raced across the road. A minute later a chap from.the local butcher arrived on the scene. The young man had stolen 3 joints of meat !

The police really don't have the resources to deal with these low level crimes, but it doesn't mean they don't care. I work very closely with our local police and PCSOs and I honestly feel very sad for them. They are constantly frustrated and feeling demoralised by their inability to do the job they signed up for. One of them described to me the theft of a new lawnmower from an elderly lady and how their guidelines left them unable to investigate the offense; he was genuinely very upset about it. Our local PCSOs are all likely to lose their jobs soon and then it'll really be like the wild west here with the criminals already knowing they can get away with almost anything that doesn't involve violence.
I would rather pay a little extra tax and keep at least some semblance of a police force, but I expect we'll soon have more of the private security firms touting for business.
www.rt.com/uk/426133-private-police-force-austerity//

www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/scared-residents-private-security-patrol-15489009

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-44818726

sandwich that happens regularly at my local corner shop (break ins for cigarettes and alcohol) - they seem to stock mostly booze. I think, what a stressful job that must be that you can be under threat at any time from thieves and breaker-ins.

My local Co-op has a prominently displayed poster indicating that they will not serve customers who are intoxicated!

grannyactivist that sounds like the South African model - a breakdown in statutory police services means that private security services have proliferated. It's what most people in South Africa rely on now - and pay for of course!

... I should add before anyone jumps on me, in the more affluent areas. I suspect other areas have a vigilante system.

It is shocking that a wealthy state like ours fails to provide basic infrastructure services to ensure the safety and well being of all citizens and that we are sold the story that austerity is the answer. We can see, every day, that is a blatant untruth.

I don't really agree that it shouldn't be reported. All crime should be logged that's the only way we might get an increase in police numbers.

The policing in this country is dire. They won’t investigate or even give you the benefit of a formal statement if you have been defrauded out of an inheritance of thousands of pounds and have unassailable written evidence to prove that crimes have crimes have been committed (and no, it is not a civil matter)

I'd have thought I was safe from abused goods as I do most of my groceries online. But for a few weeks I fell foul of a cake rogue - whoever was doing the packing would carefully place any fancy iced cake upside down and put a load of heavy stuff on top. All the other items were packed normally. At first the store just refunded for the ruined cake each time until I finally managed to impress on them that it was definitely deliberate sabotage and if the packer was doing that what else might they progress to - maybe actually contaminating food. I advised them to follow the audit trail and see who had been packing those particular deliveries. After that conversation, it never happened again. I guess the person was removed.

Our local art centre was regularly broken into. The thieves were looking for cash because they never stole the art, although some home baked chocolate shortcake vanished..
I help in a community shop and there is one older lady who has to be watched. She used to bring in her penny collection, insist on putting it in the till, but then several large notes were exchanged!!
I thought perhaps she has klepto tendencies like poor old Lady Isobel Barnet.
Now she is watched and has stopped coming in.

Perhaps we should be asking why so many people need to steal food now. And while we are at it why are foodbanks running out of food. Ours is the fifth richest country in the world. The academics are telling us that the world has ten years left. Before it finally goes bottom up and our currency implodes maybe we will all be stealing food. Wonder why so many are in denial. Asking for a friend.........

It shouldn't be forgotten that there is another motive for some people's stealing which is bravado. They simply enjoy the challenge of seeing if they can get away with it. Obviously this is very different from the people who just need to eat, and those who are stealing for financial gain. And finally there are people with mental conditions that have compulsions to steal things they don't even want or know they have stolen afterwards.

People have always stolen food. The old lady I mentioned was a 'regular' at the Co-op - in those days she was prosecuted and given probation.

No-one needs to steal loads of smoked salmon and steaks.

Blueskies it has,been pointed out already that stealing food though 'need' for self or family is different to theft for 'greed'. I understand a thief selling stolen goods in the pub or to neighbours may think s/he has a need..but it is just theft.

Someone filled a trolley in my local Lidl, then waited for the automatic entrance doors to open and dashed out to a waiting car, threw as much as they could in the boot and sped away.

Let’s not forget, we the customer pay for shoplifting in higher prices. The criminal get’s away with it all, and we continue to pay our taxes for police, etc. I’m fed up with being told that the police don’t have sufficient resources. Just watch them all turn up when there is a celebrity about!

I was once entering our local Asda store when a young man walked out with a bottle of Jack Daniels and two big bags of crisps. The alarm went off as the security tag was still on the bottle, but no one seemed bothered. And there is usually a security man sitting at a desk at each entrance!

In the town where I used to live one particular elderly lady was pretty well known for wandering around the Co-op drinking from an opened can of cold soup (not sure of her preferred flavour, but presumably modern ring-pull lid). Admittedly not your run-of-the-mill shoplifter, but I'm sure she was banned......several times!

Aepgirl just before Christmas one of our PCSOs turned up to two meetings, in full uniform, and only he, me and his not very pleased wife knew that he was there on his days off.

I can't speak for any other town, but I am in awe of the dedication shown by our local officers and often hear them voicing their concerns when they are unable to police as they would like to do.

It is becoming a popular 'sport' to denigrate public services. Of course amongst the personnel there will be the great and the not so great, the useless and the total hero but we all want the services. The more they are undermined by a) lack of funds & b) lack of public support the easier it is for government to wind the service down even more.