Drama at the Co-op

Some years ago hubby and I were in the pharmacy. Hubby (retired police officer) noticed a young man filling his pockets with perfumes. Hubby grabbed him and shouted to the staff to ring the police. The culprit was kicking all around him but hubby held on. The staff looked guilty and told hubby to let him go. Reluctantly he did and the culprit ran out of the shop, shouting at what he'd do to my husband. Clearly the staff would rather let him run that call the police.

Here we have a scanning system and you cant get out through the litttle gate until you have scanned the receipt, mind you I dont know if the things on the receipt are less than in the bag, they do occasionally have a spot check on people scanning, its not fool proof but its a good idea I think.

One of my grandsons works part time in a large frozen food shop (will leave you to guess where). All legs of lamb are displayed in large plastic containers in the freezers. He says that so many were being stolen by people that they are kept in these until they are paid for at the checkout and then they are released from the boxes.

In my nearest large town it's a well known fact that illegally imported tobacco is sold by drug addicts in a local day centre. They take orders which are fulfilled when the next 'consignment' arrives and the buyers no doubt add a % and sell some of their order on. Nothing's been done for years.
Tesco has security guards as does Sainsbury's but I don't usually shop there as too far away for odds n ends.
Waitrose don't have security but occasionally staff by self service tills, mostly to assist if shoppers have a problem.
Theft isn't an issue where I live...thankfully. The ATM crimes in surrounding towns
(involving diggers and forklifts) are attributed to gangs from London who hi-tail it back up the A3.
Low level crime such as shoplifting is paid for by us in the form of higher prices so it's not something I would ignore, although I've never seen anyone in the act.

Kids do it around here all the time, at xmas they run of with meat and other expensive food. Awful but only thing shops can do is ban they but they still run in.

schnackie On a similar note, our plumber was distraught when his van was broken into, outside his house overnight, and his power tools were taken. The tools were not insured because if they are for your business it's practically impossible to insure them inside a vehicle.
A mate of his said that someone in the pub was seen trying to sell tools which may have been his. When he heard what the man was asking for them he told his friend he should have bought them back! £1000 tool being offered for £100.

As far as I know it is illegal to publish CCTV photos and all other information about anyone suspected of a crime anywhere, including on social media.

All you legally may do is hand the information over to the police.

Here in Denmark, you will be sued for defamation of character if you publish this kind of information, as until someone has been tried and convicted of an offence they are presumed innocent, and may not be named in connection with a suspected crime.

As far as I remember both Scottish and English law has the same presumption of innocent until proved guilty.

Shops may employ security staff or store detectives to try and prevent shop-lifting, but must then call the police to charge a suspect.

This is a very timely post, as I was going to start a similar thread. Only it's not because I see people shoplifting, it because the pub that I frequent a couple of afternoons a week (my social life) has people coming in several times a week with stolen items to sell!! Sometimes they even take 'orders'! This makes me so upset and I have had arguments with friends who think this is not a big deal. Obviously it has an impact on prices for all of us, detrimental to small shops that perhaps don't have the big margins to protect their profit, etc, etc. I have even taken photos of these people in the pub garden but no one wants to know! Rant over.

In a nearby village a very wealthy lady used to shoplift from the local village store. The owner knew and just added the items to her monthly bill which was always paid. A new owner took over and wasn't so understanding. He reported her to the police who prosecuted her.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.........

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.

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.

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 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.

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