Drama at the Co-op

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I've learned such a lot from this thread. I was on a course in the centre of a city recently. After the lunchbreak, a class member said he'd gone for a walk and been asked for a cigarette by another man who then offered him a steak from a whole bagful in thanks.
We talked about it and decided the steak offerer must have been given some nearly-out-of-date steaks for the nearby food bank, but now I reckon the meat had been grabbed.
Genuinely, I hope people in real need of food are treated sympathetically by shops...but I don't think bagsfull of snatched smoked salmon or steaks should be overlooked.

Surely a crime is a crime, regardless of why it was committed.
I'm playing devils advocate, because I do think the circumstances should be considered.
My idea of what would be extenuating circumstances may wildly differ from others' though.

My husband and I were having a lovely little holiday in a well known seaside resort on the Kent coast, the kind of picturesque, sleepy place where you expect nothing much to happen. In the week we were there, he witnessed a person grabbing booze and running from the Co-op and then, whilst waiting for me outside the lavender shop, he witnessed someone grab a bag from a security van and make off with it. Despite having witnesses, I don’t think he/she was ever caught!

This doesn't just go on in the high street. A few years ago my son worked for an I.T. company that were hacked, held to ransom, money demanded. I expected my son to tell me that the police were called and the hackers investigated. He said they didn’t bother, paid the ransom so the business could continue without disruption. I was utterly disgusted. It seems the authorities can’t be bothered with anything they regard as petty these days but in my view where does that lead? If you get away with the small stuff you will progress to the bigger stuff in my view. I know they are stretched and constantly moan about resources and the paperwork that the ‘successful sue’ climate has forced them to do but what example does that give to the honest, law abiding people. Crime pays? I think, maybe, it now does. Maybe I brought my children up wrongly. I should have told them if they were short of money to go steal something. Not work harder.

I hadn't ever thought of that happening, but of course, it must, now I think about it.

Since shops have been told not to give out plastic bags I keep seeing people with arm fulls of stuff leaving shops and looking like it's stolen, but I guess they just don't want to buy a bag. How can you tell unless you see them do it?

My son is a detective, but was an uniformed officer for many years. Many shopkeepers, when informed that if the thief is prosecuted they will need to attend court to give evidence, reply that they do not want to waste their time. What are the police to do if witnesses aren't prepared to witness?

As for fraud of inheritance investigations, my son had one which he tried to follow up, but his priority had to be the rape and violent assaults on his desk. He was perfectly honest about this to the woman involved, who did agree if it was her daughter that had been gang raped she wouldn't want to be in a queue behind an inheritance fraud.

OK I'm biased, but our police are underfunded, understaffed, and many are leaving the job totally burned out. Every time the public jump on the bash the police band wagon, government can safely continue cutting resources. And as for a labour government improving our policing, with Dianne Abbot at the helm I somehow doubt it, but I live in hope.

That's a very good point *Nannyxthree' I've done that before (not bought a bag. I did pay!)

Oops. Typo. Meant to be in bold Nannyxthree

Very good points janipat too much paperwork also, as I mentioned before. I think a lot of police officers join the force to make the streets safer and end up as pen pushers. It must be soul destroying and frustrating.

Diane Abbot will inform us all we have enough officers but I don't trust her adding up.

I always think when I watch police programmes what a lot of effort is put in for someone to be given a 50 pounds fine, or a conditional discharge.

What gets me is the most popular theft for resale item is joints of meat! Who are the buyers? Why would you buy an expensive cut/joint of RAW meat "off the back of a lorry"???

I would rather go veggie!

The thing is surely that the crims are well aware that the police and others CBA, and so they will continue on their merry way. Low level crime will escalate until 'everyone' is doing it, or at least turning a blind eye. I do wonder when the powers that be will conclude that enough is enough.

Strangely enough, I never get offered any cheap items at the door these days.
It used to happen all the time.

notanan2, people who haven't got a lot of money might be tempted.
If we prosecute all these criminals, what do we do with them? Our prisons are bursting, Community Service or Probation is a joke and our Addiction Rehabilitation Services failing daily.

That is so true MissAdventure. I think I may have posted on another thread a while back that I was on the receiving end of an indecent phone caller who harassed me for months while I was pregnant with my second child. He was eventually caught and he was fined less than if he had stolen a pushbike. I'm not easily frightened; so I would be a liar if I said it affected me to the point of needing therapy. It did unsettle me though at a time I was already a mother of a toddler and expecting. I've always thought, and continue to believe, we are becoming far too soft with apprehending and punishing people who think they are above the law.