Would you stop someone stealing in a supermarket

[Crapsummer]

So apprently a teenager stole out of a small supermarket. A member of the public tried to stop this teenager and ended up getting hurt quite badly by the teenager. The teenager got away. There is now a picture of the teenager going round social media.

So I'm wondering is it worth the risk of getting hurt or even killed over stealing.

Also could the person who put up the picture of the teenager get into trouble for doing so ?

Shoplifting has become organised now . Its often not just cash strapped people. You have gangs of balaclava clad so called Roadmen coming in in with huge bags and stripping shelves of stuff they can sell on . The co op is losing £££ to this and are threatening to close stores in certain areas . The police look upon it as a civil matter and don't get involved. It's a big problem in the USA too.

Here in the USA, the was recently a news story reported about a Lowes staff member who attempted to prevent shoplifters from taking $2k worth of goods. She got punched in the face and then fired!!

Anyway, no I would not get involved.

My nephew works in a M&S Simply Food and they are told not to attempt to stop shoplifters. They don’t have security either, as the cost of that would exceed the cost of the losses from theft.

Exactly stay out of it it's not worth your life , health . If the police can't be bothered then why should you .

@marshmallowfinder Then I think the supermarkets need to go to government level and lobby for more help to manage COL and community issues if people in the communities they serve can't manage to pay for their goods due to price hikes.

I would be much quicker to blame the government for systematically reducing funding for the care system/ education system/healthcare system/ substance misuse programmes/ the benefits system/ charities etc etc and leaving supermarkets etc with no option but to increase their prices when there's an inevitable impact on the people coming through their doors. You don't blame the kid in care/ engaging in asb - you blame the government for under resourcing their support services and closing their youth services when they know this will be the inevitable impact.

They are the people to hold to account because vulnerable people will always do what they have to do. And if someone is at the point of stealing then they are vulnerable regardless of reason. With the ongoing cuts and closures of services you'll see much more of this so I hope you look a bit closer at where that's stemming from. It's not sanctimonious pity, I'm livid at the expectation that community workers like myself are expected to consistently pick up the government's slack with less and less funding and watching lots of good, useful services close. The service I work for had a 40% loss in funding this year and many of the charities we work closely with closed their doors altogether. At least I know who to blame.

You don't get paid enough and probably not insured .

Report yes

Personally stop them no

Which supermarket chain? Did they not turn a profit last year?

@Reugny plenty of theft is to order of course, but you don't seriously think that the people actually doing the dirty work aren't being exploited themselves do you?

I saw someone shoplifting vegetables in M&S Simply Food yesterday. I did wonder what they do about it because as you say no security.

It depends. I work in a shop and have no problem chasing shoplifters, it’s a furniture shop so not a survival crime. If I saw someone stealing bread probably not.
I also hate it when customers tell me about shoplifters after they have left, what’s the point.

It is the Co-op. It's widespread though across all supermarkets.

I work in a supermarket and we have a HUGE problem with shoplifters that in turn is causing a HUGE problem with our costs. We are being absolutely crippled and there's even a threat of multiple stores having to close because they cannot afford to stay open and pay bills and staff
Boohoo. Maybe the supermarkets should have kept the tills open and kept the security guards. I was in a big supermarket last week at 5.30 pm, not a single fucking checkout open, and 2 staff on the whole floor. Place was rammed. I could have stuffed half the shop in my bags and walked out. Supermarkets treat customers with total contempt, I wouldn't blame anyone for trying to rip them off.

I once saw a woman with a baby in the trolley trying to get a security tag off a tin of formula. I certainly wouldn’t report that in a large supermarket. They can take the hit.

Maybe my morals are too flexible. Stealing food from a supermarket seems less of a ‘crime’ to me than stealing alcohol from a local shop.

I agree with this definitely. I think you will always get a few people stealing just because they can that's life its been like that forever . But more recently due to the prices of food going through the roof people have had to steal to feed their family. If prices did mlt go through the roof people would nor he stealing.

Also on a side note. Police don't charge someone unless it's over a certain amount in cost. And police can normally tell If somone is trying to feed their family. They normally talk to them and direct them to food banks etc

Because they fear for their safety .

No. I would Tell a member of staff or security guard. At a push, I would push a trolley in their way to stop them, but not physically stop them.

No. Absolutely not.

The law was changed either in UK or by supermarket to not charge people with shop lifting so why on earth would a member of the public step in where super markets and the law don't??

Incidentally, Jeremy Vine had a feature on how security guards are now stopping people in supermarkets to check they haven’t stolen food through through the self check-outs. Not having manned tills surely has increased the incidence of shoplifting.

This is exactly why supermarkets are pushing for online only. Out store loses an absolute fortune through people thinking this chain can take the hit.

Food, medication, essential baby items, I would look the other way. How desperate must you be to steal those.

Higher priced things I would let security/shop staff know.

@Crimeismymiddlename why do you hate it? The customer doesn't owe it to you or the company to tell you about a shoplifter. By telling you at all, even if it is after the event, they are going above what is required of them.

Excuse me that person might be an alcoholic who has an addiction that isn't their fault so how dare you be against them helping themself to what they want with no thought to anyone else. I certainly love paying more for my groceries to account for thieving scumbags.

I guess your understanding of shoplifting depends on your own social economic background. To me, shoplifting brings to mind stealing to order as that's mostly my experience of why people I know shoplift. I don't relate to those shoplifters being in poverty. It was carer. So no, I struggle to have sympathy with people stealing booze etc. Also lots of people who afford the items steal for a little buzz. It's not all stealing bread for the kids. Also I know truly broke people living of just support, single parent who don't steal even if they have 65p left for four days with no food.

However I wouldn't step in. With unstaffed tills surely it's going on every minute of the day at my Tesco.

People who do things like this as if a civic duty have absolutely, and I mean zero, not even a micro-granule, of a life.

No. I wouldn't put myself at risk.