Will the police take this seriously?

[ImAwfulWithUsernames]

I work in a shop and recently we had a young lady 'try' to steal a bottle of herbal liquid. At the till we told her we could see it in her pram, she apologised and said she didn't want it anymore, paid for her other goods and left the shop. I've reported this to the police and have cctv of her trying to hide the bottle in her pram.

Will the police actually do anything about this? We had her details as she used her members information during her purchase, so her address and phone number and name etc. I'm not that bothered personally, I thought she just seemed a bit out of luck but I had to report as per procedure.

Do police actually go to addresses of attempted thieves and issue arrest? Or do they just have it noted down if the same person attempts it again? She's never done this in our store before.

Only asking as I'm genuinely interested to know if anything will ever come of this!

Well what did the police say when you reported this? Did they issue you with a crime number? If so then what was the actual crime?

Is the woman with a pram you or your daughter and you're worried about the police turning up?

This is such an odd thread! :)

Woman didn't steal anything, is reported to police, and police will do nothing ...

And the item the woman didn't steal is 'herbal liquid' said as if we all know what that is!!! ??

I think I need my morning coffee!!!

😃

Wtf is a herbal liquid?

Buckfast!

Another one curious about what a herbal liquid is.

Going against the grain here but do you think she definitely intended to steal it? I was in Asda the other day and had a basket that got too full, so put a couple of bits under the pram. When I paid at self checkout, the assistant had to remind me that I had stuff under there. I was so embarrassed that she thought I might be trying to steal it when it was a genuine mistake.

@Margot exactly what I was thinking! I've absolutely done this! Never been reminded by shop assistants as I've always remembered in time but they have definitely eye balled me!
I agree with PP this thread is weird.

Is the herbal liquid a vape thingy?

I've definitely been caught out, forgetting an item at the till, usually on the buggy. Once get told off for leaving a kitchen cleaner hooked on the buggy in the £ shop, the shop worked definitely didn't believe it was an honest mistake. I was in no way attempting to conceal and I'd have seen it the second I'd looked down to get my purse. Another very embarrassing time I had to return a timer a toddler had sneaked and shoved down the buggy covers, in that case it was totally concealed. The police would never stop working if they had to look into every single 'incident' in a shop, how could they possibly determine if a person intended to steal it or made a mistake. There is no way at all.

People do things absentmindedly. Just because she said she didn’t want anymore it doesn’t means she was attempting to steal it. Perhaps she did want it but was too embarrassed. Perhaps she meant to put it back on the shelf. 🤷‍♀️

Where I live we struggle to get the police to come out when someone’s done a runner with £500 worth of designer shirts! so I doubt it very much.

Is the woman with a pram you or your daughter and you're worried about the police turning up?

This was what I thought from the start. Shop workers must see people nick stuff all day long in all manner of ways. Doesn't make sense for someone to be this concerned about what would happen to a person who wasn't even spoken to by the Police.

bucky.

Of course it isn't a breach of gdpr.

Police are allowed to look at evidence to catch the baddies. Like cctv or other personal information. Its kinda how they do their job.

Look up the Law Enforcement Directive.

So somebody did you something you didn’t like, but didn’t commit a crime, and you expect the police to “take it seriously”? Get a grip.

Did she say she was going to 'steal' it. Could it have been genuine? The amount of times I put things under the pram because I can't carry everything and push a pram is unreal. If I was approached every time I did this I'd have a long record by now. I've never 'forgotten' to pay for items but have had a shock moment at the till remembering all the items underneath the pram.

No, she didn't steal anything

I was in M & S the other day and they caught a shoplifter in front of me, I mentioned it to the lady on the till (mainly because it was a young woman that was shoplifting and the big burly security guard was very calm, gentle but firm with her - i was impressed). They told me the police don't get involved any more at all, they don't have the officers. So any shoplifters basically get a bit of a talking too from the shop and are "banned" from coming in again but that's it. Same all over my city I'm told and i wouldn't be suprised if its the same across the country. No police to deal with anything but the most serious things.

Don't worry OP, the police aren't going to come round to your house and get you. I'd probably give that shop a wide berth from now on though.

No they have better things to do stop being a jobsworth, it could have been genuine I have actually done it before shopping g with kids is bloody stressful.