Apparently stealing is no longer of concern to the police

[ElektraLOL]

Thanks, no doubt to the massive cuts this government have forced on councils.

So yesterday, I was waiting in the pharmacy to get my medicine. On duty was a young, female pharmacist and a technician who was also young and female.

Whilst they were busy, a man walked into the shop and walked behind the pharmacy counter. His behaviour was strange enough to draw my attention. Usually I don't take any notice of others in the pharmacy. He then went around picking up stuff on shelves, some of which he put into his back pocket, and one thing he took to the counter to buy.

As he was leaving I told the pharmacist that I had seen him stealing items and she called the police, whilst trying to keep him on site. The emergency services wouldn't send anyone, were rude to her and suggested she was making it up!

After all this happened the poor woman was nearly in tears, said she was sick of this happening and that it was not the first time and that people were trying to steal prescription only meds too.

So apparently theft is not important enough to deal with now?!!

Yep. I've heard similar stories in my part of the UK. Don't call a man "he" though, they'll be round with five colleagues to sort you out (yes this has happened in the UK in recent weeks).

It’s not an emergency services matter I think. The man would have been long gone.

The ordinary police should be interested in the CCTV though.

It's not a police bashing thread @HyHyHyena FFS - it's a government bashing one. It is their fault for cutting everything to the bone.

I think that the pharmacist's seniors should give her advice on how to deal with stuff like this. I felt sorry for her.

Yes but clearly call advisors are told what they can and can't refer

We rarely attend shoplifters now, unless they are violent. Yes it’s shit but our force has lost a quarter in terms of officer numbers due to cuts, while at the same time seeing a huge increase in reporting of sexual offences, fraud, cybercrime and more recently violent crime. For every report we have to assess threat harm and risk. No excuse for rudeness though.

They would have investigated it, but it wasn't an emergency. If he's left the shop he could have gone anywhere by the time they got there. If there is no CCTV, then there is the word of witnesses only as evidence and this makes is very difficult to identify and actually catch the person.

Just because they don't send someone straight away, doesn't mean they don't take it seriously. It's just realistically, they can't do a great deal other than record the details, which they've probably done over the phone.

@HyHyHyena yes - she was she had the call on speaker phone. She said to the pharmacist 'oh, is it you again who reported something last week' as if she's a neurotic fool who imagines these things

Yes @Coldilox this is exactly what I thought. And it's the bastard government who are to blame.

I certainly don't blame the police themselves...

Several years ago, my dad told me the story of an acquaintance who caught a burglar stealing his tools. He managed to lock the burglar in a shed and called the police. They said they didn’t have anyone who could attend. So he phoned the police back and said “don’t worry about coming round now. You don’t need to arrest him because I’ve killed him”.

The police soon turned up.

Assaults too. My friend was assaulted in asda and got a letter saying the case (or whatever) wasn't being continued because threat to the public was minimal and not worth the police resources. They didn't even bother looking at CCTV

It's awful where I live at the moment, a group of small villages fairly close together being terrorised by gangs of teenagers. Criminal damage to property and cars, people mugged, two drug dens raided, shop windows smashed, people beaten up for walking down the street, burglary with a knife...... The list goes on. But there's never a police officer around and of course because we're rural, they take forever to get here from the now closest station, and even when they do they're out numbered about 20 to 2, I don't care how much training I'd had or how much it was supposed to be my job, walking into a mob like that without numbers equals two coppers beaten to a pulp too. 16 year old DD isn't a part of this gang (and she wouldn't be for long if she headed in that direction!) But she goes to school with them, she's too scared to go anywhere on her own because they are indiscriminate.
They intimidate me too, but I have no choice but to go past to get to work.
We had a dispersal order recently, they only work if there's someone around to do the dispersing, which there wasn't, so it was totally pointless. Things just carried on. We have local councillors trying so hard but getting nowhere, a lot of promises but no action.
The police can't police without money, without officers. I don't think it'll get better either.

I funny think a shop lifter is an emergency, it's a crime yes. Report to police and hand over CCTV, someone that brazen does this regularly and will likely already be known to local police/probation.

Stealing isn't the only thing the police no longer assist with. Elder abuse is another. And fraud. Too busy.

*don't

It is your wonderful Tory Government's fault Hy, and indeed the fault of everyone who keeps on insisting on voting these muppets back in. They're the ones making the cuts to vital services. A person is stealing from a chemist and a women is being held a knife point.
I know which one id hope they'd prioritise. All that said though. I bet they'd still find to arrest 60 year old June for non payment of council Tax

A local business had £15k worth of stuff stolen a few weeks ago. Police not interested. Not that I'm blaming the police but I think it's got to the point that if they aren't harming someone physically it has to go to the back of the queue.

A few observations
What is the difference between the emergency services and ordinary police, to my knowledge they are one and the same.
Low level shoplifting like this has not been priority for the better part of a decade.
I doubt very much the pharmacy would have got through to the same call handler, given call volume and shift patterns
Without CLEAR cctv there will be no prospect of investigation
Pharmacies and other stores know who their shoplifters are, they have the power to eject them and ban them.

Quite, @Awwlookatmybabyspider

I just think it's a sad state of affairs. And it looks set to get worse.

Why did the pharmacist have it on loud speaker when he was still in the shop?

And my force area still attends shoplifting, albeit not as quickly as they used to.

Where I live, council tax has gone up significantly, but services have been cut due to reduced funding from central government.

If you want to pay more and get less, vote Conservative.