To think that shoplifting should be taken seriously by the police and public?

[ScarySpinster]

I used to work in retail. The police would rarely come out for a shoplifter, even if it was £1000s of pounds.

My local village shop may have to close because of teenagers regularly shoplifting. It's just not profitable for them to stay open with the losses they have.

Looking at the bigger picture, shoplifting raids are taking place regularly in London, and all the big cities, with the people involved rarely being prosecuted.

I think that we need to take this crime much more seriously. I don't want to live in a world where there are no repercussions for bad behavior. Because where will this stop? Will burgarly and mugging start to become okay next?

Think the public do take it seriously, but realistically what can the "public" do about it? I'm not going to rugby tackle someone running out of a Tesco just to preserve the profit margin for the CEO.

Sorry I should have clarified what I meant by "public".

In the case of my local shop, we all know that it's the teenagers causing the shrinkage. However, most of the parents insist that it isn't their little darling who's responsible... whilst the parents aren't directly responsible here, they are indirectly responsible and not taking it seriously, if you see what I mean?

It IS taken seriously by the public. It's the police that are the problem.

I'm far more fussed about violent crimes, gangs, knife crime and criminal exploitation tbh. Police time is limited, and I'm happy that it's focused on on most serious areas.

But aren't you concerned about the domino effect that ignoring shoplifting might have on a criminal?

You start with shoplifting. Next you try burgarly. Then it's mugging randomers. After that, ?

The police don't come out for burglary under £250 (maybe it was £200?) They just give you a crime number for insurance purposes.
I've heard lots of stories about car owners with vehicles that are stolen or broken into treated the same. It seems that people posting CCTV and Ring doorbell footage on social media is more than what the police does these days.
I agree that shoplifting shouldn't be overlooked and is most definitely a crime but presumably this is a leg at happens when you cut police resources to the bone.

The reason why we should care about shoplifters is that the losses made by companies are not just magically 'absorbed' by big companies. They work these losses into their projected price rises. So the people paying for shoplifting are very much you and I.

Where I work in a shopping centre you see maybe 5 or 6 people a day being confronted by security about shoplifting. ( obviously loads more get away with it). I saw one woman last week saying that she had the money ( waved a £20 note around) but she wasn't going to break it for something that cost £1.50 !!

I knew at least one of the replies would say that the police don't care which is completely untrue.

Perhaps we should refer to them as shop thieves. Call such people what they are, end the use of the shoplifting term.

Yes the police should take it seriously.

The police don't care. I say that after 30 years of running a retail business in London and reporting crimes to them on a nearly daily basis.

Was hoping to see a post from @TheChippendenSpook explaining why she thinks the police care when I have seen and heard otherwise.

I think the problem is that there are more urgent priority issues to deal with for an under resourced police force.

Is it that they don't care or that they don't have the resources to care?

Exactly. They don't have the resources. I was recently speaking to an officer who was dealing a case of a stolen laptop. After she had done her enquiries, which does take some time, the owner of the laptop was no longer bothered in pursuing the case and it could have been closed but the officer continued. She found a suspect and he was interviewed. That's caring. Doing her job yes, but caring all the same.

Why? I'm not all over mumsnet advocating for the police. I've only commented on this thread and the long running one recently.

Using the @ function won't work either as I've disabled the email notifications for it. It's like being summoned so I don't like it.

Ds’s friend is a policeman. He says that nearly all their time is taken up with social work-type issues, often with the same small number of people.

I agree that shoplifting should be rebranded as just stealing. And it’s not a trivial crime as if people get away with it then they move on to bigger and better items. In California thefts under a certain amount (I think $1000) are now civil and not criminal offences so people are walking into shops and just walking out with goods knowing that the police ain’t coming.

I wondered if you worked for the police @TheChippendenSpook because you said that the police care. I don't have notifications sent to me either but by tagging you, other people on the thread know who I am talking to.

I was in a Wilko last year and I noticed a man about 20 ish, knelt down by the fabric conditioners with one of those big bags for life by his side and he was filling it seemed a little odd given the demographic, but thought no more of it.

As I waited for DH by the front doors, ( the shop is in a mall, not on a street) the young man I had noticed walked out of the store totally bypassing the checkouts hugging the bag which was obviously full of stuff.

I went over to one of the checkouts and told the assistant what I had seen, and pointed out the young man as he walked down the mall.

The assistant shrugged and said resignedly that there was nothing they could do as it happened all the time.

I would never think the staff should confront shoplifters, it's not worth it but it must be so demoralizing to see this day after day.

It's a simple case of there being so few police on the streets these days after massive cuts that low level crimes are either not investigated or investigated at a much later date

It's not the actual Police's fault

Imagine if your team at work went from thirty strong to only ten people

Would you still be able to operate the same?

Just like you can't get an ambulance or a GP appointment when needed because the NHS is underfunded...

The police can't do their job because they are underfunded.

Stop voting Tory is the main thing any of us can do about it.

In the next General Election vote tactically for whichever non Tory candidate can win and keep the Tory candidate out.

Of course it "should" be taken seriously.
But, until we get a Government that is prepared to fund both the police, the courts, the legal aid system, the criminal justice system, the probation service, and, crucially Youth services properly, then, like most people I'd rather the police focus on violent crime; violence; people trafficking; gang violence; exploitation; and so forth.
The police don't want to have to choose.
Nor do the police want to have to spend the huge amounts of time that they do covering the fact that mental health services exist at a level that is a tiny, tiny % of the need for them. But that's what happens, day in, day out.
Nor do the police want to cover the fact that social care service are completely inadequate. But again, so much of their time is taken up doing so.

What a surprise, another thread slagging off the police as if they're the exact same in every force and every area 🙄 I beg that you go and be a special constable for a bit and you'll see why the police have to prioritise.

Me to. They have to prioritise

I completely agree. I think it's cool for people to hate 'the police' these days, just like it's cool to hate teachers.

People are putting their energy into the wrong thing, instead of campaigning for change... i.e. more funding for a start. Instead they blame the people trying to do do a good job with limited resources and limited numbers of colleagues alongside them.

Whether I am in the police force or not, that's my opinion.

No one hates the police because they are underfunded or resource strapped - the vast majority of people understand that and are fairly sympathetic towards it. Until of course they are impacted by it and then of course emotions run a bit higher. I certainly understand they can only work with what they’ve got.

The people who dislike and distrust the police (as an institution not as singular people) do so because of the high % of bullies, racists and misogynists they hire / breed. Plus the cover up culture and distinct lack of transparency and accountability. Plus the failure to admit wrongdoing and failure to correct the deep seated problems - other than when they absolutely have to.

The funding is the crux of why they don’t / can’t investigate “low level” crime. It is not the crux of why people don’t like them.