Shoplifting in England and Wales hits highest level in over 20 years as thieves brazenly target stores
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/shoplifting-in-england-and-wales-hits-highest-level-in-over-20-years-as-thieves/
by tylerthe-theatre
Shoplifting in England and Wales hits highest level in over 20 years as thieves brazenly target stores
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/shoplifting-in-england-and-wales-hits-highest-level-in-over-20-years-as-thieves/
by tylerthe-theatre
36 comments
The Greggs video in the article, the bloke isn’t even covering his face. Just shows people know the police aren’t going to bother x
Then make more prisons and actually follow through with prison time than 42 slaps on the wrists.
Crime pays these days, so three guesses why it is going up.
Is there data on what kinds of things are being stolen?
It would be interesting to see if the increased rate of shoplifting was weighted towards certain products.
This a result of a criminal justice system with *incredibly* soft sentencing (and in the case of shoplifting: no prison time at all for the vast, vast majority of people even when caught red-handed, and even for repeat offenders). Of course people are going to steal freely if there are literally no consequences at all.
We need fast-track courts for shoplifters, something along the lines of for every £5 of good stolen you have to do 1 hour of community service, the very next day, no ifs and no buts. We can create whatever rules we like, and why don’t we make them actually strict.
Prolific offenders just get bailed from court to do it again. Even if they have breached orders stealing from where they are banned from already.
> “I am sending a message to those criminals – whether they are serious organised criminal gangs, repeat offenders or opportunistic thieves – who think they can get away with stealing from these local businesses or abusing shopworkers, enough is enough,” Mr Sunak said.
Very convincing after doing nothing about crime for the last few years.
Locally we had a bunch of teenagers walk out with a trolley load of spirits covered in a steel mesh and a group with duffle bags do much the same. Shop now has a visible guard at the exit
Items at the most brazen price gouging levels in over 20 years. Theft highest level in 20 years. Shocker.
I think it’s important to note that it’s also targeted in the sense of the type of shop or supermarket.
These shoplifters are just not walking into a locally owned corner shop where the proprietor is standing behind the counter, because they know that something may happen If they shoplift.
On two consecutive nights, I was in my local Sainsbury’s, and a guy walked in wearing a Covid type facemask and just calmly filled his bag with groceries. The staff did not even speak to him.
When I asked a staff member why they did not attempt to stop him, the person said that it was store policy not to interfere.
With no police on the streets, and no consequences for this behaviour, I see only two ways forward. Firstly, prices for non-shoplifting customers will increase to balance losses. Secondly, these stores will close.
I’ve got family members who work at M&S and just the other week a bloke casually marched out with several hundreds pounds worth of suits.
By the time security realised, he was already running half way across the car park and they know it’s pointless to call police.
I don’t even think security can legally detain even if they did catch him. Maybe someone can clarify but either way, it’s definitely happening more and more.
This was also at a branch that has recently doubled the number self checkouts installed.
Did you know…
Before the widespread introduction of self checkout, a joint UK-US university study showed in 2016 that it’s introduction would likely lead to an increase in theft that would be big enough to destroy the profit margin that most grocers have:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/business/self-service-checkouts-can-turn-customers-into-shoplifters-study-says.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/business/self-service-checkouts-can-turn-customers-into-shoplifters-study-says.html)
But they went ahead and rolled it out anyway.
Is that why all the booze is locked up in my local morrisons? It feels really scummy now.
It’s gonna get to the point where you go into a shop, order stuff from a kiosk and a member of staff brings it out
Zero consequences, this is the result.
Chance of being caught, very slim.
Chance of prosecution, even slimmer.
Chance of meaningful punishment, pretty much zero.
I would be shocked if the figures capture 5% of shop thefts.
I see shoplifting virtually every day and I can’t remember the last time any were reported to the police.
I think the real concern is the amount of shoplifting shared on social media (Tiktok) and the influence on children to take part. There’s a bubble online where it’s glorified and encouraged resulting in kids raiding shops in groups for the rush and social status.
Thought it was the supermarkets who were the thieves…..
The bottom rungs of society continue to lose out, ~~and the police continue to be cut~~. Are we remotely surprised by this?
Edit: corrected by reply.
I was in a coop a few Sunday nights back and saw some people walk out with items in direct view of the staff. Staff said its policy not to intervene, I asked ‘so what would happen if I just walked out now’ and got told ‘nothing’, they don’t even bother reporting it anymore.
Not worth the staff getting threatened with knives or the store trashed, bricks thrown at the windows etc.
The security guards are wearing covid masks in my local Tesco / Sains here in North London. It’s not in fear of catching covid…
Very common to see the usual suspects walking out at least once every week, they don’t even run.
They only stop people when the alarms go off – who don’t look like they are not about to get stabbed up, and I don’t blame the security guards.
Dunno why anybody is shocked, half the time stuff like shoplifting has been mentioned the last few years all Redditors have had to say is “They’re insured” (They’re generally not) and “If you somebody stealing, no you didn’t”
Reap what you sow, this is the society people asked for,.
I.e.
> Remember kids, don’t report anybody if you see them stealing food.
https://old.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/y0c7ql/i_feel_disgusted_society_could_allow_this/irqz68x/
+500
> Just remember, if you see somebody stealing basic food, water or baby stuff – no you didn’t.
https://old.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/uvfryk/shoplifting_on_the_rise_as_mounting_cost_of/i9l6bcb/
+73
Could the non-existent police force have something to do with it?
This is what happens when the police stop doing their jobs amd concentrate on online harm due to the over employment of split arses.
We should all do it. Why should they have the privilege of getting away with it?
(Because bots do not understand sarcasm, in no way am I condoning theft or encouraging people to shoplift)
The amount of shoplifting in my local coop is insane. This week I saw a guy fill a basket to the brim with chocolates and then just walk straight out of the store.
Last week two kids (12ish) were in the store about 9pm, filled their arms with snacks and drinks then just walked out.
Ive worked in a restaurant for 10 years and we get runners twice a month nowadays, 6/7 years ago it was more like 2/3 times a year. Police don’t have the resources to chase up a £100 bill.
We don’t even bother reporting it anymore.
Three people assaulted me at work , I got hold of one of them. When I phoned the police they said let him go and they won’t come. Those idiots were just going around eating and throwing it all over floor. That’s why I confronted them but ever since that day I don’t care anymore
We’re gonna end up like the shitty parts of the US, where all the stores shut up shot and leave. because nothing is done about the crimes.
As a recently retired police officer you have the Tory government to blame for this. And I say this as an ex party member.
We had horrific police and justice system cuts in the austerity years.
Two thirds of our custody blocks were closed. We had no admin support, we were then told to minimise arrests because of the cost and use other things like penalty notices (The irony of giving people fines when they are shoplifting because they couldn’t afford things wasn’t lost on me). Even when people were prosecuted as repeat offenders they were almost never jailed because there were no prison places.
This government has been a total shit show with regards to law and order.
And now we are reaping the rewards of crime increasing.
Funny that.
I wonder *why* shoplifting has hit an all time high? It can’t be anything to do with the cost of living going through the roof and wages stagnating. It *must* just be because everyone has become cuntier in the past twenty tears. Yes *that’s* it.
Didn’t the Americans have a bunch of these stories and then it turned out they were only there so that the execs had an excuse to shutter physical locations and fire employees?
> At the same time, police forces have come under fire for how they tackle shoplifting cases after changes to the law meant people committing thefts worth less than £200 were handled with a fine by post. Police failed to respond to 71pc of serious retail crimes reported in the first three months of 2023, figures obtained by Co-op following a Freedom of Information request showed.
From a telegraph article last year. Lord Rose the ASDA chairman claims it has become decriminalised. It looks like the conservatives changed the law lessening the penalty for shoplifting and now it’s going up. Who would have thought? 🤔
Wait til AI comes in and starts taking more and more jobs away. Shoplifting and civil disobedience will go way up.
When law is no longer enforced by the Police then people will do whatever they want. I feel like people realised it with minor things like traffic/parking laws and it’s moved on to more serious crimes as people continue to be unpunished.
It’s no coincidence that these same shops no longer have any form of security presence. Cutting those costs was a very short sighted plan.
When laws aren’t enforced crime effectively becomes legal.
The worst part is there’s no easy fix, it’s going to take years of concerted effort to resolve the underlying problems causing this.
That’s what zero consequences for theft gets you.
This won’t get any better until the laws are toughened and the police force is majorly reformed.
Currently the police of this country are not fit for purpose, and criminals everywhere know it.