For reference before people swoop in with the line of “Police do nothing against shoplifters”.
I have always taken it as seriously as any other offence when a suspect is present and recall on occasion when a regular shoplifter with over 100 prior convictions for related offences had been abusive to staff, who detained them. We attended, collected CCTV, obtained statements, arrested the shoplifter, conducted a full but quick investigation. They also had been found to be in breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order preventing them from possessing drugs paraphernalia.
The shoplifter was remanded in custody and sent to court the next morning where they pled guilty.
They were sentenced on the same day to time spent in custody. The one night they had spent on remand in a Police cell. This is someone who has had countless referrals to drug support agencies, and orders demanding they attend those agencies. Someone who has had countless oppportunities for diversion, and still avoids any punishment.
While I understand people want for engagement and support for these people who are on the whole, mostly Class A drug addicts, there is a need for punishment. The fact they feel free to continue is what emboldens them to commit further offences, like threatening people with needles.
Maybe I’m missing something, but why weren’t these workers told to get PEP by the police or doctors to address this risk? I feel like the ball must have been dropped somewhere that three separate workers are now positive?
Of course PEP isn’t 100% effective, but 3 of them all now being positive?
I may be way too sceptical here, but I don’t believe him.
I think he is being hysterical and trying to stir up controversy against the increasing trend of theft and robbery.
People don’t carry needles around with HIV infected blood in them, and if they are drug users and just attack people with a needle for the sake of it and also happen to have HIV, and that person was one of the minority that contract diseases after needle-stick injuries, I will eat my hat.
The story just doesn’t add up, and especially so if they were not offered courses of PEP immediately after the crime.
> A HIV negative person has a 1/160 chance of getting HIV every time they use a needle that has been used by someone with HIV
And in that case, for 1/160, that assumes sharing drug use which guarantees intra-venous transfer of blood products, which is not the case if someone just stabs you with a needle. That needle has to stop in the bloodstream and for any major risk would have to then have liquid pushed through the needle into the blood stream. That increases the risk for drug users, but for random attacks the probability would be far lower still.
So 1/160 chance, with 3 cases, means that there have been 480 attacks to create these 3 cases at a minimum. Have there been 480 attacks with HIV positive blood in hypodermic syringes on workers of Iceland? Have there fuck.
All that said, I don’t think 3 workers tested positive for HIV, I don’t think they had it before, and I don’t think they got it now, and I don’t think there is a significant crimewave of even 3 people being attacked with HIV positive blood in needles.
And ALL that assumes that the CEO of Iceland would have access to the HIV status of these workers, which he doesn’t unless they explicitly shared it with him, and he should not be sharing publicly, and why he would choose to share that rather than the police sharing it, it just doesn’t add up. He’s got carried away with a lie.
Why have no other shops reported the same thing, or is Iceland a unique hotbed of HIV needles as we suspected all along?
This has a real ring to it like those reports of women being pricked with needles in nightclubs.
It’s bollocks.
Yes I know it’s easy to be angry when you see a story like this, but please make sure you have done a Root Cause Analysis of why people are stabbing retail workers with HIV infected needles in the first place before you start pointing fingers and expressing exasperation at rising crime. /s
Remember, if you see a shoplifter stabbing workers with a needle… no you didn’t.
Things that never happened seem to have happened 3 times here.
The shoplifters up my way infect staff with Super Ebola and then fold them like pretzels. Dont even salt them after.
“We’d ideally like you to be so desperate to pay £1 extra for all food, but not so desperate as to get crazy and violent please”
Humans can only be squeezed so much. And like people said, doubt this happened and if it did?
Iceland are the ones who fucked up! Why aren’t you looking after your staff?
8 comments
For reference before people swoop in with the line of “Police do nothing against shoplifters”.
I have always taken it as seriously as any other offence when a suspect is present and recall on occasion when a regular shoplifter with over 100 prior convictions for related offences had been abusive to staff, who detained them. We attended, collected CCTV, obtained statements, arrested the shoplifter, conducted a full but quick investigation. They also had been found to be in breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order preventing them from possessing drugs paraphernalia.
The shoplifter was remanded in custody and sent to court the next morning where they pled guilty.
They were sentenced on the same day to time spent in custody. The one night they had spent on remand in a Police cell. This is someone who has had countless referrals to drug support agencies, and orders demanding they attend those agencies. Someone who has had countless oppportunities for diversion, and still avoids any punishment.
While I understand people want for engagement and support for these people who are on the whole, mostly Class A drug addicts, there is a need for punishment. The fact they feel free to continue is what emboldens them to commit further offences, like threatening people with needles.
Maybe I’m missing something, but why weren’t these workers told to get PEP by the police or doctors to address this risk? I feel like the ball must have been dropped somewhere that three separate workers are now positive?
Of course PEP isn’t 100% effective, but 3 of them all now being positive?
I may be way too sceptical here, but I don’t believe him.
I think he is being hysterical and trying to stir up controversy against the increasing trend of theft and robbery.
People don’t carry needles around with HIV infected blood in them, and if they are drug users and just attack people with a needle for the sake of it and also happen to have HIV, and that person was one of the minority that contract diseases after needle-stick injuries, I will eat my hat.
The story just doesn’t add up, and especially so if they were not offered courses of PEP immediately after the crime.
>We propose a transmission probability estimate per contaminated injection of 0.45% (range, 0.24–0.65%)
from https://journals.lww.com/aidsonline/Fulltext/2006/04040/Risk_of_HIV_1_transmission_for_parenteral_exposure.3.aspx
If they have tested positive for HIV, the enormous probability is that they had it before being attacked with a needle.
From https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/hiv-transmission/injection-drug-use.html
> A HIV negative person has a 1/160 chance of getting HIV every time they use a needle that has been used by someone with HIV
And in that case, for 1/160, that assumes sharing drug use which guarantees intra-venous transfer of blood products, which is not the case if someone just stabs you with a needle. That needle has to stop in the bloodstream and for any major risk would have to then have liquid pushed through the needle into the blood stream. That increases the risk for drug users, but for random attacks the probability would be far lower still.
So 1/160 chance, with 3 cases, means that there have been 480 attacks to create these 3 cases at a minimum. Have there been 480 attacks with HIV positive blood in hypodermic syringes on workers of Iceland? Have there fuck.
All that said, I don’t think 3 workers tested positive for HIV, I don’t think they had it before, and I don’t think they got it now, and I don’t think there is a significant crimewave of even 3 people being attacked with HIV positive blood in needles.
And ALL that assumes that the CEO of Iceland would have access to the HIV status of these workers, which he doesn’t unless they explicitly shared it with him, and he should not be sharing publicly, and why he would choose to share that rather than the police sharing it, it just doesn’t add up. He’s got carried away with a lie.
Why have no other shops reported the same thing, or is Iceland a unique hotbed of HIV needles as we suspected all along?
This has a real ring to it like those reports of women being pricked with needles in nightclubs.
It’s bollocks.
Yes I know it’s easy to be angry when you see a story like this, but please make sure you have done a Root Cause Analysis of why people are stabbing retail workers with HIV infected needles in the first place before you start pointing fingers and expressing exasperation at rising crime. /s
Remember, if you see a shoplifter stabbing workers with a needle… no you didn’t.
Things that never happened seem to have happened 3 times here.
The shoplifters up my way infect staff with Super Ebola and then fold them like pretzels. Dont even salt them after.
“We’d ideally like you to be so desperate to pay £1 extra for all food, but not so desperate as to get crazy and violent please”
Humans can only be squeezed so much. And like people said, doubt this happened and if it did?
Iceland are the ones who fucked up! Why aren’t you looking after your staff?