Shoplifting rising and rising, have you ever witnessed it?

Callistemon21

^Individual shoplifters are one thing, but when you get gangs who just walk into shops and 'clear' stuff of the shelves - because they know they will almost certainly not be challenged - is it only me who see this as a worrying sign of how society is gradually breaking-down?^

It's not just you, Dickens, it's a very worrying trend.

Gone are the days when I would see the old lady slipping half a pound of butter and a packet of bacon into her pocket in the Co-op and more often than not she'd end up in the Manager's office and the police would be called. She'd then be in court and put on probation. True story.

Now the gangs are like those steaming gangs and it is frightening, even more so because the problem is being ignored.

Thanks, Callistemon21

You're right - the problem appears to be 'tolerated'... to the extent that it's accepted very little can be done.

I'm sure the government is not sitting idle, but the perception is that lawlessness is gaining its foothold. However, we do have a well-established legal system... but we don't seem to have the numbers of agencies (police, for one) to uphold it.

I think the very fact that shop staff are shrugging their shoulders and saying "there's nothing we can do about it" (not that they should) is both depressing and alarming.

It's not going to stop. The more that the lawless get away with, the more crimes they will commit.

Individual shoplifters are one thing, but when you get gangs who just walk into shops and 'clear' stuff of the shelves - because they know they will almost certainly not be challenged - is it only me who see this as a worrying sign of how society is gradually breaking-down?

It's not just you, Dickens, it's a very worrying trend.

Gone are the days when I would see the old lady slipping half a pound of butter and a packet of bacon into her pocket in the Co-op and more often than not she'd end up in the Manager's office and the police would be called. She'd then be in court and put on probation. True story.

Now the gangs are like those steaming gangs and it is frightening, even more so because the problem is being ignored.

Individual shoplifters are one thing, but when you get gangs who just walk into shops and 'clear' stuff of the shelves - because they know they will almost certainly not be challenged - is it only me who see this as a worrying sign of how society is gradually breaking-down?

I don't know why the police "aren't interested", or even if that is true - maybe there just isn't the manpower. Equally depressing is the fact that we appear collectively to accept this state of affairs - 'what-can-you-do' is the response.

How long before these marauding gangs start breaking into people's homes - whilst they are in-situ?

Braverman talked the talk - but in our small town, anti-social behaviour is on the increase. People report it, but - if the comments on our local Facebook page are anything to go by - it's the same story... "the police aren't interested", or, "I've reported xxx but nothing happened, no-one got back to me". Residents are now saying that it's not worth bothering to report this AS behaviour because "nothing will be done about it" and they suggest just staying away from the areas where it's happening most.

There's a park with a play area for young children - parents are finding needles and syringes used by addicts lying around.
So now some won't take their toddlers there because they're afraid they will pick up one of these objects. It's been reported but, again, 'nothing happens'.

Louts, thugs and criminals are, slowly, gaining the upper-hand and no-one seems to want to stop it. Those agencies that are supposed to work together to tackle these problems - where are they? And what are they doing?

I find it very depressing.

Toetoe
Sometimes we have no bags for one reason or another and just load it back into the trolley to pack it into bags in the car.

It's not an indication of shoplifting.

At my local Tesco, they said staff are not allowed to apprehend anybody purely for their own safety, so I was talking to one of the managers and said so theoretically I could go and grab two bottles of Scotch and just walk out the door and he said yes that’s what they do and we are powerless to stop them.🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️
Absolutely shocking 🤨

When DD worked at M&S, they pulled part of the foil pack out of the carton to make sure customers hadn’t swapped the cheaper chicken joint for the more expensive beef.

On tv here it reported that many people go through the automatic checkouts and put their vegetables and fruit as the cheapest - so they might get a few mangoes and pretend they are potatoes when they do the automatic weighing. Whatever is cheapest. Not good but slightly better than just not paying anything. Still theft in my book. The problem really is the ever higher prices for food and people just can’t afford it.

Well dressed woman aged about 35 came out of supermarket trolly full to capacity, no carrier bags . My gut knew she had not paid , I called staff member who said often customers just fill trolly with no carrier bags , I said , get manager. Woman slowly pushed trolly into car park . Manager came I said she's a thief . They followed her , she turned trolly back into store and continued to empty it eventually walking out . I rang manager later that day , the items left in trolly came to £200 she had dumped back £100 . I was offered job ad store detective but refused . Told Manager staff need retraining!

Some years ago, as part of a scheme called "Poetry on the Underground", London Tube carriages used to have small card posters with verses of poetry in some of the head-height advertisement slots, with new ones appearing every couple of weeks. One day, as I sat taking in the latest edition, a girl (19/20 ish?) stood up, prized the poster out of its slot, and started to stuff it into her backpack. I looked left and right: no-one turned a hair, so I asked her if she intended to steal the poster. "What's it to you?" she said. I told her that she should not deprive others of the opportunity to enjoy the poetry - as she presumably had. She ignored me and carried on stuffing the poster away, as the train slowed for a station. So I stood up, and told her that I was not prepared to allow her to get away with it: I would follow her off the train and report her theft to the station staff. At which point she swore at me, threw the poster on the floor, and left the train. I spent the next couple of minutes slotting the card back into its housing - whilst the rest of the carriage glared silently at this miserable old so-and-so...

We have a retail business and thieves will brazenly walk out with things.
We are constantly watching monitors, and always give chase, on foot or by vehicle.
It is risky, but we all work hard, and aren’t about to let anyone steal things if we can avoid it.
We have very good cctv images, but the police aren’t interested.
We phone from business to business when someone dodgy is around, all we can do is be very alert.

Friend works in M&S, they regularly have people fill up a trolley and walk out without paying. There is very little they can do. They do try and take the trollies away from the thief but because there are parked cars nearby they have been warned that any damage to the cars is down to them. Sometimes shoplifters get their children to wheel the trolley out as they know they won’t be apprehended.
The worst case many years ago, was a wealthy, well known man who would shop 2 - 3 times a week filling at least three bags with premium goods but only paying a few pounds at a self scan till. Staff couldn’t work out how he was doing it. They filmed him and when he was caught and the police called, he blamed the store for not being diligent enough! I won’t say how he did it but his method was quite easy.

I worked with someone who regularly took supplies of paper, pencils and crayons for her Sunday school class !!

Just a few days ago , I went into my local Next Outlet . A young man walked out with a bag , I could clearly see items hanging out . The store alarms went off , there was one young woman behind the till and another on the shop floor. They both looked at me and said, there was nothing they could do , no security on site , I said, no way I would have challenged him if I was them, want if he was carrying a knife ! Never worth it

I was in Savers in Gosforth (a classy suburb of Newcastle) when a woman walked in, helped herself to a selection of sun creams and just walked out.
The shop layout meant the two assistants were unsighted and too busy dealing with a long queue waiting to pay for goods.

The most blatant incidence of shop lifting I saw was when we were in Oxford in 2017. I went into EWM to buy some of their lambswool sweaters. My son came in with me. A young man came in, took an armful of cashmere sweaters off a rail quite near the door and ran out of the shop. My son said “I’ll go after him,” but the assistant said no, they couldn’t allow it - they weren’t allowed to confront or pursue shop lifters. DH was simmering with anger all day! Why they displayed cashmere sweaters so near the door is a mystery.

A few years ago I was in a small grocery shop when I noticed the very old woman ahead of me tip a very large bar of cadbury's chocolate into her shopping bag, she then proceeded to buy something.. I didn't say anything, not really sure why..perhaps because she was so old..
But recently I watched as a homeless person took several sandwiches from the open shelves near the door in Greggs. I did tell someone and I notice that they have now rearranged the shop..

Honestly I think I should write that again.
A young man
We stood

Many years ago I was standing outside M&S when a man ran out. He was followed by two assistants who ‘rugby tackied’ him to the floor. He had two jumpers under his coat.
Another time, and this was not really shoplifting, we were in Boots. A hound man came in, to a deodorant off the shelf. Squirted his underarms and replaced the can on the shelf and walked out. We sold and I’m sorry to say…smiled at

I used to be a charity shop manager and the amount of things that were nicked.

I even had one woman trying to get into the staff area to try to nab something.

We have a Spar and a Co-Op within a few minutes walk of each other. It happens very regularly in both.

Only a few weeks ago in the Co-Op, hubby and I were shopping, just got to the freezer section to get to the checkout and a a young woman in a pink dress literally barged past me, almost knocking me over, grabs a bag of ice cubes from the rack and walks out without paying.

Judging by the car she hurriedly sped off in, she could easily afford the few pennies for a 2kg bag!

Once we got to the cashier we told him and he thanked us for letting him know, but saying there's nothing they can do and the so-called police refuse to do anything about it.

Just once. I was sitting waiting for a jab in Boots,,it was very quiet, hardly any shoppers and no staff about.
I saw a girl spending a long time at a particular shelf, picking small items up, looking at them and putting them back. I had a feeling she was up to something, and sure enough, she quickly slipped an item into her bag and legged it.

There was nobody nearby to tell, and compared to what I’ve read about recently, it was very minor. Not that I’m saying it was OK!

I was sitting in Greggs at Earls Court station when a man walked in and helped himself to a sandwich and walked out. A member of staff ran after him and asked if he was going to pay for that. No said the man and walked off. The staff member returned to the shop, shrugged and said 'what can you do?' I think everything will have to be behind glass and dispensed when cash is inserted.

I volunteer in a community store. Last week a customer apprehended a man she saw taking an item off a shelf in the craft area. It was a candle. A rather fancy, expensive candle but a candle.
She tackled him and grabbed the candle.

The man, aged about 40 and high on drugs, swore at her but was incoherent.

I saw her yesterday and she agreed she was rather stupid to stop him as she could so easily have been stabbed. She said it was her natural reaction.
Brave though!

We were sat in a restaurant in Liverpool city centre a guy was walking around the tables trying to sell stuff. It’s not unusual but if there is no deterrent it will carry on and get worse.

I was shopping with my son and daughter when they were younger we watched on three occasions different people stealing. When I approached customer services the supervisor said they had cameras on all aisles. Then said not one member of staff had noticed anyone stealing recently. There was not one member of staff on the shop floor at the time we were there about an hour.

If they don’t employ staff enough to cover the shop floor. Then staff turn a blind eye to stealing it’s not surprising the losses are immense. Maybe the staff are not encouraged to challenge shop lifters because the police won’t attend to such incidents.

M&S were always a good touch for shoplifting as you could get a cash refund without proof of purchase.
Many years ago we had woman living near us who ran a shoplifting business.
Drink or drug dependence would steal the stuff, take it to her and get a cut of what she sold it for.