Is casual shoplifting and stealing getting out of hand.

Many may have read about shoplifting in the US, where stealing goods from shops under a value of $1,000 means just a slap on the wrist. This has affected retailers to such a degree that many stores are having to close up shop and even large retailers such as Walmart have pulled out of certain cities leaving those areas somewhat depleted.

Now we have orchestrated shoplifting here too. Often not from actual need, bearing in mind the awful punishments from times gone by for stealing bread to stay alive, but what we have currently would appear to be sheer greed. A reporter from the ST staked out a Co-op in Bristol and observed one man just fill up his backpack with umpteen packets of cheddar. Some come into convenience type shops and lift high end items like steaks, taking not one or two but loads. In the Mail on line, it now seems that genteel towns down in The New Forest shopkeepers also feel they are being targeted, not even for essentials but people walking off with antiques for example. The common cry of those trying to run a small business is "where are the police" A couple of weeks ago, CCTV cameras caught a couple leaving a hotel with almost the entire contents of their room stuffed into bags, however the police did manage to rouse themselves, but only to visit the hotel when they asked the proprietor to stop showing footage of the couple leaving the hotel with bags bulging with stolen towels etc. as it was causing them distress

Multi nationals are finding it hard to sustain the losses, they are being hit with, let alone small business, particularly post Covid, not to mention the fact that staff must be terrified when faced by thieves in balaclavas threatening violence.