Tesco Security Tag Not Disabled

Poppie68

naedanger wrote: »

If the only evidence the security guard has is that the alarm has gone off then "yes" they would need to let the thief walk away. But they could (and I assume would) ban them from the store.

In fact they need a lot of evidence to detain a thief, and they will be well aware of this fact.

So why bother having the alarm system in place if thieves can just refuse to be detained, searched and be allowed to go on their merry way, in fact why have security guards?

Poppie68

bris wrote: »

They do disable the tags, there is a paddle that they swipe over that shorts them out, every now and again it doesn't work.


This is a common occurrence and one that the security guard would come across on a daily basis. I would be very surprised if the security guard said there was no way to disable it.

I think some stores have a magnetic device underneath the area at the end of the moving belt don't they?

naedanger

Poppie68 wrote: »

So why bother having the alarm system in place if thieves can just refuse to be detained, searched and be allowed to go on their merry way, in fact why have security guards?

Well a thief can only brazenly walk out once before being banned from the store. Banning shoplifters from returning is in itself quite a good result from the shops point of view.

The other benefit is that these tags make it much easier to prove intent. The thieves are forced to remove the tags (if they want to avoid being banned). If they are seen doing this (especially if caught on cctv), and are then seen walking out of the store without paying, then they can be detained and it makes it extremely difficult for them to argue that they actually intended to pay, and simply forgot to do so.

Another benefit is that some shoplifters go into the shop with bags that are designed to prevent tags from going off. Again if they are caught with these bags it is much easier to show intent. Indeed I suspect simply possessing these bags in some circumstances will be a crime - something like going equipped for stealing.

hollydays

Poppie68 wrote: »

So why bother having the alarm system in place if thieves can just refuse to be detained, searched and be allowed to go on their merry way, in fact why have security guards?

If a thief refused to be detained, he'd be detained.
An alarm going off just shows there is a tag somewhere on someone or something that's passing through the alarm columns. It doesn't prove theft.

BykerSands

naedanger wrote: »

If the only evidence the security guard has is that the alarm has gone off then "yes" they would need to let the thief walk away. But they could (and I assume would) ban them from the store.

In fact they need a lot of evidence to detain a thief, and they will be well aware of this fact.

Yet the law only says they need

reasonable grounds for suspecting to be committing an indictable offence.

BykerSands

hollydays wrote: »

If a thief refused to be detained, he'd be detained.
An alarm going off just shows there is a tag somewhere on someone or something that's passing through the alarm columns. It doesn't prove theft.

No, it only proves the alarms been activated.

hollydays

I go to a shop and buy a jumper. The deactivating device on the till is faulty , and doesn't deactivate the alarm.
I go into another shop, on the way in , the alarms don't sound , but going out they do.
Clearly it's not reasonable to suspect just because an alarm goes off , I've committed theft.

hollydays

BykerSands wrote: »

No, it only proves the alarms been activated.

Er.. That's exactly what I said....

Poppie68

hollydays wrote: »

If a thief refused to be detained, he'd be detained.
An alarm going off just shows there is a tag somewhere on someone or something that's passing through the alarm columns. It doesn't prove theft.

I know an alarm doesn't prove theft as it happens to me on a regular basis, my question was in reply to naedangers post...Where he says if the only evidence they have is the alarm going off then they have to let them walk away.
Can they detain people they suspect of theft, say due to the items the customer shows isn't compatible with having a security device fitted, so is it not reasonable to suspect they have something concealed therefore search them? Or have they have to wait for the police who these days seem to be thin on the ground for these so called minor offences?

elsien

I'm more surprised that they've bothered to tag a £4 iron.