Vent- How have we got to this?

swingaloo

This afternoon I was shopping in a local town, only a small town with one main shopping street.

There is a Boots store on the street and being a small branch does not have any security on the door. As I was just approaching the Boots a woman walking in front of me began to shout 'No, no ,no, get out' just as a man walked into the store. I hadn't realised at first but the lady was one of the staff who had just been out for lunch and she recognised the man as he walked into the shop.


He walked straight through the doors to the first display stand and took 2 handfuls of make up which he put quickly into his pockets then grabs 2 more handfuls and strolled out of the shop again. The street was full of shoppers who saw what happened but he didn't run or rush away. He just strolled down the street as if nothing had happened.


It was so bare faced and I stopped to help the lady pick up the items he had either dropped or knocked off the stand. I said I couldn't believe what I had just seen and she told me that he does it at least twice a week!


The shop has automatic doors which open to let customers in but unless they go past the first display stands they don't close again as they are not far enough away. The counter is right at the back of the shop and being a small shop there are not always staff on the floor other than those behind the counter and in the pharmacy.


The larger branch in the next town have security men but this is only a small shop and so does not.


She told me that they have not got to approach him as it may not be safe for the staff. They don't even report it now as it has happened so often.

I know the police are stretched to the limit but even with a police presence on the street it probably wouldn't make a difference as they cant stand guard at the shop door.

The more I think about it the more I despair that we have got to this as a society when anyone can walk into a shop and help themselves and there are no comebacks. There really are no deterrents.

No wonder small business's are struggling and closing.

hollydays

Well boots could employ store detectives in this store for a short period, but theyve chosen not to.
It's quite scary for the staff .
If managers witnessed it, there's nothing to stop them from intervening if they are capable.
They should be keeping a log of this and getting the police involved to get an abc against them.
It's poor management that don't support reporting every incident to police.
If the shop can't be bothered to report, what do they expect?

pollypenny

Surely CCTV would be an answer, then the police could identify the guy.

Comms69

The police are not suited for crime prevention in most cases.


This is a simple case of petty theft. You can attend a police station to give a statement if you want to help (you may have to go to court)

oscarward

Sadly this happens a lot round our way. Police resourcing issues mean they will not attend to shop lifting, simple burglary, RTC without injuries, car theft etc.


A number of chief constables have spoken about the issue and the goverment response has been ' we are providing more this year ' .


Social services are in an even worse state...


Depends on your political view where you see the issue going...

pmduk

Politicians rarely get elected by raising taxes to pay for necessary services.

sheramber

Boots obviously don't think it is worth doing anything.

They could simply move the display further from the door so it is less accessible. Or employ a security company.

Andy_L

sheramber wrote: »

Boots obviously don't think it is worth doing anything.

They could simply move the display further from the door so it is less accessible. Or employ a security company.

or move the counter to the door end of the shop as a deterrent.

I presume they've looked at the cost of doing anything compared to the losses from shoplifting & decided its not worth the effort

spadoosh

Thats it, its complacency.

Why are boots worried about thefts when its not them that pays for it, the customers do.

I worked at B&Q and the stat they liked to use was 'we need to sell 17 tins of paint at full price to make up for the cost of 1 spilt tin of paint'. I thought it clever how they worded it, the reality was they charge 1/17th more than they need to to compensate for losses.

When i worked there we just knew that the only thing we needed to do to avoid most theft was to make it only slightly more difficult than the nearest B&Q. We made sure the person on checkouts was someone who knew a lot of the local reprobates. Shed spot them as they walked in. We had a guard that was effective, hed kick people out before they tried stealing 'just dont bother'. Wed strategically place trolleys to prevent run outs.

We eventually saw a video of the nearest store and a 'customer' walking through self serve without using the till at all, whilst being watched by the checkout supervisor, who they said hello to with 8 x £800 fires on his trolley. Just walked through.

Its not hard to stop theft, you just have to put up a little bit of a fight and theyll soon be looking for an easier target. If they know you chase, you prosecute and youll fight back there less likely to target you. If you stand there going 'please no please stop coming in and taking our stock every few days' youre going to be ridden.

Another B&Q store got someone prosecuted for stealing a £10 screwdriver. The guy was prolific but would never get caught. He was caught with nothing of value but by making sure they pursued it as far as possible, hes decided, after receiving some kind of community order, that hell target the B&Q where he knows they dont.

p00hsticks

Our local paper regularly features a 'rogues gallery' of people captured on CCTV in the act of shoplifting with appeals to let the police know if you recognise any of them

lincroft1710

Our local police are very pro-active. Today a uniformed officer and a PCSO together moved on a homeless wheelchair bound individual as he was reducing the footway width from 5 pedestrians to 4.