BLATANT shoplifting is on the rise, with store managers at their wits’ end over how to tackle it.
Not least because they’ve been all but abandoned by police.
Richard Inglis, who runs a chain of Co-op supermarkets in Hampshire, says in-store thefts have essentially been decriminalised because officers won’t investigate unless the stolen items are worth more than £200, there’s clear CCTV footage of the incident and he knows the full name of the shoplifter.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so bloody depressing.
In other words, no blue light presence is a green light for thieves to steal with impunity, knowing that even if the police did get involved, the Crown Prosecution Service is unlikely to charge them.