Jenni Murray is infuriated by the rise in shoplifting
Our columnist on how shoplifting is theft and should be treated as such, no matter how large or small the item.
Image credit: Mark Harrison
Our columnist on how shoplifting is theft and should be treated as such, no matter how large or small the item.
Back in 1969, I had a charming French boyfriend called Jacques. We were both impecunious students.
One day we went out window shopping in Hull's posh department stores. I spotted a handbag and fell in love. No way I could afford it. We went home empty-handed.
Two days later Jacques turned up proudly offering me a present. It was the handbag.
"How did you afford it?" I asked.
"I didn't," he said. "I stole it for you."
No matter how large or small the item, whatever its cost, shoplifting is theft and should be treated as such
It was, he explained, something people in France did all the time. They believed shops made a lot of money so they could absorb the occasional theft.
I was appalled and insisted he take it back. I could not accept stolen goods.
Some years later, while wandering round Camden Market in London my two small sons appeared with handfuls of balloons. Where had they got them? They'd nicked them from a shop, they laughed.
I marched them back to the store, made them apologise and hand everything back.
To me, no matter how large or small the item, whatever its cost, shoplifting is theft and should be treated as such.
How, in this country, did that moral judgement become so twisted in recent years as shoplifting zooms up off the scale?
According to the Office for National Statistics, there's been a 30% rise in shoplifting crimes recorded in the past year - many involving gangs.
Every day there are messages on my local neighbourhood app reporting incidents in our local shops.
In the Co-op, two young men walked in with a rucksack each. They filled their bags to the brim and calmly left. The staff were too scared of violence to do anything and saw no point in calling the police because they'd do nothing.
I've seen women and men at the self-pay tills slipping a few (usually costly) things into their bag without paying
There were similar incidents in Boots and in the little local supermarket.
This is not, as some people have suggested sympathetically, people living in poverty and stealing to feed their children. This is organised crime.
I'm sure the items those men took would end up 'going cheap' somewhere. When people talk with sympathy about poverty and need, it cannot be used as an excuse for theft.
Surely sympathisers must see that, if firms are hit with the cost of so much theft, either prices of everything will go up for all or the business will shut - and bang goes the local supermarket.
Some people have argued the huge rise in shoplifting is the fault of technology. I can't deny I've seen women and men at the self-pay tills slipping a few (usually costly) things into their bag without paying. I've said nothing when I've witnessed it, not wanting to cause a violent ding-dong in M&S, but it infuriates me.
I really do not know what has changed the British moral code on which I was raised, but this rise in shoplifting needs to be stamped down - and quickly.
In 2014, the previous government changed the law to allow for theft of items worth less than £200 to be dealt with by post, often resulting in just a fine.
How ridiculous.
What sort of message did that send to youngsters? "If you can't afford it, do without," was drilled into me by my parents.
The next generation must be taught the way I was taught and understand that theft of any description is just wrong
There is some hope on the horizon. The new Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper. claims to be on the case. Acknowledging it is an "epidemic", she says "the shameful neglect of shoplifting must end."
Well, good luck to her with that. The British Retail Consortium found there were 16.7 million incidents of customer theft recorded in the last financial year, at a cost of £1.8 billion. That is far from a minor crime, but there have been few arrests or even fines.
How will Ms Cooper get the police up and running on this one?
She hopes the Crime and Policing Bill will enable the police to ban repeat offenders from town centres, but has she enough police to scare off the thieves in, say, my local Co-op?
I doubt it. As long as the thieves go unpunished, they'll get away with it.
Introducing moral standards isn't going to work with the determined adults who think getting stuff for free is their right. It must start in schools. The next generation must be taught the way I was taught and understand that theft of any description is just wrong.
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