Whats The Law On Shoplifting?

[silliemillie]

Was in the Co Op today when a couple of girls were stopped for shoplifting.

The lady on the till told them she had seen them on the monitor put something in their bag, they denied it so she asked them to wait while the Police were called.

Obviously they didnt like the sound of that and pushed passed her excaping with anything they may or may not have had.

She just shrugged & said she was not, by law, able to touch them or stop them so had to let them go.

Surely this can't be right? if thats the case then anyone could walk into any shop and take what they liked.

[dotty.]

everything is done more pro-actively now, using loss prevention deterents like cctv, security tagging, cctv customer notices and moving vulnerable products to more visible and secure areas of the floor.

[silliemillie]

I know its only 'a bar of chocolate' or whatever but the thieves will soon learn which shops just let them go & will soon result in losses for the store with a knock on effect of stores closing and job losses.

Our Co Op used to have a security guard but couldnt afford him so now they are going to be facing losses through stock.

[dotty.]

stores have a shrink budget factored into their pricing structure to offset it in advance

[Stephen_G]

The Shoplifters don't have to go "Tooled up" to take on a member of Staff - they just use their own bodies as weapons.

[dotty.]

shoplifters don't care that people have to pay more for a loaf of bread or a pint of milk because they nicked a can of stella, it's like car insurance, we pay for the abusers

[B00]

It's not the odd light fingered scally I worry about, it's this.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/8748642.Raiders_tie_up_staff_at_Haslingden_Co_op/?ref=rss

That scares the Bejesus out of me- and yes, that's the store where I work, im just eternally grateful I wasn't doing that particular shift, but it is always a little "niggle" whenever i do lates, especially at the weekend.

[lcg]

what about standing in the doorway blocking them in the shop....or just shutting the doors until the police come? (letting others out as necessary, obviously) or what is the point of security guards? this morning i managed to block a very rude polish woman determined to push in a very long (15 minute) post office queue ahead of myself, others and an elderly lady (all on my own). as the rest of the queue watched her push in and out of it as she went to retrieve things she had 'forgotten' to buy in the shop and even used other tills in that time as well. she did it the first time and i didn't realise what she was up to, but the second time i asked the lady in front of me what she was up to and she told me. not one other person uttered a word and was happy about it (i found out afterwards), but seemed happy enough for her to do as she pleased. i was the only one who challenged her and she tried to ignore me at first, but then got very gobby with me when i refused to back down and let her past to her 'place' in the queue. again, no one intervened and she only backed down when i got gobby back and reminded her that although i have a walking stick, i'm not useless (and the stick can be used for other purposes!). again, no one (including men - i'm not being sexist here, but she was much bigger than me and abusive) did anything to help.....so i don't think people like to, actually. they probably never get thanked for it (the old lady said thank you to me and admitted she was too frightened to say anything to the woman) and could possibly get into trouble for it. i do it when i get annoyed by rudeness or ignorance, or i see a vulnerable person getting taken advantage of (the old lady said this woman told her to save her place in the queue while she went off and did stuff) and would like to think someone would do it for me - but if my own experiences are anything to go by, i'm not holding my breath x

[FredPuli43]

It's not the law that she couldn't detain them, though it may be the employer's rule that staff should not. She had witnessed a theft; she had far more than a suspicion , she had seen more than enough to have reasonable grounds for thinking that it was theft happening.

It is not the law that a person must leave the shop without paying. They are guilty the moment they dishonestly take something intending the shop to lose it. The leaving without paying is just evidence to prove that dishonest intent. It is quite possible to show that the act was theft without the person leaving.

[joko]

lcg,i dont blame them not getting involved - its just a place in a queue... hardly worth getting het up about much less and smack in the mouth

you talk like the others should have all waded in to assist you and they are some how out of order and weak because they didnt - well why should they?
you started it! it was your problem, not theres...they were content to let her take ONE space.


regrading the thefts - i think individual shopkeepers would be more likely to detain a thief as it is directly affecting them... but i dont blame large superstore staff not getting involved ... not worth it.

[makaylagardner6]

Under most state laws, a store has the legal right to stop and detain a suspect if they have “probable cause” – meaning they have seen the suspect take the merchandise, conceal it, move or modify the item and/or fail to pay for the item before leaving the store. The store also has the right to demand the return of the merchandise, to ban the offender from their store for a period of time, to prosecute the offender criminally and charge the offender with a civil penalty as well – all under local and state law.