I WONDER what would happen if we legalised theft from shops.
What if we told criminals that shoplifting wasn’t really a problem after all and they could take what they wanted, not bother to pay and go on their merry way?
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Well, it turns out we don’t have to wonder any more. Because the latest official crime statistics tell us exactly what happens when you turn a blind eye to crime.
This won’t come as a shock to anyone with half a brain: Shoplifting goes up! And not just by a bit. No, there’s been an explosion in thefts from shops to more than 430,000 crimes last year — that’s up more than a third in a year.
Even that figure is just a fraction of the true level as retailers say they don’t bother to report most shoplifting because they know the police won’t do anything about it anyway.
So what’s caused this massive upsurge in the crime? It’s simple: We legalised shoplifting in all but name a few years ago when the powers that be decided they’d no longer prosecute most thefts worth less than £200.
This insane decision, store owners soon learned to their cost, led to thieves carefully stealing precisely £199 worth of goods to ensure no serious repercussions.
Even if shoplifters pay the fine, they’re still £130 better off!
Criminal masterminds they ain’t, but they’re not stupid either.
Anyone who shops regularly in their local high street will know this already.
I’ve lost count of the times store owners and staff — from major retail chains to a family-run greetings card shop — have complained to me about the police failing to tackle shoplifters.
The shop staff know exactly who the shoplifters are and have CCTV footage of their crimes, yet the police rarely turn up and, even if they do, and a repeat offender is prosecuted and convicted, the prisons are full so they just get a slap on the wrist. So what’s the point?
Staff now routinely stand guard by their locked shop doors at peak shoplifting hours and some say they’ll have to lock their doors for ever if police don’t act soon.
We cannot carry on like this.
Intimidation and threats
For far too long, shoplifting has been seen as a low-level misdemeanour carried out by people down on their luck who should be pitied not prosecuted.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan played into this false narrative when he claimed this week that if he saw someone stealing nappies, he’d step in to pay for them.
But it’s not desperate mums who are driving this crime spree; it’s often organised criminal gangs stealing items to order, while intimidation and threats of violence to staff are now commonplace too.
A 6ft burly store security guard told me that even he won’t physically tackle a shoplifter because he knows he’ll get charged with assault.
Shoplifting isn’t a victimless crime — and the victims aren’t limited to only the shopkeepers and the customers paying higher prices to cover the losses from theft.
Our local communities are also a casualty. When criminals run rampant, when our high streets don’t feel safe and when store keepers pull the shutters down for the final time, the bustling hub of our communities will die and we will all lose out.
Shoplifting is just as much of a crime whether it’s a diamond necklace or a pint of milk.
The message must go out loud and clear from our politicians, our police and our courts that crime does NOT pay.
