Following on from our story about a Wrexham store that had been visited by the police after posting a sign about shoplifters, calling them ‘scumbags,’ retailers have been in touch to share their own stories about their attempts at deterring or publicising known thieves.
Be it online, or with physical signs in their shops, the news there could be legal issues with such actions has been met with defiance.
Convenience retailer Richard Whittall said he’d seen results from using his store’s CCTV to highlight offenders. “If you have absolute evidence on CCTV, there’s no reason why you can’t put their pictures in the window - not to accuse them, but to say if you know these people, we’d like to talk to them,” he explained.
“I showed them the evidence and pointed out that I’m not accusing them of anything. The four of them never came in the store again!””
He added: “I did this and their friends said I couldn’t, and the police said I shouldn’t - but I showed them the evidence and pointed out that I’m not accusing them of anything. The four of them never came in the store again!”
Meanwhile, Sue Nithyanandan (left), of the Costcutter in Epsom, said she feared that the response from the Information Commissioner’s Office in our story would only bring confusion. “It’s interesting that the ICO hadn’t an opinion about the Wrexham case,” she said.
“This is the kind of leadership that leads to the confusion in interpreting the law. It’s a sad day if we can’t protect our own property! Alas it’s a good day for shoplifters…” Sue added.
Elsewhere, Spar retailer Susan Connolly said she uses her store’s social media pages including Facebook to highlight offenders, which has seen great results. “I use pictures on Facebook to highlight theft and I have a 99% success rate, with the person often coming back and paying for the goods they stole.
“They’re then then banned from our stores and the post is taken down. I will not be changing the way I do things!”
Please email us with your own stories if you’ve ever used pictures or similar to try and counter shoplifting in your store.
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