Shoplifting 'out of control', say shopkeepers

Shopkeepers in Leeds say they have been left feeling frustrated due to the frequency of shoplifting becoming "out of control".

In the city centre, a variety of businesses said they were being targeted by thieves and there was little they could do to stop them.

Dion Smith, who owns a jewellery workshop in the Corn Exchange, explained he kept his products in locked display cabinets, but it had not deterred shoplifters.

"Over the past five to 10 years it has just got out of control. People know there's no consequences," he said. West Yorkshire Police described a perception that petty theft wouldn't be investigated as "misinformation".

"My plea to retailers and shopkeepers across West Yorkshire is report it to us and we will take it seriously," said Supt Andy Loftus, from the force.

Smith recalled a recent incident in which a man and woman had visited his store asking to try on a chain.

"While they were distracting my wife, she [the woman] must have been filling her handbag full of gold rings," he said.

An hour later, the pair were caught cashing in the items at a pawn shop.

"The tactics they used, they knew exactly what they were doing and how to do it," Smith added.

"Initially the police said there was nothing really they could do, even though we'd told them, we'd got pictures of them, we posted it on Facebook and this thing went viral.

"We had people messaging us telling us where they lived and who they were."

Smith's social media post led to the thieves being arrested and the police recovering the jewellery.

The pair were later jailed for a string of shoplifting offences in Leeds, but Dion said successful outcomes like this were rare.

Jamal Barari, from New York Food and Wine, said about £50 worth of stock was stolen from his convenience store every day.

"Every single day we have things stolen in this shop. People take my drinks, my sweets, my snacks," he explained.

"What can we do?"

The shopkeeper has a radio to contact police, but said a lot of incidents were too small to report.

"Should I go every single day to the police station? No, I cannot," Barari added.

"The cashier cannot touch the teenagers, I cannot tell them anything."

At the Out of the World organic shop, staff have started displaying pictures of suspected shoplifters in their window.

"It's not the best thing, but we do have to name and shame people and it creates more community awareness," Mabel Dunbar, who works there, said.

"It's definitely slowed it down having the faces on there."

Despite having CCTV cameras, the shopkeeper explained it did not always deter thieves.

"It's really disheartening, my heart sinks because we are an independent business," she added.

"Unless you're stealing quite a high value amount of things there isn't a big consequence."

Over the last 10 years, Dunbar thought shoplifting had worsened in the area.

"There is a reason for that, inflation has gone up, wages haven't really gone up that much," she said.

"People are either desperate or just chancers."

West Yorkshire Police said six suspected shoplifters were arrested in Leeds last week on suspicion of a total of 24 linked offences.

Supt Loftus, the force's retail crime lead, said: "I want to make it really clear that we do take retail crime seriously. It's not a victimless crime to small, independent stores - that's their livelihood.

"If there are reasonable lines of inquiry, regardless of value, we will take it seriously and investigate."

He said he would "advise against" shops putting up photos of repeat offenders in windows or on social media.

"There's a potential breach of data protection, there's also the risk that suspects can be wrongly identified," he added.

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