A Sheffield retailer has listed the reasons why “it’s just not worth” calling police over shoplifting.
James Totty, of Vintage Vintage on Devonshire Street, said contacting the force about a suspected thief could lead to a long wait for officers to arrive which meant time off the shop floor.
They were also hesitant to make a “citizen’s arrest” fearing a counter claim for assault, a physical attack or later damage to the shop.
James Totty, of Vintage Vintage on Devonshire Street, said contacting the force about a suspected thief could lead to a long wait for officers to arrive which meant time off the shop floor.
They were also hesitant to make a “citizen’s arrest” fearing a counter claim for assault, a physical attack or later damage to the shop.
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NewsTranscript
00:00So I'm James Totten and we're at Vintage Vintage in Sheffield on Division Street and we're here talking about how trying to get in contact with the police can affect certain things to do with theft or any issues to do with the shop or things that happen on the street.
00:19So it can really be an issue sometimes dealing with the police because there will be long waiting times, it can cost us to have staff in the back trying to sort all this going through emails, it's just a big waste of time.
00:35This can affect us especially with shoplifters when say something will possibly be stolen or an issue will happen. We may try and stop this person, ask for our products back, if they refuse that all we can do is call the police.
00:54But the risk is do we detain them and maybe wait for the police to take a while. They could be around the corner or they could take a very long time so there's a risk with detaining a stranger, possibly dangerous, taking drugs, obviously they're stealing it for a reason.
01:14So there's a risk with that like citizen's arrest, can you really do that whilst you're working under a business under someone else's army in operation. So that's a real issue as well as with that working under someone's business like this you could possibly face maybe a court case or charges for putting your hands on someone even if that starts a fight or an altercation.
01:39Then that can even lead to damage to the property, even accusing someone of stealing. You may have thought you'd seen someone, obviously you've got to go through the key factors that I've just looked up out of interest, like key factors to verify that someone's stolen something. It's just an issue so it's taking time out to verify that.