Shoplifting on the rise

[Yuwipi Woman]

Alexandru Cercel, formerly of Homestead Road, Dagenham, has been jailed for his part in an organised shoplifting gang that stole at least £34,500 worth of champagne and spirits from multiple supermarkets. Together with his accomplices, Alexandru Cercel targeted stores including Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, and Sainsbury’s between October 2021 and June 2023.

Alcohol worth up to £3,000 was stolen in each raid, the gang sometimes returning to the same store up to five times on the same day to empty its shelves. Alexandru Cercel was arrested at Dover docks trying to leave the country as a wanted man on 1 July 2023:

Gang member who helped steal £34,500 of alcohol jailed

(Source: Norfolk Constabulary)​

Alexandru Cercel asked for 26 other thefts to be taken into consideration, in addition to the 8 offences to which he pleaded guilty.

Jailing him for two years, the judge said the thefts were likely motivated to fund other criminal enterprises and that the method used indicated “highly organised and planned offending.”

I know I'm used to American sentencing, but two years seems a bit light for an organized theft spanning multiple thefts, over multiple stores, and multiple months. In the US, you could get two years just for going over $950 in value in one incident, especially if you have prior convictions.

 

[nogojones]

Apparently they were a team from TM-Eye, a private investigating force of former police detectives...
They were attending a training session not employed by store I believe..
They then waited 30 minutes for police to arrive..

TM Eye Ltd | The UK's Eye on the Street

Since 2007 TM Eye has been the UK's eye of the street and at the forefront of the fight against counterfeiting.

tm-eye.co.uk

I wonder why they're no longer cops

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Alexandru Cercel, formerly of Homestead Road, Dagenham, has been jailed for his part in an organised shoplifting gang that stole at least £34,500 worth of champagne and spirits from multiple supermarkets. Together with his accomplices, Alexandru Cercel targeted stores including Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, and Sainsbury’s between October 2021 and June 2023.

Alcohol worth up to £3,000 was stolen in each raid, the gang sometimes returning to the same store up to five times on the same day to empty its shelves. Alexandru Cercel was arrested at Dover docks trying to leave the country as a wanted man on 1 July 2023:

Gang member who helped steal £34,500 of alcohol jailed

(Source: Norfolk Constabulary)​

Alexandru Cercel asked for 26 other thefts to be taken into consideration, in addition to the 8 offences to which he pleaded guilty.

Jailing him for two years, the judge said the thefts were likely motivated to fund other criminal enterprises and that the method used indicated “highly organised and planned offending.”

Do you even express opinions anymore or are you just amplifying cop channels on here now?

 

[bumpkinbeans]

Branch of the retail company i work for done away with security years ago. More and more cameras put into areas of store to spy on staff though.Says all you need to know really where management prioritys lie.Police refuse to attend shoplifting cases thesedays so its a win win for the shoplifting crews.

 

[pbsmooth]

My local Sainsburys Local now seems to sometimes have 2 security guards for what is a small shop. They're practically stood next to each other. Also noticed the checkout staff wearing cameras. What a lovely environment to shop!

 

[kenny g]

I walked into a Tesco local to buy a beer the other day. The prices were extortionate, the surveillance extreme. Ended up making my excuses and left.

 

[tonysingh]

There's been a rise in people half inching from Greggs here in Medway. They walk in, grab a filled sandwich or some prepacked sausage rolls before doing one. The staff don't even give chase.

 

[A380]

There's been a rise in people half inching from Greggs here in Medway. They walk in, grab a filled sandwich or some prepacked sausage rolls before doing one. The staff don't even give chase.

Fuck that’s sad.

 

[tonysingh]

Fuck that’s sad.

Oh I agree. Fuck this government for their policies that have reduced folk to this.

 

[8ball]

In the US, you could get two years just for going over $950 in value in one incident, especially if you have prior convictions.

How long if you stick no more than $800 worth at a time?

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

How long if you stick no more than $800 worth at a time?

Slap on the wrist usually. If you're a repeat offender you could get a couple of months.

 

[NoXion]

There's been a rise in people half inching from Greggs here in Medway. They walk in, grab a filled sandwich or some prepacked sausage rolls before doing one. The staff don't even give chase.

I believe it's a very common policy for staff not to chase down thieves. Massive liability issue, innit? The company would be on the hook if someone gets seriously hurt or killed as a result of a policy that implicitly or explicitly encouraged staff to confront thieves.

Perhaps security footage can be used to aid in prosecution after the fact, or maybe police could lie in wait if a particular thief has a pattern that can be exploited to that end. But that would be a band-aid kind of solution since it doesn't address the causes of the theft happening in the first place.

I don't think it's just that people are finding themselves in desperate economic straits. I think there is also a compounding factor of anomie, social malaise, whatever one might call it, in which more people are feeling disinhibited about breaking the kind of niceties that allow shops to just have items on the shelf without excessive security. I believe our political leaders have a fair share of blame for that too, as their increasingly obvious greed and corruption serves as a bad example. If they don't give a fuck about the rules, why should anyone else?

What pisses me off the most about the whole situation is that it wasn't exactly impossible to predict, yet those with the most power and means to help stop this kind of societal rot just don't give enough of a fuck, even though it would not existentially threaten their privilege to do so.

 

[InArduisFouette]

My local Sainsburys Local now seems to sometimes have 2 security guards for what is a small shop. They're practically stood next to each other. Also noticed the checkout staff wearing cameras. What a lovely environment to shop!

Staff BWV is down to the level of abuse that entitled wankers dish out to shop staff , ditto when ambulance crews and A+E staff end up having to wear them

 

[Orang Utan]

We have body worn cams at my work too - a public library ffs!

 

[Orang Utan]

The government should give back all of the loot the UK stole from its colonies before claiming any moral high ground over shoplifters.

 

[ska invita]

I know I'm used to American sentencing, but two years seems a bit light for an organized theft spanning multiple thefts, over multiple stores, and multiple months. In the US, you could get two years just for going over $950 in value in one incident, especially if you have prior convictions.

in Britain you also tend to serve half the sentence unless you misbehave, so thats a 1 year sentence in reality in prison.

 

[GarveyLives]

"File on 4 reveals how hundreds of vulnerable women and children are being trafficked to the UK by organised crime gangs to work as shoplifters. The victims are forced to live in squalor in overcrowded houses in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Investigators have discovered there are 154 known members of one gang which is making millions for the gangmasters from Eastern Europe. High street stores have reported a 25 per cent increase in the number of shoplifting incidents over the last year."

File on 4: Organised crime and shoplifting, BBC Radio 4, 8.00 p.m., Tuesday 12 December 2023

 

[GroovySunday]

An inevitable part of having a capitalist society, including the violence against staff. People turn to crime, including organised crime due to poverty and hardship and having to exist in this capitalist dystopia. Gang mentality is also a capitalistic one. I don't see getting tougher as any kind of solution though, it avoids dealing with the cause. Am not surprised to see some lefties on here taking a harsh and ineffective, authoritarian stance.

 

[8ball]

An inevitable part of having a capitalist society, including the violence against staff. People turn to crime, including organised crime due to poverty and hardship and having to exist in this capitalist dystopia. Gang mentality is also a capitalistic one. I don't see getting tougher as any kind of solution though, it avoids dealing with the cause. Am not surprised to see some lefties on here taking a harsh and ineffective, authoritarian stance.

ChatGPT is cool.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

An inevitable part of having a capitalist society, including the violence against staff. People turn to crime, including organised crime due to poverty and hardship and having to exist in this capitalist dystopia. Gang mentality is also a capitalistic one. I don't see getting tougher as any kind of solution though, it avoids dealing with the cause. Am not surprised to see some lefties on here taking a harsh and ineffective, authoritarian stance.

PARKLIFE

 

[TopCat]

My sainsburys local now has two security in the evening and at lorry unload time in the morning.

My local Lidl has a very proactive security fella. I have seen him running after people in the last few weeks.

 

[TopCat]

I would personally dress up and go Waitrose if I wanted to steal.

 

[klang]

Out of principle i only steal from charity shops.

 

[TopCat]

We have two security and a Mitie cctv van at the sainsbury local now. Must be denting the margins.

 

[brogdale]

We have two security and a Mitie cctv van at the sainsbury local now. Must be denting the margins.

They're fine...

 

[kenny g]

Saw a fight in the middle of the street a couple of years back which I half heartedly intervened in with a couple of others once one seemed to be getting a lot of the better of the other. Then realised it was between a security guard and shop lifter. The shop lifter made a run for it vaulting over a fence into a school leaving his knife behind him. Fortunately no one was hurt but it all seemed pretty intense. Had my youngsters with me at the time which added to the drama. Really difficult to know what to do in the circumstances. The fight was blocking cars in the road and at first people thought it was between people who knew each other. I was a pedestrian. Someone got out of his car to tell them to get out of the way and then it became clear. They were both grappling on the floor by the time we approached.

 

[phildwyer]

In California they've now stopped prosecuting thefts of less than $1000. Mind you, it's almost impossible to steal that much anyway, because everything costing more than a dime is locked away behind glass. You have to call on a special phone to get them to come and open it. And that's for a packet of razors. People must be suffering.

 

[chemn]

In California they've now stopped prosecuting thefts of less than $1000. Mind you, it's almost impossible to steal that much anyway, because everything costing more than a dime is locked away behind glass. You have to call on a special phone to get them to come and open it. And that's for a packet of razors. People must be suffering.

Was thinking that, much like our social care and social mobility, we must be heading back to victorian times with all items behind the counter and you'll have to ask for everything... like Argos, I suppose...

 

[kenny g]

Was thinking that, much like our social care and social mobility, we must be heading back to victorian times with all items behind the counter and you'll have to ask for everything... like Argos, I suppose...

My local plumbing supply shop is similar. Supermarkets really only became a thing back in the 1960's. In the 1970's I can remember as a child not being able to see over the counter. And of course many butchers and fishmongers remain like this.

 

[8ball]

Was thinking that, much like our social care and social mobility, we must be heading back to victorian times with all items behind the counter and you'll have to ask for everything... like Argos, I suppose...

They’ll be wanting people to pay for stuff too.