‘It’s the thin end of the wedge’: PCC repeats calls for public to challenge shoplifters

The Police and Crime Commissioner has repeated controversial claims that the public should do more to stop shoplifters – saying ‘keeping your head down’ has become a worrying trend.

Mattew Barber, Thames Valley’s PCC, caught much attention in June when he instructed the public not to ‘just stand there and watch’ when they see someone pocketing items from a shop.

After receiving multiple challenges for this view since then – including from Maidenhead’s MP Joshua Reynolds – Mr Barber has only doubled down on his claims.

This week, at the first Police and Crime Panel since his earlier remarks, Mr Barber faced down fresh concerns from councillors questioning his views.

Cllr Stephen Newton (Lib Dem), of Wokingham Borough Council, said he thought the advice was risky because the country has become too dangerous for the public to intervene in crime.

“Knives in the community [are] much more prevalent than they used to be,” he said.

“Are you really asking members of the public and shop staff to put themselves at risk? Because it seems to me that they're not trained [for this] like a police officer is.”

Mr Barber replied: “I was very clear at the time, I am not expecting people to put themselves at undue risk.

“However, there are cases where people can just intervene verbally. If you're a member of the public, maybe shout at someone, call the security staff, call the police.”

^{Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber}

He reminded the panel that regular members of the public have the legal power to ‘use reasonable force’ to prevent a crime.

But added that different people are comfortable with different forms of intervention, and they should do what they feel is best – as long as they do something.

At the very least, call 999 while the crime is happening, he said.

“[If you call right away] there’s actually a half decent chance the police might attend,” he said.

“If you call 10 minutes after [the offender has] left the store, there’s probably not a lot of point in attending.”

Mr Barber believes it makes a real difference whether people act.

He recounted a conversation with an ex-offender who admitted they targeted shops where they received the least resistance.

Yet Mr Barber senses a wider public attitude of ‘it’s not my problem’ and this worries him.

Since his comments at the last meeting, Mr Barber says he has heard from people who said they would ‘hold the door open’ for a shoplifter.

“They [think] of Tesco, Sainsbury’s and all the others as big corporate giants who can afford to take a loss,” Mr Barber said. “They think it’s a victimless crime.

“Some of them even use rhetoric that suggests [the supermarkets] are the criminals for charging that much for a jar of coffee.

“I saw the leader of the Green Party in the press saying we should have sympathy for people who steal from large stores because they can't afford the goods.

“That is complete nonsense. It is theft.”

Moreover, the trend itself is worrying because it can spread out to other more serious crimes, he feels.

“If you're on a night out and you see that young woman being harassed by a group of men, or if you see a little old lady being mugged for a handbag, do you do nothing?

“I fear that we are moving to a society where people just keep their heads down, and there is a danger of that being the thin end of the wedge.

“There’s a risk to anything in life. My point [is] about having a robust society where we take responsibility.”

However, councillors at the panel meeting were far from convinced.

Cllr Mark Howard of RBWM (Lib Dem, Bisham and Cookham) said it was incumbent upon the police to make sure that keep up their end of the bargain by actually showing up when called.

He highlighted times when shopkeepers knew exactly who had stolen from them and police still didn’t show up.

Mr Barber stressed that in those cases, although an investigation was certainly appropriate, it may not always be necessary for police to physically come to the scene after the fact.

Cllr Ejaz Ahmed, Slough Borough Council’s lead member for public protection, described experiences where police did not handle shoplifting very well – and said they needed to be more ‘supportive and understanding’ when dealing with staff.

Mr Barber said he would look into questions surrounding this ‘culture’ within the police – but said in his experience, police ‘enjoy’ this kind of work and should need little encouragement to make a collar if they can.