Kate Hawkesby: Brazen theft in supermarkets

 

Having witnessed a supermarket theft the other day, as we all probably have by now, I was not surprised to see that supermarket crime ‘has surged’.  

In just Foodstuffs North Island stores, it's reported there are ‘more than a thousand incidents a month.’ And the thefts are brazen. There was one video of a man ‘armed with a screwdriver stealing nine legs of lamb’. Foodstuffs say that in more than a third of these crimes, it’s repeat offenders.

  

So it’s not surprising they’re taking matters into their own hands and 'investing 45 million in security measures.’ They’ve had a ‘jump of more than 300 percent in assaults and thefts over the past six years'. And that's just physical assaults and thefts. In terms of security incidents in general, they're up more than 800 percent, reportedly.  

I mean that's untenable as a business to have to put up with that. And so unfair on staff. They shouldn’t have to deal with the sort of crap they're now dealing with. 'Knives were a common weapon to be pulled on staff, and even handguns..' according to supermarket execs. They also said that people stealing groceries was happening daily, sometimes 'multiple times a day'.. which is what I've heard from check out operators too. And the staff are unable to stop it. This 45 million Countdown wants to spend on security, that'll take a while to trickle through to implement all the security changes needed. They're going to spread it over 3 years, spread it around stores, and try different things.  

One of them, the trolley locking system, which a check out operator told me about the other day, is good in theory. It’s basically a smart technology system whereby the trolley locks up automatically, so if the trolley hasn't stopped long enough at the exit - long enough to go through a checkout, then it will automatically lock. The idea being this prevents the thief running out with a full trolley of groceries.  

But what this check out operator told me was that in trials of it, although effective at stopping the trolley, it didn't stop the thieves. In fact it made them more angry. So once the trolley locked up and they realised they couldn't move it, they started grabbing items inside the trolley and running out with armfuls of whatever they could carry. On top of that they'd use some of the groceries as weapons - she'd seen thieves grabbing things like cans or wine bottles and throwing them at staff to deter them from chasing them. It also creates a good distraction and makes a hell of a mess. So, she said, it’s actually quite scary.  

You then also have the problem of what about the trolley's locking up which aren't being used in thefts? What if you're just quick through the check out with a few items and then your trolley decides you must be a thief and it locks up?  

They have to do something though - but adding new camera technology and trolley technology is all well and good but I think they need to be able to do more with their people. Equip and enable security staff to actually be able to do something about thefts. Currently all they can do is watch them leave the supermarket with stolen goods, follow them to their car and take a licence plate, they can’t physically stop them. They then have to rely on Police following all these nuisances up and then rely on the courts do something about it.  

So you can see why there’re so many repeat offenders. It’s good Foodstuffs is trying to fix the problem, but it’s 45 million wasted dollars if the courts and police don’t back up this kind of crackdown. 

Kate Hawkesby is a political broadcaster on Newstalk ZB - her articles can be seen HERE.