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.

Kate Hawkesby: Supermarket thefts are hourly, according to the checkout operators

I was at the supermarket this week and I got to witness first-hand the theft that is taking place on the daily. In fact it’s more than a daily basis; it’s like hourly, according to the checkout operators.

My check out operator by the way, I’m convinced, was some kind of angel on earth. She wanted to help the thief. The guy, who to be fair looked dodgy and if I was in the business of profiling customers who may be stealing, I would have picked him all day long: hoodie, head bowed, scruffy, sifting through the aisles looking uncertain, and in his trolley just a couple of packets of meat.

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Two young guys, hoodie dressed, walked out of a South Auckland supermarket each pushing a trolley heaped with wine, chips and cake. They didn’t pay. No one stopped them, including the overweight security man who was studiously looking the other way. Apparently, the local cops know them but have “more important matters” to deal with including filling in numerous forms that are supposed to improve policing and safety.

How do I know? A close family member works in that supermarket and witnessed the brazen theft.