Wales News
A shopkeeper will not remove signs referring to “scum bag shoplifters” despite suggestions they “could be seen as provocative and offensive”, he said.
Rob Davies placed notices in his Run Ragged vintage shop in Wrexham, informing customers “due to scumbags shoplifting, please ask for assistance to open cabinets”.
Mr Davies, who has run the store for five years, said he has lost almost £200 worth of stock due to shoplifting and decided to lock cabinets containing higher valued items.
Official figures released in July show shoplifting in Wales and England is at its highest level since current records began more than two decades ago.
But despite what he described as a “positive reaction” and “huge amount of support” from locals, he says a police officer visited having been prompted by a member of the public claiming that the sign was “provocative and offensive”.
North Wales Police, however, said it did not appear Mr Davies had committed any offence.
“It would be up to the shop owner to decide whether he displayed such a sign in his store,” the force said.
“We will contact the owner to identify which officer it was who spoke to him, and to ensure that any incidents of retail crime at his store are reported to officers at the earliest opportunity, to enable us to effectively respond to any offences.”
Mr Davies, 61, said he had made a “difficult decision” to lock his cabinets.
“I had to start guarding myself and my livelihood so I put a little note on there and spent a couple of days thinking how I can word this so that nobody in this world is offended by it,” he said.
“I came up with ‘due to scumbags shoplifting, please ask to access the cabinets’ and I was even polite enough to put thank you at the end of it because I don’t want to offend anybody.
“If you identify with being a scumbag and are offended by this then you’re obviously looking to steal.. otherwise you wouldn’t be offended by that.”
He added: “The police officer was genuinely giving me a heads-up, no fault on him at all, that someone had pulled him in the street and were offended by the sign and that he should have a look at it
“He said he’d been asked to come in because it would be provocative and potentially offensive… but there isn’t anyone who could be offended by that, legitimately.”
The original handwritten notes have now been printed, and Mr Davies is contemplating making them even larger.
“Its just gone crazy,” he added, saying he had since received messages of support from as far afield as South Africa, the US and Cayman Islands.
“A lot of it is the pressure on people because of the cost of living increases, but that doesn’t mean you have the right to steal from anybody,” he added.
“If you’re in need, I understand, and I would never class you as a scumbag if you were doing it out of necessity.
“But nobody needs a funky shirt or a pinball machine, they just would like them.”
Mr Davies said he felt police “didn’t do enough” to tackle shoplifting locally, with a “lack of investment” in policing and court services.
He added: “As an independent trader I have no safety net, I just have to get on with it.”
But North Wales Police said it does take the issue of shoplifting seriously and repeat offenders have been subject to civil restraining orders.
“Each day, my officers go above and beyond to identify risk individuals and locations to prevent further incidents of shoplifting,” said Wrexham City District Inspector, Rhodri Ifans.
“A dedicated team of officers in Wrexham have consistently maintained the highest detection rate for shoplifting offences within the force over the past two years, which is a credit to their commitment to protect local retailers and pursue repeat offenders.
“Over the last 12 months alone, a total of 14 individuals who repeatedly committed shoplifting offences within the city have been subjected to a community behaviour order through the courts, preventing them from entering the city centre.”
He added that protecting staff, businesses and their customers from this type of criminality, was a “priority” in the city.
