Brave mum who has confronted 'many' shoplifters slams minister for telling people to make citizen's arrests
4 October 2023, 15:05 | Updated: 4 October 2023, 15:08
A woman who has stopped many people from shoplifting on her own has said a minister's call for people to make citizen's arrests on criminals is unfair.
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Mrs French said she stopped "two older... bigger guys" who were trying to steal razorblades from a shop in Brighton, by shouting at them.
"I think it shocked them," she told LBC. "And they put the razors back. And they walked out."
It comes after policing minister Chris Philp urged members of the public to step in if they see thieves shoplifting by making citizen’s arrests.
He also called on retailers to instruct their security guards to intervene when it is safe to do so.
But Mrs French said: "I don't think we're here to do that. That's what we do pay our taxes for, [for] the police [to be] there.
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"For me, there's definitely not enough police patrolling as we used to, when we grew up. We've always had them around.
"So for me, when I did that, and his friend was behind me, I just went into teacher mode - not that I'm a teacher. Mother mode."
Mrs French told the men to get out, and they both did. She was alone, because the shop assistant was hiding behind the till.
"I just said 'get out - we'd all like to pinch, but we don't do it. So get out the shop now.' And they did."
She also called the manager to come down from upstairs, and berated him for leaving two younger female shop assistants to run the store.
"I gave him a right mouthful." she said.
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Mrs French said she had stopped several other people from shoplifting, including a man who tried to steal a leg of lamb. "I asked him if he wanted mint sauce."
She confronted another girl who was "pinching some very expensive face cream", by asking her if she could steal something for her that was further out of reach. "And she looked at me and did one," Mrs French laughed.
It comes after Mr Philp said: "The wider public do have the power of citizen’s arrest and, where it’s safe to do so, I would encourage that to be used because if you do just let people walk in, take stuff and walk out without proper challenge, including potentially a physical challenge, then again it will just escalate.
"While I want the faster and better police response, the police can’t be everywhere all the time."
Meanwhile several other people told LBC they would not intervene if they saw someone shoplifting.
Amanda said she didn't want to penalise people who were stealing because they were struggling for money.
"If that was to be... a woman shoplifting food for herself and her children, I wouldn't really want to intervene in that and ruin her life by just deciding to do a citizen's arrest for the sake of the government that has caused this issue for her and her children in the first place," she said.
Paul said he was unsure if he would be safe intervening, or whether he could get into legal trouble.
"To be honest, I wouldn't be sure what the risk is to me from a personal perspective, but then also, if I overstepped the mark, what liability would I get into?"
He added: "I think in a group situation if [there were] enough of us maybe you'd like to think I'd step forward."
Lois said she thought she wasn't physically strong enough to perform a citizen's arrest.
She added: "I also think if if people choose to take something from a supermarket, for example, I don't really feel like that's such a great harm. I wouldn't feel the need to intervene."
Physical assaults on front-line store workers have risen 30% year-on-year, with anti-social behaviour and verbal abuse rising by a fifth (20%).
Zura said he wouldn't step in to stop someone stealing some bread, but if they were abusing shop staff he would try to stop them.
"I believe in helping people out when you see them being abused one way or another. And I think you have some kind of moral responsibility to step in, simply because I don't like when smaller get bullied by taller."
Figures released by the British Retail Consortium earlier this year revealed that there had been a 26 per cent rise in shoplifting in the last year.
Reports suggest that a total of £1bn is being stolen from stores each year and an extra £700m is being spent on security measures in these retailers.
Police have been accused of failing to take the crime seriously as figures show in the 12 months to march that forces recorded 339,206 cases of shoplifting.
Alex Norris, the shadow policing minister, hit out at Mr Philp’s comments, as he said his comments were "inviting more violence against shop workers".
He said: "Under this Tory government shop theft has hit epidemic levels and violence against shop workers has risen to a disturbing 850 incidents every single day.
"With 10,000 fewer neighbourhood police on the beat and in our town centres, the Tories are totally failing to enforce the law or keep our town centres safe.
"Rather than offering serious suggestions to get police back on the beat, the minister is inviting even more violence against shop workers by calling for citizen’s arrests, while making pie-in-the-sky promises about databases when the Tories have still failed to upgrade the police national computer which is 50 years old.
"The Tories are just making it up as they go along but communities are paying the price."
