With retailers frustrated by the lack of police action on retail crime is it right for them to use the internet to take crime prevention into their own hands, asks Liz Morrell

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This summer value retailer Home Bargains decided do something that few, if any retailers, have been so daring as to do before.

Following in the footsteps of TV programme Crimewatch, and the work of the Crimestoppers campaign, it decided to publicise photographs of suspected criminals and offer rewards for those who named and shamed them.

As a response to the blatant and persistent shoplifting taking place in its stores - despite the security measures it has in place - it began to publish pictures of suspected shoplifters on its website, in a new section of the site called Crime Busters.

The images aren’t simply a one-off picture but a series of images captured from the retailer’s in-store CCTV systems. Coupled with the date and location of the alleged crimes, the retailer offers a reward of up to £500 for information that leads to arrest and prosecution of suspects.

Engaging with customers

The reaction to such a move was immediate - and in some cases extreme with the retailer condemned by some who worried about invasion of privacy of people within the stores. But the retailer is standing by its decision to take the action it has and attempt to identify and call to account its shoplifting culprits.

A few months down the line there is a steady stream of identifications occurring as a result of the site, four successful prosecutions, and another four are under investigation.

Home Bargains operations director Joe Morris says shrinkage has fallen for the retailer recently and while he is reluctant to attribute it directly to the Crime Busters campaign, he says greater staff awareness of the problem has definitely helped. “That is what is going to be key to prevent it happening again,” he says.

In reality it is simply taking forward something that many retailers already do back of store with unofficial rogue galleries within their staffrooms to help staff identify potential and persistent troublemakers. For Home Bargains the move online was taking that to its next logical step.

“We were producing posters to give to staff inside the shop to watch out for shoplifters,” says Morris. “We did that for a year or so and got some good results, so in April we put posters in store that also act as a bit of a deterrent to shoplifters,” says Morris.
Petrol retailer BP also does something similar, occasionally putting pictures of offenders on police noticeboards in its stores, although it refuses to comment on the initiative.

However, in the summer Home Bargains took the initiative further by loading the images up on to its website. Morris says the retailer is simply making the best of its investment in its camera system, which has 32 cameras in a store, and rejects the criticism of the company’s tactics.
“We are fully confident the people we are putting up have something to answer for,” says Morris. “It’s hard work to do it but we feel we do have to make a stand,” he says.

However, he realises it may simply be pushing shoplifters to neighbouring stores and therefore urges other retailers to follow suit. “The shoplifters will go where it’s easiest. Other stores need to do the same thing,” he says.

Andrew Wood, founder and managing director of shrinkage specialists Oris Group and a former retailer himself, urges other retailers to follow Home Bargains’ lead. “It’s an excellent idea. There is sometimes a reluctance to use the information that is in the public domain so for Home Bargains to have the courage to do this is a very healthy approach and I would like to think that more retailers would do it as long as they have covered all the legals,” he says.

The internet is also the ideal medium according to Wood, who discourages the use of such wanted posters in stores. “The website is a great neutral place to put it because putting posters in the store windows can put off customers who will worry about how safe the shop is. Also you want your staff in store to think of all customers as shoppers not shoplifters. The best deterrent for shoplifters is for staff to engage with customers - to make eye contact and speak to them because that will make them run away,” he says.

That a discount retailer takes the problem so seriously shows how big a problem shoplifting can be for retailers. Indeed in the Centre for Retail Research’s 2009 Global Retail Theft Barometer, published this month, figures showed that 40.7% of retailers reported a rise in attempted shoplifting this year.

Morris admits it has proved a big problem for Home Bargains. “We were losing £6m or £7m a year in shrinkage. These posters are only a fraction of what is going on,” says Morris.

Home Bargains has faced criticism for the tactic, and other retailers are wary of the initiative because of its legal implications if they get it wrong. Rosemary Jay, partner and specialist in information and data protection at law firm Pinsent Masons, says there is no law against it. “It’s a bold thing to do and although some may not like it, I don’t think you can say it’s unlawful. It’s also quite hard to argue that it’s a breach of the suspected shoplifter’s privacy or not justified because they have been caught on CCTV that had warnings in store,” she says.

A range of tactics

Sainsbury’s head of corporate security Philip Hagon also believes Home Bargains’ stance is a brave one. “Ideally people should intercede when the evidence is there, but there is the precedent of police using people’s photographs in identification so it’s not wildly unusual to go down that road if the sole purpose is to get an ID. If they are being plagued by shop thieves and their procedures do not allow for whatever reason the immediate apprehension of these people then they have little alternative,” he says.

And he admits that like Home Bargains, Sainsbury’s would do the same if it was needed. “We would consider a whole range of tactics - this being one of them if the situation was so desperate it called for it,” he says.

As a retailer of strongly branded goods Go Outdoors has seen a substantial rise in attempted shoplifting but is tackling this with great customer service and dual protection methods such as ink tags and cable locks that require two different methods of removal.

But this new online method is gaining ground. “Having been made aware of it I will definitely be suggesting we do it,” says, Go Outdoors store support manager Guy Smith.

“The idea has a number of advantages. As word got round the shoplifting fraternity it would be a very effective deterrent and will also lead to identifications because the pictures are good. It’s also encouraging for staff to see that something high profile is being done.”

Preventing shoplifting has long been the bane of a retailer’s life but sometimes it seems the simplest of measures really can work well. It just remains to be seen whether other retailers will be brave enough to follow Home Bargains’ lead.