Have these PCC's and the shiny new HMI been to the local shops recently. Shoplifters have been given carte blanche for yonks. I have personally witnessed a shoplifter caught by staff at an Aldi with a bottle of whiskey (obviously one of the so called poor people who need to steal to eat. Not.) What happened next amazed me. The staff took the whiskey back and got a name and address. It could have been Mickey Mouse Disneyland. Then said he was now banned from the shop. When I asked why the police were not called they replied they have given up calling the police as they refuse to attend unless the shoplifter was being violent!! The reality of 2 officers being tied up for several hours at the very least to deal with one shoplifter then having to hand it over to the next shift to finish off thereby taking another officer off the street most likely is the driving factor behind the police failure to deal with this low level crime. Might be an idea to highlight the insanity of the custody system. the length of time it takes to to transport the prisoner to the few remaining stations with cells. The time it takes to book the prisoner in. Then the wait for the legal rep to roll up. The interview and then gathering all the evidence used and unused before trying to get hold of Couldn't Prosecute Satan to make a decision. Back in the day I could arrest, book in, interview and obtain statements then charge and bail the prisoner to the next court within 4 hours. No one will be able to do that today.

ASB, crime and policing act 2014 brought in the £200 threshold for shoplifting...anyone remember?

After my time. So that is why the shoplifters are getting a free pass then.

Wonder if an officer, using discretion, who decides not to arrest a person for theft will be likely to face a charge of perverting the course of justice as used to happen. Or, would the officer be open to a charge of gross misconduct by the IOPC in their campaign against the police?

Cooke has made himself look a complete idiot over his comments regarding shoplifting. I always thought he was one of the sensible CC's, but obviously I got that wrong.

Spot on Mr Webb - IOf that idiot, clown, numbskill woman, if May hadn't cut 22,500 officers from the forces we probably wouldn't be having all these problems. May, the worst |Home Sec ever(even worse than Blunkett and |Clark), she has a lot to answer for. She was also the worst |PM, I just hope she never gets any honours, they should do a Bercow on her, she deserves nothing.

Foot Locker, watch out!!

I remember being a young PC sent to a a supermarket store to arrest an old age pensioner for shop lifting. He was obviously guilty and still had items hidden on him. The day after the court hearing and having been fined he stepped in front of a moving train. I was sent to the morgue to help the PC dealing with the incident, not a nice sight. This incident did affect me and I believe an officer should use discretion when appropriate but I feel theft can not be one of those occasions.

There is plenty of discretion built into the system with a wide variety of judicial disposals… To say I’m getting tired of the police service “ water off a ducks back “ approach to criticism is an understatement…..

This is utter nonsense. Shoplifting under £200 has already been decriminalised . Police do not attend, do not arrest or prosecute or even record such offences. All a direct result of the Government changes to the Theft Act relating to shoplifting. That has been the case for years. The HMIC is clearly too far removed from ‘coal face’ policing and the publics expectations. As TM Eye have proven you do not need to arrest shoplifters. A summons is a far quicker route to prosecution and conviction. Shoplifting costs the UK economy £1.2 billion annually and twice that for retailers security. We all pay that in increased costs for goods. An average of 457 shop workers get assaulted daily.