EMMA, 37, a PR from south London has a tried and tested method. While she's waiting patiently in the queue at the supermarket, she syphons off a few smaller, higher-value items from her basket into a tote bag - a packet of smoked salmon, a wedge of Brie, a punnet of blueberries.
When it's Emma's turn to pay, these won't make it through the self-checkout machine. "I do it nearly every time I go shopping," she says. "No one has ever noticed or stopped me or asked to check my bag." This is not just shoplifting. This is middle class shoplifting.
Recently Archie Norman, the chairman of Marks & Spencer, said the rise in retail crime was down to affluent customers who were helping themselves to a five-finger discount. "Some of it is by gangs or people stealing to fuel a drugs habit. No doubt that's probably increased a bit, it's always been there," he told LBC.
"Then you get the sort of middle class... with the reduction of service you get in a lot of shops, a lot of people go in and think, 'well this didn't scan or it's very difficult to scan these things through and I shop here all the time, it's not my fault, I'm owed it." In October, reports came in of shoplifting hitting a record high of 1,000 offences a day, with shopkeepers complaining about police inaction. Shop thefts cost retailers £953 million every year and the outgoing John Lewis boss Sharon White has described it as an "epidemic".
But forget every image you have of what a shoplifter looks like. Now it's just as likely to be a middle class professional who is putting through that £7 artisan sourdough as a 50p loaf of sliced white. Well, they do say every little helps.
Emmeline Taylor is a professor of criminology at City, University of London, and the host of the podcast Retail Crime Uncovered. She calls this type of criminal Swipers - it stands for Seemingly Well-Intentioned Patrons Engaging in Regular Shoplifting.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 11, 2024-Ausgabe von Evening Standard.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 11, 2024-Ausgabe von Evening Standard.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Are you ready for medieval-core?
No one was more surprised than medieval armourer Matthew Finchen.
Worth the wait This is a beautifully written triumph
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's first novel since 2013's Americanah is a winner
Low-budget indie film Anora wins big at the Oscars
“The more Hollywood changes, the more it remains the same,” writes Ty Burr.
Forget the Trump noisepeace could now be possible
There's much to fixate on, but it's best to judge the President on the substance
Is it the final call for the Heathrow villagers?
Life with the residents whose homes could be destroyed if a third runway touches down
The Fat Badger, London's first invite-only pub
A riotously fun boozer that doesn't officially exist? No wonder celebs are secretly flocking here
Marlon James on why Kingston is Jamaica's beating cultural heart
Whether it’s parties, patties or patois, this Caribbean capital is a non-stop celebration, says the Booker Prize-winning author
The London socialite. His aristocrat killer. And a mother's search for justice
The brutal, ketamine-fuelled killing of a public schoolboy shocked the world. In our new true-crime podcast, we tell the real story
“Last year's Festival was brutal, but we're ready to put it right”
The Guinness Village is, to Cheltenham racegoers, something of a field of dreams.
Me, Marrakech and I: How to ace a solo female trip
I first visited Marrakech with my then-boyfriend in 2004, when I spent my days getting lost in the labyrinthine souks and witnessing snake charmers hypnotise cobras. Over 20 years later, I decided to see how it fared for females going it alone.
