“The worst part is, so many of them are north of 65 years of age,” says Jim Treacy, manager of SuperValu in Churchtown, south Dublin, when asked about the people who regularly shoplift from his store.
“They steal meat, medicine, health and beauty products, painkillers – anything nice and small they can slip into a bag.”
Mr Treacy is one of hundreds of retailers experiencing what business representative groups call a “pandemic” of shoplifting, which has worsened since the end of the Covid pandemic last year.
So far this year there has been a 14 per cent increase in retail theft, with almost 30,000 incidents reported to gardaí. Retail groups told an Oireachtas committee this week that the real number is much higher as stores no longer bother reporting many thefts.
By one estimate from the Retail Grocery Dairy & Allied Trades Association (RGDATA), shoplifting costs stores an average of €40,000 a year in lost stock and additional security costs. But the actual cost goes far beyond financial. Staff are “hit, kicked, beaten, spat at, stabbed with knives or syringes and shot at,” TDs and senators were told. Racial abuse against non-Irish staff is common and getting worse.
“Since Covid lifted it’s gotten worse and worse,” said Mr Treacy.
During the pandemic people became accustomed to bringing their own bags for their shopping. That trend has continued, making it easier for criminals to steal, he said.
He is adamant people are not stealing out of poverty.
“I have never had one yet that’s robbing because they have no money for food,” said Mr Treacy.
One woman who has stolen from his store multiple times drives to the south Dublin supermarket from outside Dublin in a car with fake number plates.
‘Individuals secreting alcohol on their person or persons literally emptying whole display sections of expensive personal hygiene products or washing machine refills are not robbing to feed a starving family’
— Vincent Jennings, chief executive of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association
“She is pure professional. She’s pays for her coffee, gets 20 cigarettes, then pushes a trolley worth €400 clean out the door,” he said.
Mr Treacy’s view was echoed at the Oireachtas committee by Vincent Jennings, chief executive of the representative group, the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA).
“Individuals secreting alcohol on their person or persons literally emptying whole display sections of expensive personal hygiene products or washing machine refills are not robbing to feed a starving family,” said Mr Jennings.
Julie Dorel of retail group Musgrave said that stores in the company’s SuperValu and Centra network report about 1,000 incidents a week. There is a “fearlessness” among thieves, she said.
“They’re completely brazen, completely aloof to any law,” said Noel Dunne who operates a Centra in Dublin city centre and has to deal with two or three incidents a day.
“The biggest rise is 14- to 15-year-olds on electric scooters.”
Michael O’Driscoll, who owns a Spar on Talbot Street in Dublin, deals with up to 10 incidents a day.
“The aggression is very upsetting. People robbing a drink want to fight you over it. They have no fear,” he said.
Retailers say the problems are caused by three broad categories of shoplifters. There are serial thieves operating alone who, according to Mr Treacy, will pay for €50 of groceries and steal €20.
“It’s not seen as wrong any more,” he said.
Then there is what Tara Buckley, Director General of RGDATA, described as “gangs of feral youth”.
These are youths “who are completely out of control and believe they are untouchable and can abuse who they want and steal whatever they want with no consequences”, she said.
The final category is organised gangs of shoplifters who move into an area and target large numbers of stores in a short period of time. The goods are then sold via a fence – someone who knowingly buys stolen goods to resell them at profit – on the black market. In some cases goods are sold online in a process known as “e-fencing”.
The growth of these gangs has prompted An Garda Síochána to establish Operation Táirge which will use organised crime legislation and the Criminal Assets Bureau to bring them to justice. Retail staff will also be trained in how to spot and deal with organised retail theft.
Colin Fee, who operates four grocery stores in Co Louth, told the committee about a shoplifter who targeted his stores about 20 times and had five or six bench warrants
Gardaí will also target the black markets used to sell stolen goods and launch a campaign to deter would-be shoplifters by reminding them of the legal consequences.
On Wednesday, gardaí announced the first arrest under the operation: a woman in her 50s, charged with stealing from shops in Newbridge, Portlaoise, Athy, Kilkenny, Wexford and Maynooth.
Retailers have welcomed the operation but there is still a feeling that gardaí and the courts do not take shoplifting seriously.
“The guards are under a lot of pressure. Shoplifting doesn’t come on top of their radar,” said Mr Treacy.
Colin Fee, who operates four grocery stores in Co Louth, told the committee about a shoplifter who targeted his stores about 20 times and had five or six bench warrants.
On one occasion he was arrested after stealing from the store and taken to court only to get bail and come back shoplifting that night, Mr Fee said.
Some shop owners go out of their way to attract gardaí to their store in the hope they will act as a deterrent. Mr Fee said that in one of his shops, which is regularly targeted, he has started offering gardaí discounted coffee. He has seen a drop in thefts as a result.
Many retailers regularly share images of shoplifters taken from CCTV and warn each other via text message on WhatsApp if a known thief is in the area. Several years ago the Data Protection Commissioner, the State’s data privacy watchdog, warned retailers the practice was against the law.
This also applies to shop owners displaying pictures of known shoplifters on the wall.
“It’s totally ridiculous,” said Independent TD Matt Shanahan on hearing of the law at this week’s Oireachtas committee hearing.
“If we knew there was a known paedophile running around between national schools, would we saying we shouldn’t be sharing information and images?”
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