Shoplifting in tesco

[Lrs15]

Caught shoplifting in tesco today, police called. I was let off with a fine. They said they are going to look back on historic shoplifting to try and see if I've done it before. I have. Will they look back on historic cctv? I'm worried I'm going to be arrested* *the stress is making me self harm*

[des8]

Was the "fine" a penalty issued by the police?

Who said they would be looking to see if there were historic incidents?
It is doubtful that anyone will be searching through CCTV recordings.
Firstly those recordings*are generally wiped after 30 days or so, and to search on the off chance of finding you would take hours.

*

[Lrs15]

I didnt get a fine. Just a warning.* The store manager said he is going to search through the CCTV. Thank you for replying.*

[Lrs15]

Sorry he said tesco will right to me about the fine, didnt get it there and then*

[des8]

So that will not be a "fine"... only the courts in the UK fine people, although the police can issue penalty notices.

What you will receive is a begging letter from a civil recovery firm.
I think Tesco currently use DWF LLP, a firm of solicitors.
This letter is designed to scare people who are unaware of the law.
It will be written in legalese, and demand a large sum of money for some imagined costs that you are supposed to have caused Tesco.
There will be a veiled threat of court action and or debt collectors. They stop short of threatening to take your children to sell into slavery.

However those threats no longer materialise following a court case some years ago when a civil recovery firm's client lost heavily in court.

You are strongly advised to ignore any letters you receive from this firm.
In spite of their entreaties do not write or phone them as they take this as an encouragement and continue to send threatening correspondence.
JUST IGNORE

[Lrs15]

Thank you for your advice, it's much appreciated. Do you think in your opinion that tesco will search through historical CCTV on the off chance of seeing me ?*

[ostell]

There is not a lot of chance that Tesco will allocate someone to look at the CCTV.* From experience I know that even if they know the date and time and location it takes many hours to get any useful images.* They wouldn't want to waste the time and money looking

[Lukashka]

Hello,
I had shoplifted from whole foods in London 2 times in the last month, it was goods of about 30 pounds. I paid for some, and some where just in my bag and I did not pay. I am just wondering if I exit the store without any problems, do you think the security investigate everyday the footage and look for shoplifters? And then send the footage to the police so they can investigate? Or I am just overthinking this stuff? I am so scared, should never been doing this in the first place !

[des8]

You are over thinking

It is very time consuming to check CCTV footage even when they have a time and know which camera.
No way is anyone going to trawl through hours of recordings in the hope they might just see someone acting suspiciously

[Lukashka]

I know I agree it seems very logical, but just in case they were to investigate meticulously, theoretically, what would be the procedure? Sending the footage to police, police opening an investigation and searching for me base on the face if it is even clear enough? And then I would receive a letter from them or I would wake up with them at my door ?

[Celestine]

Just not going to happen, not from the retailers point of view nor from the police. The Met Police and others have actually stopped handling most shoplifting allegations, leaving it to the retailers to bear the cost. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-a8002746.html

[Lukashka]

That is true for the less that 50 pounds crimes, but if collectively they store can link the footage to the same person and it adds up... )

[des8]

How much time do you think all this would take?
It just does not happen like that.

If on CCTV they spot a person acting suspiciously (eg putting bar of chocolate in their pocket) they would need to have continuous footage of that person until they left the store if they were to try and bring them to court on a charge of theft. It is just not probable if not impossible.

[Celestine]

If you are a member of a criminal gang repeatedly targeting a store, then yes, they may well try and identify you so that security guards can spot you and bar you from the store.
Anything else is unlikely for someone who has only recently started such criminal actions - have a read of 'civil recovery' threads on the forum, you will see that we have been advising people like you for well over ten years and have never seen anything escalate as you describe. Relax and stop stealing - it doesn't work for you on many levels, so just stop. X