AN INDIAN-ORIGIN shopkeeper has found a unique idea in a bid to prevent shoplifting in the UK.
The shopkeeper from Kent has displayed CCTV images of alleged shoplifters on his store window.
The new trick which displays the images of thieves was intended to discourage people from shoplifting, said Sham Bains, who is the owner and manager at a Londis store in Maidstone.
Londis is a chain of local multipurpose stores across the UK, owned and run independently as a franchise.
The image gallery in the shop looks like a photo exhibition in the shop-front and includes clear images of alleged shoplifters with the phrase “I am a thief”.
Many of the scenes caught on CCTV include the shoplifters shoving pies down their trousers and others walking out with crates of beer.
The local police are not able to always respond quickly following their work pressure, and they say “they have better things to do, more important cases,” Bains told The Sun.
“Naming and shaming these criminals does work, and it discourages others from trying anything. We’re always 110 per cent sure before we name and shame. The customers love it,” he said.
According to the police, they had only received seven reports of theft from the shop in 2019 and had made four arrests.
Meanwhile, the shop’s staff claim at least 50 incidents of thefts have occurred this year.
The 63-year-old said the loss of stock has become a major worry. “Anybody who takes our goods without permission is a thief. They have no right to remove them,” said Bains.
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