Shoplifting has “got out of hand” and shopkeepers are right to share information about prolific offenders, Labour MP Alex Davies-Jones has said amid the UK’s data watchdog's warning to retailers to not to put up shoplifter's picture in store as well as online.
Jones' statement came a couple of days after a North Wales shop keeper was told by the police to take down a sign in his shop window that called shoplifters “scumbags”.
The retailer reportedly remained defiant that he will not change the message despite being advised by police to reword it, stressing that the only people who should be offended by his warning are shoplifters.
However, the retailer stated that he had received a great deal of support from locals and neighbouring shopkeepers.
When asked if shopkeepers were right or wrong to display the photographs, Alex Davies-Jones, a Labour MP, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme today (Aug 11), “What we do know is that shoplifting has got out of hand in the country.
“That is why we have taken the action that we have done in our Crime and Policing Bill.”
Asked again if shopkeepers should be displaying the photographs, she said, “I think it is on all of us to be aware of what is going on in our local communities.
“In my own community of Pontypridd I know that my local shopkeepers share information about prolific shoplifters because that is what they have had to do.”
The Information Commissioner’s Office, (ICO) has said putting up photos of known thieves in a local area, for example shop windows "may not be appropriate".
The ICO suggests shopkeepers should share suspect details with the police, or give information about the incident to a manager or another store nearby.
The guidance follows several reported incidents where shopkeepers were told to remove signs or images of suspects.
Despite the shop owner giving police CCTV, card details and number plates, retailers often report that no action was taken apart from a visit from police who told him to take down the pictures “because of the General Data Protection Regulation”.
The ICO says data protection rules are not intended to stop crime prevention, but to ensure innocent people are not subject to “unjustified intrusion.”
Katie Lam MP wrote on X, "Met a constituent yesterday plagued by shoplifters.
"He gives police CCTV, card details, licence plates. No action apart from a visit to say he must take down pics of thieves 'because of GDPR'. Our system should crush the lawless and protect the law-abiding. It does the opposite."
A similar incident was reported by Asian Trader last year when a leading SPAR retailer in Wiltshire pledged to continue using social media to "name and shame" alleged shoplifters after the move helped her retrieve the lost cost of the stolen goods.
Susan Connolly, the director of Connolly SPAR, an award-winning retail business with four SPAR stores in Wiltshire, told Asian Trader how she uses Facebook to post CCTV images of people stealing from her Wiltshire store.