What’s happening with retail security?

As you all know I worked in security of all kinds for many years, some of it in retail, undercover for fraud and some in charge of store detectives.

I can’t understand how these thieves that openly walk in and fill their bags, with security, staff and the public just watching them do it and letting them leave. Watching these videos makes me feel really angry.

When I was doing that work, no one got away. We might have let some old ladies and kids off but the real thieves were always stopped, we had gangs, drug addicts, often weaponised, usually stopped by me and supported by the floorwalkers and often the public if I needed it.

It was never acceptable. Often violent offenders were dragged by the police, by their ankles down a flight of stone steps at the back of the store or the loading bay before throwing them in a black maria.

I have loads of stories from those days that I might write about at some point but I’m not sure that writing about violence helps.

The point is that we can’t let this trend continue, people need to step up and stop it and shouldn’t be prosecuted for doing so. It worked in those times without any real problems and the courts always dealt with them fairly usually the next day.

The photo is from one of my first karate licences in the early 70’s when I was doing this work. A very different person to who I am now.