Stunned MP confronts police chief after witnessing brazen shoplifting
Labour MP Joani Reid told Sir Mark Rowley that she had witnessed a man emptying shelves this morning – but staff did not even report it to police, and said it was the second time that day it happened
A stunned Labour MP has confronted the head of the Met Police after witnessing a brazen shoplifter emptying shelves.
Joani Reid told Sir Mark Rowley she was taken aback after seeing a man sweeping goods into a bag and walking out this morning. But to her surprise Ms Reid said staff did not bother reporting it – and it was the second time it happened in a matter of hours.
The MP told Sir Mark it happened at a store, which she did not name, in central London. Ms Reid told him: “I witnessed a man shoplifting – and we we’re not talking about one or two goods, he cleared the whole shelves, put them into his bag, into a trolley, and walked out the shop.
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“And I said to the staff ‘are you not going to call 999?’ ‘No, we don’t bother anymore,’ she said. ‘That’s the second time that’s happened today’. And she took me down another aisle and I looked at it, it was the most expensive hair products that they had in the shop, and all of the shelves had been cleared.
“So that was twice in one day. And they said that they’ve just stopped reporting that because there’s no point. So I phoned myself and reported the crime.
“They (shop staff) were so unfazed by this. I was really quite taken aback.” And she asked Sir Mark: “Does that surprise you?”
The police chief, appearing in front of the Commons home affairs select committee, said: “I recognise a very variable response from shops to shoplifting in their in their premises. We encourage them all to report it.”
He said stores have been ramping up their security systems, and stated: “We’re close to doubling the number of shoplifting cases we’re prosecuting.”
And he continued: “We’re determined to bear down on this.” He said officers have noticed goods stolen from supermarkets being sold in corner shops, stating: “We’ve closed down lots of corner shops as a consequence.”
Sir Mark said: “I have challenged some parts of the retail sector to do better. Some of them don’t report anything.
“If we go there, don’t they don’t they don’t give us the CCTV of the crime, they won’t give us any statements. They don’t allow their staff to have time to do statements, and they don’t pay their staff to go to court to give evidence.
“And that for me is unacceptable.”
The Government has vowed to clamp down on shoplifting. It will do this by bulking up neighbourhood policing teams and tearing up Tory legislation which means thefts under £200 are less likely to result in prosecution.
In the year to September 2025, shoplifting offences increased by 5%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). There were 519,381 cases compared to 492,660 the previous year.
