Police chief's advice that the public should confront shoplifters is branded 'complete and utter idiocy' by former Scotland Yard expert who warns it will INCREASE crime
Matthew Barber, the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley said tackling thieves was not just a job for police and criticised onlookers for standing back and filming instances of crime.
Instead, he encouraged the public to stand up to thieves themselves and not rely on bobbies on the beat for help.
Mr Barber criticised the public for being 'part of the problem' and encouraged shop owners to to deal with thieves themselves.
But ex-New Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley has criticised Mr Barber's comments, calling them 'utter idiocy' and warning they could lead to more crime.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mr Bleksley said: 'The PCC has clearly not thought - it's complete and utter idiocy.
'We're living in an increasingly lawless Britain where shoplifting is getting more organised and retail staff are being assaulted and now the PCC wants normal members of the public to step in to the fray.
'All this will do is increase the likelihood of violence and crime.'
Ex-New Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley (pictured) criticised Mr Barber's comments, calling them 'utter idiocy' and warning they could lead to more crime - not less
He added that instead, trained police needed to be on the scene, ready to detain criminals and attend crime scenes.
'It's the police's responsibility, not the members of the public, it's for them to detain criminals and attend scenes of crimes.'
Mr Bleksley added that retail security staff should only intervene if they have been trained and to wade in otherwise could be dangerous.
'The shoplifting plague needs to be dealt with by the police who are trained and then by retail staff but only after they've been taught about restraint,' he said,
'It is absolutely not for the public to intervene. Members of the public are not trained in how to handle it, they don't know what reasonable force to use. It will just feed into the Wild West the UK has become in terms of shoplifting.
The former police officer added that he was concerned it would further encourage the public to involve themselves in vigilante crime fighting that could lead to injury, telling the Daily Mail: 'What does he want the public to do next? Does he want us to start tackling knife crime and burglars and car thefts?'.
At a meeting of the Thames Valley police and crime panel in June, the PCC said: 'If you've got someone in your store now stealing from you, call 999.
'Also ideally try and stop them leaving, don't just stand there and watch, which a lot of people do, which frustrates me.'
He added that he wasn't suggesting everybody 'take it upon themselves to rugby tackle' shoplifters but that everyone should take on the responsibility in their own communities.
Mr Barber then doubled down on his comments and said he was concerned that the UK had become a 'very poor society' with the public simply refusing to involve themselves in tackling crime.
He told The Telegraph: 'The idea that this is just a job for the police, citizens have no responsibility, put your head down, carry on, don't get involved, I think that makes for a very poor society.'
Mr Barber emphasised the public should not get involved in stopping a crime if it was dangerous and the police should be there but he suggested that it wasn't 'right' for passers-by to watch on and ignore crime if they see it.
Kemi Badenoch said that the public need to acknowledge that police officers can't be everywhere all the time and encouraged communities to come together and help.
The Conservative leader added that she would probably intervene if she witnessed a shoplifter because 'That is the sort of person I am'.
The comments come as the UK continues to battle a crimewave with shoplifters terrorising high streets across the country.
The number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales has passed half a million for the first time, figures show.
An astonishing 516,971 offences were logged by forces last year, up 20 per cent from 429,873 in 2023.
The figure is the highest since current police records began 22 year ago in 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
But rather than support the public in tackling the scourge, police are hitting out at business owners instead.
It comes after a shop owner was left stunned when police told him to change a sign outside his business calling shoplifters 'scumbags' because it may be offensive.
Rob Davies, 61, who runs the Run Ragged vintage shop in Wrexham, North Wales, installed the notice to tell shoppers some cabinets were locked against theft.
The hard-working retailer put it up after he caught five thieves red-handed in the last 12 months alone and lost roughly £200 of stock to shoplifting.
He felt the police did little to help when he reported the five thefts and so he gave up doing so, instead taking matters into his own hands to protect his small business.
His handmade note reads: 'Due to scumbags shoplifting, please ask for assistance to open cabinets.'
But to his surprise, after months of frustration with the police, officers turned up to the shop - though only to tell him to remove the sign.
On Monday it emerged that the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) warned that naming and shaming suspects could 'breach data protection'.
Asked if it was right to display images of thieves in shop windows, Labour MP Alex Davies-Jones told Radio 4's Today programme: 'What we do know is that shoplifting has got out of hand in the country.'
But she did not say whether she supported the public tackling the wave of shoplifting themselves.
On an advice page for tackling shoplifters, the ICO said stores 'must only share personal information that's proportionate and necessary to achieve your purpose'.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick called the advice 'madness' and suggested shoplifters should be 'named and shamed', slamming the red tape that it holding back shoplifters from being caught.
It comes as as Surrey Police tasked officers with going undercover to crack down on men catcalling female runners - by posing as joggers themselves.
Police sent two officers out running at rush hour to show the scale of harassment that women are facing.
'These behaviours may not be criminal offences in themselves, but they need to be addressed,' a spokesman for the force said about the patrols.
During the operation, plain clothes police officers, who were dressed in athletic jogging gear, headed to areas identified as 'harassment hotspots'.
Meanwhile, specialist units waited nearby to intervene at the first sign of abuse.
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