The police must work harder to regain public trust
This sense will not be helped by police chiefs appealing to the public to do their jobs for them. Matthew Barber, Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley, insists that 'there's a bigger problem with society' and that those unwilling to 'try and stop' thieves are themselves 'part of the problem'. This stance sits poorly next to the treatment meted out by the criminal justice system to those who do attempt to intervene.
Public-spirited citizens who intervene and attempt to detain thieves and worse can find themselves raked through the coals, with the state using the tools at its disposal to emphasise that enforcing the law – or choosing not to – is a matter of its discretion, not yours.
This has rendered the population powerless to protect itself, while the police refuse to protect us. People do respond to incentives and the incentives this offers are straightforward. As a result, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed last month that shoplifting offences were at their highest since current figures began in 2003.
Correcting this sorry state of affairs does not begin with more members of the public putting themselves at physical risk. It begins with the police doing the work we pay them to do.
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