Leader: ‘Say cheese’ for the security cameras
It is a figure conjuring up images of disappearing fur coats, vanishing shoes, the silent disappearance of electronic equipment from iPads to BlackBerrys and top-range wines and spirits brands going walkies. But instead, a survey finds that the most popular item targeted by a cash-strapped population is … cheese. When it comes to high crime on the high street, we are but furtive nibbling mice.
Shoplifting is a serious crime and is to be abhorred. But given the explosion in the value and range of goods sold by retailers, the cheese-nibbling should be kept in perspective. Better store security, plastic casing and electronic tagging have done much to curb theft of more expensive items such as clothes, housewares and electrical equipment. This leaves food items in those vast impersonal superstores as one of the few areas where pilfering is not immediately detected. But even this may change as inflation drives up the cost of even the most modest item. After today’s survey, what new sophisticated anti-theft device can we now expect – a flashing electronic mousetrap on every little triangle of Dairylea cheese spread?