Eagle-eyed shoppers help police catch family of thieves

“StationEry. With an "e". Jesus! Do journalists even have to go to school these days?”

“Hopefully the caution will have meant their details: fingerprints, dna etc. Have been retained so that if they are collared again they can be identified as repeat offenders and brought before the beak.”

“Walker, very illuminating commentary, thank you.”

“Walker100 - interesting points made.

Sadly, this is the situation now faced by the police, and the more savvy criminals will know this too, and may well use it to their advantage. Particularly those who aren't local, and are in fact foreigners (as is the case here), knowing that the resources aren't there to detain them, or (in more serious cases) deport them.

In which case, what do foreign criminals have to do to get more than just a caution (which they'll just ignore)?

And given the circumstances, what odds on the thieves having given false details, both in this incident in Stroud, and wherever else they've been collared whilst on their "holiday" over here? Usual form is for the police to detain if they can't identify a suspect (or don't believe the details they've been given), but with the restraints faced, I wonder if the instructions from higher up the ladder were to issue the caution, as the paperwork / time taken to arrest, hold and identify would have been too much?

I'm not criticizing the police at all, it's the system they have to work within that's the problem. But then we'd all have to pay a lot more in Council Tax to fund the additional resources needed, or otherwise the Government needs to make more money available on a national level for policing, which means more Income Tax for us all.”

“Whilst i kind of agree with Walker100 I have no respect for these people and the crimes committed should face the harshest possible sentance. I think we can all agree here that this was not the families first offence and we can probably guess that they probably do this for a living? Lets be realistic, this is not stealing food to feed a starving family is it!”

“While I share concerns about such outrageous behaviour being given just a caution there are unstated factors involved which may show the decision by the police in a different light.

Stroud police cells have now been closed. This means that miscreants have to be taken to Cheltenham or Gloucester. If the women involved are detained in cells it may be the case that the children involved have to be found emergency accommodation by Social Services. Further, transporting them to the cells would take two vehicles, a car for each, and two officers for each vehicle. There are about 6 officers on duty in Stroud. With 4 on transport the other two would be involved in obtaining statements. That's the entire force tied up as well as PCSOs supervising the children while awaiting the attendance of Social Services etc.

It may well be that the Sergeant on duty felt further action was necessary but he/she may have been overruled by a senior officer such as a Superintendent. The Senior Officer may have viewed the matter with an eye on the budget rather than as a purely criminal matter.

Further, if the matter was prosecuted in the courts they would have been bailed to appear at a later date. I would hazard a guess that they wouldn't surrender to bail. A trial would be held in their absence and the likely result for shoplifting offences would either be fines or a very short period of imprisonment if they had previous convictions.

Now, imagine the cost of extradition proceedings in such a matter....for shoplifting.

I believe these two were very clever and were aware of all of the above prior to their thieving spree.

Now, considering all of the above, what action would you have taken?”

“All they have to do is move county each week, and they can steal as much as they want...”

“Agreed. Clearly they've committed numerous separate offences here (and who knows how many more in other locations), yet they only get a caution. I'm willing to bet they've already committed further offences in another location.

An explanation from the police / CPS might be useful (but won't be forthcoming), to clarify why multiple incidents of theft apparently warrant nothing more than a few harsh words, which will most likely have absolutely no effect on the thieves.

I wonder how many other cautions these individuals have to their names???”

“Were they from a non static community and therefore given special treatment.
One law for them........”

“I may be wrong here, but if I were to nip into Tesco, and nick a shirt, I reckon I would be given more than a caution.
And plod wonders why we have lost all respect for them?”