Don’t turn blind eye to hungry shoplifters, police warned
A POLICE chief has been rebuked by a minister for suggesting that police officers should “use their discretion” when dealing with hungry shoplifters.
Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, accused new chief inspector of constabulary, Andy Cooke, of “old-fashioned thinking” for saying the cost-of-living crisis will lead to an increase in crime.
Mr Cooke had said there are “no two ways about” the impact of poverty leading to an increase in crime and that he fully supports officers using their discretion more often.
In an interview with The Guardian, Mr Cooke said he was not “giving a carte blanche for people to go out shoplifting”, but wanted officers to ensure cases were “dealt with in the best way possible”.
“Whenever you see an increase in the cost of living or whenever you see more people dropping into poverty, I think you’ll invariably see a rise in crime. And that’s going to be a challenge for policing to deal with,” he added.
On his advice for officers, Mr Cooke said: “What they’ve got to bear in mind is what is the best thing for the community, and that individual, in the way they deal with those issues.
“And I certainly fully support police officers using their discretion – and they need to use discretion more often.” Mr Malthouse, a minister across the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, told LBC radio in response to the comments: “I’m afraid I find it a bit old-fashioned thinking. We first of all believe the law should be blind and police officers should operate without fear or favour in prosecution of the law.”
Asked if ministers will ensure police do not turn a blind eye to shoplifters stealing food, he said: “Absolutely right. In fact I wrote to chief constables just a year or so ago saying they should not be ignoring those seemingly small crimes.
“And while I have the greatest respect for Andy Cooke, who was an outstanding police chief in Merseyside, I think his thinking is a bit old-fashioned.
“We don’t accept the connection between the welfare of the economy and crime. There’s times when the economy is going well and crime has risen and vice versa. But all of us need to be focused on driving crime down.”