What could this be - shoplifting has increased in Latvia 0 10

An axiom - when the economy starts to falter, cases of shoplifting increase, and the profile of the offenders changes: they are no longer professional criminals, but random people (students, pensioners, the underprivileged) stealing out of hunger and hopelessness.

However, there is another group of thieves - teenagers seeking risky entertainment. The increase in thefts on their part indicates a different crisis: that of upbringing and education.

Kurzeme regional television made a whole report on this topic. "There are groups, there are young people who have started actively stealing energy drinks. If children go in groups - they are apparently interested in the thrill, first trying to see if someone is watching them," said Agnija Romanova, director of the Elvi Latvija store in Liepaja, on camera.

The favorite time for shoplifters is the second half of the day. It makes sense: the closer it gets to evening, the more tired and inattentive the security guards and cashiers become. Thieves are also most active during the pre-holiday period when they can take advantage of the crowded store.

The traditional items for theft are chocolate candies, alcohol, coffee, and cosmetics. Firstly, these are expensive items, and secondly, they are easier to hide on the body or in a bag.

But today, many thefts are also committed by deceiving self-service checkout machines. This is done as follows: buyers intentionally indicate a cheaper product on the screen. This trick, by the way, came to us from Britain, where it has already reached epidemic proportions. Six million Britons steal in stores this way (data for 2024, reported by Dailymail), with half of them not considering it a crime at all.

A large-scale anonymous survey showed that one in eight shoppers selects a cheaper item on the self-service checkout screen than the one they are actually buying. This is called the "banana trick" because shoppers most often pass off their item as the cheapest fruit or vegetable, thus paying only part of the price.

Additionally, 47% of Britons believe that it is acceptable to steal an item worth 1 pound in a store, and this would not be considered theft, while 26% are convinced that stealing something worth 10 pounds is also not considered theft. This means society has gone off the rails (in British stores, there are 50 thefts per hour), and it is very sad that these trends have come to us as well.

Returning to Latvia: our entrepreneurs do not want to disclose the volume of stolen goods and the extent of losses, so it is difficult to calculate them. However, the State Police notes that this year the number of thefts from retail outlets has significantly increased. If last year more than 19,000 thefts were solved over the entire year, this year in 11 months there have been 20,500. And this is still without data for December, as stated in the regional TV report.