Shoplifting is far from a victimless crime. It hurts businesses, which must grapple with higher costs as well as shoppers, who absorb the resulting higher prices. And when theft becomes pervasive, it gives an impression of lawlessness which is corrosive to the public good.
It is therefore welcome, if not also long overdue, that 10 of Britain’s largest retailers are coming together to fund a new police operation to crack down on shoplifting, as part of a wider effort to show zero tolerance towards this brazen crime. The partnership, Project Pegasus, will see the police process CCTV images of an offender through the national database, which includes facial recognition technology.
