“KICKING, punching, shouting and making a scene in the store, throwing things at them [staff] – I mean it’s simply out of control.” ( RTÉ Prime Time.)
That’s one convenience store owner’s description of life for those working in stores all over the south.
Shane Gleeson is a fourth generation of the Gleeson family running five shops in Limerick over the past sixty years. “I’ve had a bottle of wine broken and been threatened with the broken glass. I’ve had guys with needles, my son was threatened with a knife. We have four or five incidents each day of people trying to steal.”
If they were to report all that happened to the Gardaí, they’d get no work done. And it would be tying up the police. Besides, the majority of those who shoplift, Mr Gleeson says, aren’t worried about being arrested – they’re generally released within an hour or two.
“I’ll wait for you outside, I will follow you home, I will kill you, I will burn you out” – those are the sort of threats Gleeson and his staff endure. He has no quarrel with the Gardaí. When his son was threatened with a needle and the alarm button was pressed, the Gardaí were there inside a minute and a half.
In Ballina, two sisters run a convenience store. They find it very frustrating. “Oh, they’re very good at wearing their Covid masks,” one of the sisters says. That way they’re anonymous. I heard the word ‘feral’ used and it does encapsulate their attitude.”
The problem is not with the Gardaí, it’s with the legal system. If offenders are given a jail sentence, they’ll be put in over-crowded cells and when they come out they won’t really have changed, or if they are, it’s for the worse.
Then there’s the trick of lifting something, concealing it and then leaving it back. “You’re after accusing me of stealing!” they then shout at the store staff. Next you know, a lawyer’s letter is received and the store finds itself handing over €1,000 so the young thief doesn’t sue them.
Vincent Jennings is the CEO of a chain of convenience stores and newspaper shops in the south. What would he recommend? “Zero tolerance – a much stronger fist with these feral youngsters." As things stand, they’ll rarely go to prison. Instead it’ll be “a slap on the wrist” and next you know, they’re back in the store to resume their robbing.
This was a sensible and shocking look at what some people must endure in their everyday lives. But while the crimes committed were vividly presented, Prime Time left no room for discussion of what needs to be done. C’mon, RTÉ – don’t stop with painting the chilling crime picture. Give us people who can offer solutions for the crime.
