Met chief tells supermarkets: Don't sack 'public-spirited' staff who step in to tackle shoplifters
It comes after two employees from Morrisons and Waitrose were sacked after going after thieves in their stores
The Met Police's assistant commissioner Matt Twist has called on supermarket bosses to protect staff who tackle shoplifters instead of sacking them.
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Mr Twist told LBC that the police and public do not want to see people "losing their jobs for doing public-spirited things".
It comes after long-serving Morrisons manager Sean Egan was dismissed for tackling a repeat thief at a store in Aldridge, Walsall.
Weeks before that, Waitrose worker Walker Smith was let go after he tried to stop a shoplifter stealing Easter eggs.
Speaking on the matter to Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Mr Twist said: "So the cases are a matter for the individual stores and the retailers.
"We don't want to see people losing their jobs for doing public-spirited things, and acting as we would hope other members of the public would equally.
"I understand why retailers don't want their staff to put themselves at risk, so I think it's a fine balance."
Quizzed specifically on the Morrisons case, the assistant commissioner said: "He's preventing crime. He's acting as a public-spirited sort of citizen.
"My advice, though, is call 999, tell the police the crime is happening now, tell them you know who it is, that they were repeat offenders."
Mr Egan was dismissed on the grounds he didn’t follow the company’s "deter-and-not-detain policy".
He said: "As part of the policy for me as the store manager, it is to escort him out the premises yet as I was doing so he was very aggressive and spitting at me."
A Morrisons spokesperson said in response that the store has "very clear guidance, procedures and controls in place to protect our colleagues and customers from the risk of harm, which must be strictly followed".
It comes after the Met trialled a new retail crime reporting technology designed to identify suspects more quickly in wider efforts to tackle shoplifting.
The technology has been piloted in Lewisham and central London since January and allows retailers to submit reports and CCTV footage instantly.
Asked by Nick when the scheme will be expanded to further afield across the city, Mr Twist said: "We're trying to do it now so it's a case of the more retailers we can get on online platforms to report this, the better.
"We've seen some fantastic results already in terms of our positive outcomes going up in southeast London.
Mr Twist also quashed the "myth" that the force isn't interested in tackling shoplifting reports unless the value of the goods is over £250.
He told Nick: "That's complete nonsense. There have been different moments in time where people have said £200 or £250.
"There's a good example where we were dealing with a food retailer and what started off with the theft of sort of a sausage roll ended up with sort of 60, 70, 80 offences.
"We prosecute people for it because we know that it's, you know, we know that it's causing concern and we know that."
He added: "If we prosecute someone for one sausage roll or one very small amount, then we know the criminal justice system isn't going to sort of resolve it successfully.
"But if we get sort of numerous offences that we package up together, then we're getting some really good sentences."