Shops warned putting shoplifters’ photos in windows breaches data laws

Shopkeepers have been warned putting shoplifters’ pictures in their windows risks breaching data protection.

It comes days after a business owner was told by police to remove a sign calling thieves ‘scumbags’.

Now the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) suggested the practice ‘may not be appropriate’ behaviour.

On an advice page for tackling shoplifters, the watchdog said stores ‘must only share personal information that’s proportionate and necessary to achieve your purpose’.

In response, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick told The Telegraph: ‘Shoplifters should be named and publicly shamed.’

He added that the recommendation was ‘data protection gone mad’.

Richard Tice, Reform UK leader, said: ‘We should be letting the general public know of the photographs of people who have a track record of stealing in towns.

‘This highlights the complete insanity of GDPR which is damaging to healthcare, it’s damaging to law and order. It’s damaging to businesses and our economy.’ 

He claimed that the suggestion was siding with thieves over shopkeepers, who should be able to decide who enters their premises.

Shadow home office minister Katie Lam recounted a story on X about a constituent who had been ordered by police to remove pictures of suspected shoplifters. 

The ICO, a non-departmental body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, added in a blog post from 2023 that thefts could be tackled using data protection laws but only ‘as long as it’s necessary and proportionate’.

In lieu of posting photos of suspected thieves, the body suggests retailers share details of the shoplifters with police or any information they may have about the incident with another store nearby.

It also said that sharing photos on messaging platforms had the potential to be similarly inappropriate. 

Daily Mail has approached the ICO for comment. 

Last week, it was revealed that a defiant shopkeeper who was told by police to remove a shoplifting sign in case it caused offence was planning to put up an even bigger one.

Police caused a free-speech row when they turned up at Rob Davis’s vintage store in North Wales and told him to take down a handwritten sign that referred to shoplifters as ‘scum bags’.

They told him they had received a complaint about the notice, which stated: ‘Due to scum bags shoplifting please ask for assistance to open cabinets.’

But Mr Davis, who says he was driven to put it up on his shop door because of escalating shoplifting in Wrexham, told The Mail on Sunday that he had no intention of taking it down.

He added: ‘The sign is staying – and I may even get a bigger one.

‘It’s a simple point, in my opinion, and succinctly put, and can’t cause offence apart from to anyone intending to steal from me.

‘I was even polite and put “Thank you” on the bottom.’

Mr Davis, 59, said he put it up a month ago in frustration after discovering that he was losing almost his entire monthly profit because of thieves – but was astonished to then get a visit from the police.

He said: ‘A police officer and PCSO came in. They said the sign was provocative and potentially offensive.

‘When I asked, ‘Why, who it could be offensive to?’ the officer didn’t answer. The only person who can be offended by the words ‘scum bag’ is a scum bag who wants to steal from me!’

Mr Davis said he had received overwhelming support from fellow shopkeepers in the face of a tidal wave of theft in the town.

‘There’s been massive support everywhere since the sign went up,’ he added. ‘Shopkeepers are all in the same boat; everyone is having stuff stolen, even cafes.’

He began locking goods in cabinets after he said police failed to deal with earlier shoplifting incidents.

He added: ‘Over the past year I have caught five people shoplifting. After the first, I called the police. They handed the stolen shirt to me and let the shoplifter go. Now I don’t bother reporting them. Almost every day I get shoplifting.’

He said that after putting out 30 sets of fishnet stockings, 20 were taken, adding: ‘Theft has definitely got worse.

‘If you are £200 down because of shoplifting that might be my profit for the whole month.’

Mr Davis said retailers in the town were facing a number of prolific shoplifters and criticised police efforts to tackle them.

‘I pay two lots of rates, business and residential, and part goes to policing. I’m not getting the service I’m paying for.

‘If I had a builder and he didn’t provide the service properly, I wouldn’t pay.’

He urged police: ‘Just do the job you are there for. You are a public service. You don’t need to be coming here telling me anything unless I am doing something wrong, otherwise leave me alone.’

North Wales Police said: ‘All reports of shoplifting are taken extremely seriously. We are committed to combatting retail theft.’

Shoplifting figures released this week by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed just 2.5 per cent of offences were recorded by the police each year.

It said 50,000 shoplifting incidents go unreported every day as firms give up on the police.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: ‘Many retailers do not see the point of reporting incidents to the police.’