Cagey store owner takes a bite out of crime

by Celia Barnes

The suspects can choose between waiting in a cage on public display while the police are called or they can have their identification photocopied and hung on the supermarket wallA supermarket owner in the northeastern town of Zambrów has taken the law into his own hands in his fight against shoplifters.
Two years ago, Eugeniusz Kaczyński, the owner of Zambrów's biggest supermarket, came up with a novel way to thwart suspected shoplifters: He gives them the option of choosing how they would like to be punished. But it's really a case of Hobson's choice because either way guarantees humiliation. The suspects can choose between waiting in a cage on public display while the police are called. Or, instead of calling the police, they can have their identification photocopied and hung on the supermarket wall, along with the appropriate caption such as "fancier of unpaid chocolate" or "attracted to shoes that don't belong to him."
"Of course we blur the name and the personal details on the photo," Kaczyński said.
But in a town of less than 20,000 people, Kaczyński said "everyone knows everybody, so I've found these methods extremely effective."Kaczyński was recently interviewed on Radio Białystok about his unorthodox crime control methods. Following the interview, he received 42 phone calls in half an hour. Only two of the callers criticized him.
"Others called me with suggestions, like cutting off the thieves' fingers," he said.
Kaczyński could also receive another call from the government's civil rights‘ office. A spokesman there said Kaczyński's actions appear to be a violation of this country's strict civil rights laws, as well as a breach of the Act on Security of Personal Data.
Not all supermarkets subscribe to Kaczyński's methods.A spokesperson from Tesco Polska said there is "no way we would use those sorts of ‘customer-orientated techniques'" with suspected shoplifters. Every week, about 1 million customers shop at Tesco's 14 hypermarkets in Poland. A suspected 300 shoplifters are apprehended each week, either after being caught on security film or being spotted by in-store detectives.
Following strict in-store protocol, the police are always called and if the suspect is found to possess more than zł. 250 worth of stolen goods, they are charged with theft. Anything less, they are released with a warning.
"And we see these same people back in our stores the next day," said the Tesco spokesman. He added that the incidence of shoplifting is much higher in areas where there is high unemployment.Kaczyński has his own protocol: He gets his suspects to sign a written permission form before he locks them in the cage or displays their ID. Children under 10 are not permitted in the shop ("Because the child could have lifted the money from his parents' purse," he said) and older people are asked to pay for what they have taken out of the shop.
As for minors he suspects of shoplifting, Kaczyński gives them three alternatives: he can either go to their school with them, call their parents or call the police.
"They tend to choose the police because it's the least burdensome for them," he said.