A Jesmond shop owner has become so frustrated with local police inaction he has started naming and shaming online the shoplifters who allegedly target his business.

Peter Vedhara, who owns R&K’s convenience store on Cavendish Road, told JesmondLocal he has been forced to take this drastic action after becoming exasperated by the police attitude and has even stopped reporting the thefts.

Vedhara explained: “I believe naming and shaming is more effective because the internet is a tool in this day and age and so as soon as somebody takes something we put their face on the internet and we’ll show the evidence. I don’t bother [reporting thefts], the police are not interested.”

He says other shopkeepers are facing similar problems and added: “Yes, shop keepers in other areas have got issues as well, it’s the way of the world I suppose. The other thing we can do is keep an eye open, if someone tries to take something we grab them, we just want our stuff back.”

JersmondLocal understands that local police dismiss the view they are not proactive when a crime is reported and are unaware of problems affecting specific shopkeepers. The police believe CCTV footage should not be released until it has been circulated internally within the police.

Home Office figures published in 2022 show just one in six (16.8%) shoplifting offences reported to UK police result in a charge, nearly half the rate of 30.8% five years ago. The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman has called for a crackdown on all crimes and has urged police across the country to respond to all 999 reports.

Another Jesmond local shop owner, who asked for anonymity to speak freely, said: ”The police are a total waste of time. They don’t prosecute people, they think it’s a waste of time for 50p, £1 or £10, it doesn’t matter what the item is. There should be fixed penalties, that would be one solution”.

However, not all Jesmond shop owners are reporting problems. Gursahib Singh, who recently took over the Clayton Convenience store, said: “It’s a really peaceful area with some good local people and students around this area. We’ve had no trouble at all.”

Jules B Menswear on Acorn Road has not experienced any shoplifting since the summer when they had one incident. The store manager, who declined to share her name, said there were real benefits of having employees on each of the floors at all times and CCTV covering every area of the shop.

She added: “We did report the summer incident to the police and they came and got the camera footage. There wasn’t much they could do as they didn’t know the person that actually did it, but once they started looking, they found that the same team had hit another department store in Morpeth, that’s how it started getting around.”

Vedhara claims there are other examples of crime problems in his area and said that it took police four days to respond to a break in at Francesca’s restaurant, across the road from R&K’s, even though the incident was caught on CCTV. 

“The restaurant got broken into and the police came after four days to sort it out, and they had it on CCTV,“ he said. “I told [Francesca’s] that they should just put it onto the internet, simple as that. But, the police are overstretched, what can they do? I think a lot of small businesses are going to suffer as times get harder.”

Responding to the burglary at Francesca’s, a Northumbria Police spokesperson said: “Shortly before 10.25am on Sunday, September 25, police received a report of burglary at Pizzeria Francesca on Manor House Road. It was reported that offenders had forced entry to the premises at around 11.30pm on Friday, September 23 and stolen an empty till, before leaving the area.

“Anyone with information which could assist is asked to get in touch with police using the ‘Tell Us Something’ page on our website quoting crime number 113429B/22.”