Galway is the first city in Ireland to use a new technology to fight the scourge of shoplifting.
Shoplifting in towns, cities and villages around the country is no longer a minor irritant. It has become a crime epidemic estimated to cost businesses £60 million a year. Director of the Galway Chamber of Commerce Jarlath Feeney believes this figure is conservative.
Director of O'Connors of Galway Ray O'Connor recognises shoplifting is a huge problem nationwide. Where it was once it was the preserve of the petty thief,
Now we're into the professionals.
Another problem demographic is light fingered school students. Gary Hartman of The Body Shop in Galway explains they are in the process of contacting the local schools to advise teachers,
Their pupils are shoplifting in our shops on a regular basis.
In a move to tackle shoplifting, 100 Galway city centre stores are participating in a new technology scheme. These outlets are linked to an experimental system called Crime Page. Each store is installed with a pager supplied by Sigma Wireless, the Motorola distributor in Ireland.
When a shopkeeper notices suspicious activity or theft, a telephone call is made to a central bureau. A warning message is then transferred simultaneously to the pagers in each shop. This means the relevant information is available to everyone as fast as the information is received by the central office.
Fergus Foley of The Blue Cloak and Focus, a group of city centre retailers, explains the pager system gives instant access to any information regarding security. He hopes the network will expand so Galway retailers who will be informed about criminals advancing from other parts of the country.
Catherine Tiernan of Eire Communications believes this problem will be combatted through a nationwide business watch scheme.
The new alert system is also linked directly to the headquarters of An Garda Síochána in Galway. Chief Superintendent Tom Monaghan says it is working well so far. However, shopkeepers are frustrated with the so-called revolving door of the prison system. Ray O'Connor recalls the time one shoplifter took £5000 worth of audiovisual equipment in the space of an hour. A week later this person was found shoplifting in Dún Laoghaire.
This episode of 'Nationwide’ was broadcast on 25 April 1994. The reporter is Jim Fahy. The presenter is Michael Ryan.
