Crime Pays in Modern Britain
12th August 2025
In the UK today, it’s sometimes safer to be the criminal than the victim of crime.
Take the perplexing case of Rob Davies. In Wrexham, north Wales, the frustrated shopkeeper was told off by police for complaining about the scourge of thieves in the area. Davies, who runs a vintage clothing store, had resorted to displaying a sign in the shop window that read: “Due to scumbags shoplifting, please ask for assistance to open cabinets.” He explained to the Telegraph that, due to an increasing number of thefts, he was forced to lock away some of his goods. “Over the past year,” he said, “I have caught five people shoplifting. The first one I called the police and they handed the shirt back to me and let him go. Now I don’t bother reporting them and I have had to put locks on my cabinets.”
You might think the fact that local business owners are publicly lamenting growing lawlessness would prompt police into action. But Davies instead received a visit from North Wales Police, who told him to take his sign down in case branding shoplifters “scumbags” caused offence. Offence to who, exactly? Criminals? Davies said officers told him it was a member of the public who reported the sign. North Wales Police would later be forced to admit that calling criminals nasty names isn’t actually against the law.