Suspected shoplifters nabbed by social media campaign

Tracy Williams was sick of people with sticky fingers stealing from her store Preah Ko, which is situated in The Levee. 

“We had two thefts in one week,” Ms Williams said.

“They may as well take it out of my wallet that is how personal it is.

“I am not a big business, it comes straight out of my pocket.”

In one of the recent incidents an offender shoved several t-shirts down their pants and walked out of the store.

In a more brazen theft the offender simply walked out of the store with the item under their arm.

The store has CCTV and Ms Williams decided to make the footage public and used it to track down three shoplifters in the past week.

She posted the footage on Facebook and asked customers to name the ­offenders.

Within hours of the video going live on social media Ms Williams was able to hand the identity of the shoplifters to police.

“Everyone knows everyone in Maitland,” she said.

“I just want to thank everyone for all their support and help to catch these people.” 

But despite the win Ms Williams said shoplifting had become a big issue for High Street retailers.

“I have spoken with many retailers and they are sick of it,” she said.

“They had 21 coat hangers left empty in the baby section of Kmart the other day and that is a big store with security staff.

“Traders in The Levee are already doing it tough enough without this.”

Central Hunter acting crime manager Acting Detective Inspector Mitch Dubojski said he was not aware of an increase in shoplifting activity in the mall area but did encourage shop keepers to report any incidents.

“If there is information about any crime it is important to report it to police,” he said.

To report a crime contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.