There is a show on British television that highlights the actions of shoplifters. It is immensely popular and called “Secrets of the Shoplifters.”

The show focuses on local police forces efforts to crack down on store theft over the busy Christmas period.

Would it surprise you to know that the easiest way to reduce the number of instances of shop lifting was – unsurprisingly – to remove the 10 most prolific offenders from the street’s giving them nice warm beds in prison cells over the festive period.

Using a riot van and camera crew the show sets out to uncover the life of shoplifting on the streets. One of the most heavily featured thieves was Bruce Turner a former store detective turned shoplifter who despite claiming to know all the trade secrets so-to-speak was actually one of the worst crooks ever.

Turner spent much of the program toddling around the local shopping center half inching ridiculous items for no obvious reason. In fact not only did they catch him trying to slip shampoo into his coat’s breast pocket, but he was also spotted on camera nicking a bag of $3 tea lights, a crime that resulted in a 12 month suspended sentence.

Am I the only one who thinks this is a ridiculous show? Secrets of the Shoplifters is – if nothing else – a nice bit of entertainment but it doesn’t actually help the cause any by presenting these idiotic people as loveable rogues. All it does is show the world that it’s not that bad a life being a shoplifter and if you’re lucky you might even get on television for it. The producers should all be mandated to stop theft classes.