A NEW website is aiming to help businesses deal with the plague of shoplifters, which is costing them and Australia millions.
A group of current and former NSW police officers - sick and tired of watching thieves escape punishment because of time demands on police - have taken action, creating a national anti-theft interactive website, the Mercury reported.
"We created www.whotube.com a few months ago so businesses can register and upload their CCTV footage directly on to the website,'' co-founder Karen Flint told the Mercury.
"The website is also set up to email notifications to businesses when another business in the same postcode posts footage of shoplifters, so they can be aware of what's happening nearby and be prepared if that person walks into their shop.''
The site is not about naming and shaming, she said.
"The focus is on preventing crime and preventing further losses," Ms Flint said.
Businesses cannot defame people depicted in footage posted in the accompanying description - by "convicting" them before they reach court - but they can legally describe them as people of interest in relation to a shoplifting incident and ask for information as to their identity.
As reported by the
Mercury yesterday, a Tasmanian supermarket is losing thousands of dollars a week to brazen meat thieves who go straight for the eye fillet - in bulk.
Island Markets, in Moonah, has installed 52 state-of-the-art cameras to try and deter - and catch - these often-repeat offenders.
Rocky and Ralph Caccavo have collated some of the footage they have captured showing shoplifters loading up prams and backpacks, and stuffing meat down their jumpers.
They intend to play the shocking clip instore as a warning to offenders and to gain further support from customers in helping identify and report shoplifters.
Businesses can register for whotube for free at www.whotube.com Posters are available to place in-store warnings to shoplifters that their images will be posted online.
