TW
0

Dear Sir, the problem of supermarket theft is becoming so prevalent that most of your readers will know someone whose experience mirrors that described in “Victim of bag snatch twice in two months” Monday's edition.

A simple technological solution already exists on the island and should be installed forthwith.

The airport car park has an electronic policing machine at the entrance which registers matriculation plates and prints them on the ticket.

On leaving the car park the ticket is scrutinised and the car plates read again before the barrier goes up and the vehicle is allowed to proceed.

At a supermarket the same machines could be used to check up on each car arriving, is it stolen, is it a hire car overdue, has it been seen in dubious circumstances before, etc?

This would leave sufficient time to have shop security or get the Police on site to investigate and prevent the offending car passengers leaving.

The addition of an auxiliary camera at the exit to photograph and identify suspicious cars and their occupants would be a sufficient deterrent to drive all but the most desperate thieves away.

The Daily Bulletin could start up a public debate on the issue by asking the Supermarket owners to reply to this suggestion.

They must be losing business quite apart to wanting to be good citizens helping to cut down crime in general.

Doubts about cost have not deterred the Airport Authorities who have installed the machines to control parking charges of just a couple of hundred pesetas.

In terms of traffic delays the substantial through put at the airport is handled quickly.

Yours faithfully
Mike Lillico
Playa de Palma