Police with a heart

Britain. Food Bank.

Police going easy on mothers who steal food 'simply to live' | Mail Online:

County Durham Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Ron Hogg said the increase of such incidents is 'very concerning'.

'What we are beginning to see is an increasing element of crime because people are struggling to make ends meet,' he told local authorities in Darlington, County Durham.

'We don’t charge them, we don’t want them to go to court. We help them get through their difficulties,' the Mirror reports.

'This prevents them going to prison and it prevents their children going into care. I think it is a sensible way to help what are fundamentally decent people in difficult times.'

In the UK, food theft has increased in the past year due to huge pressure on family finances, with products such as cheese and meat among the most stolen items according to the 2012-13 Global Retail Theft Barometer.

Starving children stealing food to survive as crisis in Britain deepens - Mirror Online:

In Islington, North London, police caught children shoplifting essentials such as bread. Officers issued the youngsters with vouchers to use at food banks.

Chris Mould, of the Trussell Trust which runs 250 food banks nationwide, said: “It doesn’t surprise me at all. We are dealing with genuine crisis.

“One third of people helped by food banks are children. It is a serious issue when such large numbers of people are living in households where they are not getting regular meals.”