Memoirs of a store detective

This is a true account of Christine Smith's work as a store detective in the 1960s and 1970s.

There had been a revolution in shopping, and now people could wander unaccompanied around large department stores, handling the goods and taking things to be paid for at the counter.

It was now all too easy for shoppers to slip things unnoticed into their own bags or pockets and leave without paying. Or so many people thought. In the street outside they were likely to feel their arm caught in Mrs Smith's grip.

They would then be politely but firmly compelled to return with her to the manager's office to face the consequences of their thievery.