"WE'RE WATCHING YOU.
This store is working with police/other retailers to identify thieves."
Let's talk this through. It's not unusual to have information signs up in different languages where there's a large foreign speaking minority who will see them. When you catch the ferry to Calais there are safety signs up in English, French, German, Dutch and Polish. It's the whole reason the international system of road signs was designed: so that essential information doesn't have to be translated into multiple languages. If you can't use a symbol though, I've absolutely no problem with this: it's unquestionably sensible.
Let's see whether Tesco thinks it's a good idea to provide essential information for the convenience of its Polish customers. There are signs up for "Parent Parking", "Reycling", "Customer Service" and "Toilets" in and around the Diss store. All of them are in English. Not one of them is translated into anything. There are all the special offers, the "Every Little Counts" advertising slogan - all of it in English. There are even signs setting out rules, such as saying you can only park for 2 hours there - but they're only in English too. Nope, the only sign they've bothered to put into Polish is the "WE'RE WATCHING YOU" one.
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| Tesco Diss. You're welcome, if you're not Polish |
Is there a corresponding DO NOT STEAL sign in English? Yes, there is. It's to one side and I had to look for it. It was the Polish one that caught my eye. It's right in your face where you walk in. I tweeted Tesco about the issue on 19 July. They said they understood why I thought it was wrong and said they'd speak to the branch manager. Just to be clear, I've no problem with a sign in English. Every other sign in the store is in English and it is the language of this country. I doesn't single any particular national group out as being potential thieves.
The net result of this intervention is that a Latvian sign has now appeared too. If you're in any doubt which nationalities are being singled out as being potential criminals, they've neatly written the language on the back so we're all aware. How thoughtful. Lovely handwriting too.
What's more - it gets better - since my complaint they've added a SECOND "We're watching you" sign in Polish and it's double size. It has absolute pride of place in the store: it's impossible to enter without seeing it. Look here on the central door that closes and opens. The single English one is to its right on the fixed panel on the side.
Why is this so offensive? Well clearly two nationalities are being singled out as being suspected of potential criminal activity. They are being greeted in a sign in their own language (a rarity in this country) that tells them they're being watched. Polish families with children entering might be delighted to see their own language, only to realise they're being told that Tesco regards them as potential thieves. Welcome to Britain. Welcome to Tesco.
What's next - "DO NOT STEAL" signs in Romani to fulfill another nasty, negative racial stereotype?
Local Poles
Perhaps Tesco has a major problem with this demographic locally. I seriously doubted it, even before I had a delve into the official statistics.
The last census revealed just 1.1% of the population of the whole of the East of England region was born in Poland. Lithuania registers at 0.3% of the population and Latvia is so small as to not even make the top 15 table. Together there are more people born in Germany and the US in the region than there are Poles. In addition, the bigger Polish speaking communities are not in this part of Suffolk/Norfolk, but up in places closer to the Lincolnshire border. The only Poles I've personally ever come across in this area are the phenomenally hard-working local hand car wash guys, who have put up a large England flag to try to fit in.
What we do have locally is another fellow EU community: the Portuguese of Thetford. Wikipedia comments : "During the late 1990s, a slow trickle of Portuguese immigrants started to arrive in the town of Thetford, East Anglia. By 2004, the media were suggesting that there may be as many as 6,000 Portuguese-speakers in the Thetford area, where there are many Portuguese cafés, restaurants, delicatessens, etc. This figure would represent around 30% of the local population."
I note there is no "WE ARE WATCHING YOU" sign in Portuguese in the store, if this is all simply about providing information signs for second-language speakers.
Might there be justification?
However, what if the miniscule Polish and Latvian communities are however single-handed and disproportionately responsible for a outbreak of shoplifting in this area?
Well, let's look at the national crime statistics for the area. It seems that the East of England has one of the lowest regional crime rates in the entire country. Life expectancy is among the highest in the UK and regional unemployment is one of the lowest. My local village newsletter recorded a total of four crimes dealt with by the police in the whole of the last month. FOUR. It's not exactly the Bronx round here.
Okay, I don't live in the metropolis of Diss (5000 inhabitants!) so let's see their exact local crime figures based on Tesco's postcode. Here we have it - a total of 82 crimes reported in May 2014. One third were anti-social crimes (31.7%) and one fifth (20.7%) were domestic burglaries. Shoplifting made up 3.6% of the total for last month: a grand total of 3 reported instances of it. Bear in mind there are three supermarkets close to one another that total is split between: Tesco, Coop/Somerfield and Morrisons.
Moreover, even if there were a major problem with shoplifting that was borne out by figures, and these criminals were proven to belong to one or two national groups, it still absolutely wouldn't be appropriate to single them out in this way. Hire more security staff, but do not label all the other members of the group as potential criminals to the world at large in this way. It's the equivalent of saying that because you've had a problem with certain individuals, you're okay labelling every one of them by shoving up the "no Irish, no Blacks, no Dogs" signs of yesteryear. Several, or even many members of a particular societal group might objectively give you problems, but in 2014 it is just not acceptable to go on to label all members of that group with a highly negative label because of this. There's a simple name for it: racism.
And here we all are wondering how UKIP manages to persuade people the country is sinking under the weight of criminal East European immigrants. I'm a lawyer who bothered to check up on what the actual local statistics are. I wonder how many other people will just see the sign and just assume there must be a Polish crime wave locally because the sign is there. It's inflammatory and perpetuates a slur against a national group (actually, two national groups in this case). It's racial stereotyping, it breeds prejudice, and it's inherently wrong.
Shame on Tesco
Shame on you Tesco Diss. Shame on you Tesco nationally for not stopping this.
Aside from the moral position, you've also not thought for a moment how this will offend and piss of not just law abiding Polish and Latvian customers but everyone else too. This is idiotically avoidable bad PR that your business should be seeking to avoid. Instead, after a complaint, you've decided to make the situation worse.
* A couple of people have questioned whether it's possible to be "racist" towards Poles. Simple answer, yes. At the highest level, national origins are expressly covered in the 1966 United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In terms of UK legislation, the definition of a racial group is "A group of persons defined by reference to race, colour, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origins." If you want an example of the legislation applying in an anti-Polish case of May 2014, please see here.
