Moment suspected shoplifter hides in shopping bag to evade arrest (Image: Herts Police)
A suspected shoplifter hid under a shopping bag in an “interesting” attempt to evade arrest. Bodycam footage showed the moment police officers found a man hiding under a duvet with an orange bag over his head as he tried to hide from Hertfordshire Police.
The force said it had witnessed some interesting attempts to avoid arrest in the past, but this signature style was a first. Sharing the video, the force wrote: “When life gets intense… go incognito. But we still find you. We’ve seen some interesting attempts to avoid detection over the years. Putting a bag over your head can now be added to that list. Wanted man arrested in St Albans.”
The police officer found a person hiding under a bag (Image: Herts Police)
“Public service announcement: Please don’t put a bag over your head when hiding from us. It’s not safe (just in case you were thinking about it).”
The video shows an officer asking a woman at the door whether the suspect was inside. The woman responded “no”, but the officer entered the property asking: “Can we come and have a look? Has he been around here at all?”
The officer searches the house and finds a man on a bed, hidden beneath a pile of covers.
“How are you, mate?” the officer asked while laughing, before removing the bag and stating: “Keep your hands where I can see them.”
Hertfordshire is aiming to clamp down on theft as the UK battles what some deem a shoplifting epidemic. The area has launched a shoplifter alert system, ShopSafeAlert, to share information about suspects across Bishop’s Stortford, St Albans, Welwyn Garden City, and Stevenage, so stores can spot repeat offenders.
Police said this method was a first (Image: Herts Police)
Jonathan Ash-Edwards, the police and crime commissioner for Hertfordshire, said: “I’m determined that we turn the tide on retail crime in Hertfordshire.
“It is not a victimless crime; it impacts hard-working retail staff, hurts independent businesses and means we all pay more as consumers.”
ONS statistics showed that shoplifting offences declined by 1% to 509,566 across the UK in the year ending December 2025.
However, Lucy Whing, Crime Policy Adviser at the British Retail Consortium, said their own figures showed 5.5million detected incidents of theft last year, adding that ONS figures “likely underestimate the issue, as it only captures reported incidents”. She said retail theft is a “significant challenge for retailers”.
