about a spate of incidents, the Force called on moms and dads to make sure children understood shoplifting was stealing and a serious offence.

Five children were detained by a security guard at the Phoenix Centre on Reid Street on Tuesday after they allegedly tried to leave without paying for goods.

In one case a nine-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy were involved, and another case concerned two 14-year-olds and a 15-year-old.

Last week there were also several incidents, said Police spokesman P.c. Gary Venning.

Goods allegedly stolen included baseball cards, a plastic dart gun and a toy car.

"Very often kids don't consider shoplifting to be stealing,'' said P.c.

Venning. "They consider it to be fair game.

"The message we need to get over to these kids is that it is stealing and it is considered a very serious offence.

"There are quite a lot of kids that tend to occupy these toy shops and things unsupervised, and who knows what they are up to.

"Maybe it's a good idea for young kids not to go around these places unsupervised.'' Younger children guilty of shoplifting were often cautioned, he said. "You don't want to try to give a kid a criminal record at an early age if it can be avoided.'' But older ones could face criminal proceedings, especially if they were making shoplifting a habit.