Safety should be the primary concern in any shoplifting detention at any retail store. Unless the employees are trained individuals and know the laws concerning detention of a shoplifter, employees should be very wary of the repercussions associated with stopping a shoplifter. Racial profiling is commonly used by retail stores to spot a shoplifter, and although it is extremely wrong and some stores have gotten sued because of it, the truth is you cannot spot a shoplifter by the way they look. According to the Seattle Police Department though, there are certain actions that are prevalent with a shoplifter: Nervousness, aimlessly walking around the store for long period of times, handling the merchandise, dropping the merchandise on the floor, etc., are some of these behaviors they display. Stress safety first with your employees at all times when stopping a shoplifter.
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Taking steps to prevent shoplifting
In early July, $3,000 in designer dresses, slacks and jackets were stolen from ADORE Designer Retail Boutique in Cary, one of Nancy Alinovi’s two consignment shops in the Triangle. She still feels sick about it.
“It’s just this feeling in your chest,” she said. “It’s not a victimless crime.”
Alinovi said it will be two months before everything returns to normal at the family-owned boutiques, which cut prices in order to stay afloat after the theft. Her experience shows the toll shoplifting takes on small businesses, where margins are small and business is personal.
There were 582 calls to the Raleigh Police Department regarding shoplifting in the past year, said Jim Sughrue, department spokesman. They run the gamut from family-run gas stations to department stores, he said.
According to a National Retail Federation’s security survey, shoplifting accounted for 38 percent of the $44 billion in retail inventory loss due to crime in 2014.
Theft rings use returns to fund operations
TILTON — Next time you let a sales receipt blow away in a store parking lot, you might unwittingly be helping an organized retail crime ring fund its drug operations.
Those rings, often from other states, collect those discarded receipts, go into that store, gather items on the receipt and then take them to the return counter to get handed cash, according to Tilton police detective Nathan Buffington.
“I can tell you of the (organized retail crime) cases that we’ve dealt with, I don’t think we’ve had any that in some way, shape or form that haven’t come back to narcotics, whether it be again to fund narcotic operations, to help profit, to expand,” Buffington said after speaking at a symposium on the subject at Tilton School on Friday.
These rings use a variety of techniques to steal billions from stores annually.
Return fraud alone cost stores $10.85 billion in 2014, according to the National Retail Federation.
The rings “have a list of the stores that carry those items” they’re targeting, according to Nancy Kyle, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Retail Association. The rings often travel north along the East Coast, she said.
Cumbria police collar children as young as four for crimes
Primary school children across south and west Cumbria – aged between five and nine – have also committed crimes but are too young to be prosecuted.
Assaults, criminal damage, burglary, theft and shoplifting are among the shocking offences carried out by children, figures have revealed.
Cumbria police said that it was vital they spoke to these young people when they are at their most “susceptible” and they “do not realise the consequences of their actions”.
Police say interaction with the children can help make them understand that they are heading down a path which “could lead them to have a criminal record which could have an impact on their life, all for something they did when they were a child”.
A Freedom of Information request revealed that there were 60 crimes committed by under-10s in south Cumbria and six in Copeland.
The age of the youngsters mean police were unable to bring charges as the age of criminal responsibility in England is 10, meaning under-10s have to be released without charge.
The most common crime committed was assault, with 37 offences. This was followed by criminal damage with 12 incidents and six counts of theft.
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