Preventing Shoplifting This Holiday Season

December 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment

theft (4)

By now the holiday season has been in full force for a few weeks, and the stress your management team, employees and security personnel are feeling is a bit overwhelming.  Shoplifters during the holiday season are abundant, and police and retailers try to be more vigilant and proactive by implementing security measures during this time than at any other time of the year.  Follow the links below for more information about this and other topics.

Police step up efforts for holiday crime

As the holiday season gets under way, local police are gearing up for the all-too-predictable spike in property crime.

Hanford police Capt. Pat Crowe said officers will be stepping up their game over the next few weeks to deter vehicle burglaries, robberies and other crimes typical of this time of year.

“Every [patrol] shift was tasked with coming up with their own holiday project,” Crowe said.

Crowe said those projects include probation and parole sweeps focusing on individuals with known histories of gang activity, drug-related offenses and property crimes. Foot patrols and motorcycle units will also increase their presence at the Hanford Mall and other major shopping centers.

“Our main focus is to be visible and hopefully deter criminals from doing what they’re going to do,” Crowe said.

Lemoore Police Chief Darrell Smith said each of his department’s patrol shifts also devised a plan to tackle holiday crime. The result was a number of special operations that will unfold through New Year’s Eve.

Police offer tips to stay safe during holidays

If you’re tempted to share your holiday plans or photographs of Christmas loot on social media, local law enforcement officials want you to think twice.

“We live in an age where people put so much information out there about themselves,” said Cindy Kozerow, crime prevention specialist with the Lynchburg Police Department.

“Do not announce on Facebook, ‘Hey, we’re going to grandma’s for the holidays,’ because what that says is ‘Hey, my house is empty, so come and steal my stuff.’”

She explained how the holidays present a unique opportunity for thieves looking to capitalize on people’s good will and sense of safety in their own homes.

Checking in at stores on social media pages or opening window curtains at night to show off decorations lets potential thieves know when your home is empty, and gives them a glimpse of goods stashed under your Christmas tree.

‘Shoplifting Season’ for local businesses

Rogue River, Ore — The holiday shopping season can mean trouble for local businesses as big crowds come in but some say they’re sick and tired of getting ripped off. Sometimes it’s as simple as a Facebook post.

In Rogue River the police are working with one local business to make sure their products stay on the shelves and don’t fall into the hands of thieves.

“We’re a small store, and it really hurts us,” said Justin Norris.

At Rogue River Pharmacy and variety store shoplifting is something assistant manager Justin Norris has to deal with far too often.

“Lately we’ve had a problem with people from out of town coming in and shoplifting,” said Norris.

Rogue River police are looking to put an end to it by posting pictures online of suspected shoplifters and suspicious persons, one of whom confronted a uniformed police officer before leaving empty handed Tuesday.

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Shoplifter Quick Tips

December 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Sshoplifting1ince you are in the middle of your Christmas selling season and do not have much spare time I wanted to give you a very brief list of important shoplifting prevention tips:

  • Impulse, amateur and professional shoplifters are all deterred by customer service. If you suspect shoplifting, pour on the customer service. They will get the message.
  • Shoplifters tend to hit when you are busy and not paying attention. Do not give them the opportunity, they will exploit it.
  • Some shoplifters work in teams. One person will distract as many of your staff as they can allowing their partners time to steal.
  • Greet EVERYONE who enters your store! Well, established studies have shown that a solid verbal greeting such as “Welcome to XXXX” WITH brief eye contact will deter most impulse shoplifters.
  • If you see or suspect a person has concealed your merchandise, customer service them “to death”. Try one of these:
    • “May I help you?”
    • “Can I show you a _____________ to go with (concealed item)”?
    • “Can I hold (concealed item) for you at the register?”
    • “Will this be a charge or cash sale?” 
    • “May I ring this purchase for you?”   
  • At checkout EVERY CUSTOMER should be asked, “Is there anything else”. There are 2 very good reasons for this question:
    • Legitimate customers may remember an item they forgot. Can you say “add on” sale!?!
    • Impulse and amateur shoplifters may feel anxious or guilty about what they have done. Or they may fear that you know or saw them and produce a concealed item.

I hope this helps you this season. Please let us know, if we can assist you. FYI Checkpoint Systems has just released the new N10 EAS system that fits on your door frame. We have it! It is an awesome system at an awesome price.

Happy Holidays!

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HOW SECURE IS YOUR BACKDOOR

December 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment

LPSI EVOLVE-Store Mobile AppWhere are you losing the most to employee theft? Is it cash through the point of sale, bogus invoices, or fraudulent discounts? If you’re like most retailer stores, it’s more than likely a little bit of each. One area that is so often overlooked is our back doors. If not properly controlled, you can lose tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise before it even hits your sales floor.

Just this past year, I worked a case in one of my high shrink stores. The managers were reported huge losses in electronics items and hunting accessories. After an investigation was conducted, we were able to determine that the product had never made it to the shelves. After a few days of surveillance, it was clear that a handful of receiving associates were operating their own small business. Product was simply taken off the truck and taken right out the back doors.

Just a few months ago another store was missing approximately 10,000 units of ammunition. We tracked this shipment from our warehouse, where we had video of it leaving the dock, as well as video of the merchandise being unloaded at the store. Video also showed a receiving employee wheel it out the back door on a pallet and load it into his personal vehicle.

I could sit here for hours recalling case after case, where employees exploited physical security failures around our back doors. In just about every single case, there was a violation of our company’s policy that led to the associate being able to steal the product. As managers, you have to take ownership of this area, or else it will bleed you dry.

First, ensure that only managers have a key to the back door and that a manager is the only one using those keys! All too often, I’ve seen managers give their keys to a “trusted” associate, in an attempt to delegate tasks, only to have that associate rob them blind. Your managers are key holders for a reason; and that trust should only stay with them.

When manager does open the back door, they should stay at the doors. I’ve had cases where a manager would step out of the warehouse for a minute with the door open, and an employee would run product out. If the door is open, the manager stays posted until the doors can be locked. This is a non-negotiable item for my company. Unsecured and unattended back doors can get a manager a coaching in their file. It’s that serious.

Plenty of stores don’t have the luxury of a compactor and have to take the trash out to an open-top dumpster several times a day. This is a great time for employees to stage product inside of trash bags. To prevent this, you should mandate that all boxes be broken down prior to the door being opened. In addition, use clear garbage bags instead of solid black. This lets you see what each bag contains before it goes outside.

Securing the back door, to me, is just as important as any other physical security measure used in the store. I can use all the EAS devices and anti-theft tools in the world, but they won’t be effective if the product is flowing out of the back door. This is one of the biggest areas of potential loss for any store and I can guarantee that if you have any weaknesses, or lapses in policy, a dishonest employee will find them and they will exploit them. Do yourself a favor and make sure your back door policy is locked down this holiday season.

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Using Technology To Prevent Shoplifting

December 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment

LPSI EVOLVE-Store Mobile AppThe busiest shopping season has begun. Along the many customers you expect this holiday season, you can expect the shoplifters as well.  Taking advantage of the many customers entering a store, the shoplifter sees this season as an opportunity to walk into a store and leaving with hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise without paying, and sometimes without getting stopped by security.  It is difficult for a loss prevention officer to keep track of all the customers entering and leaving the store, that’s why the technology you use to protect your store from shoplifters is as important as hiring loss prevention officers in the first place.  To read more about this and other topics follow the links below.

Using facial recognition to prevent shoplifting, workplace violence

Some retail stores in Kirkwood, Missouri are using facial recognition software supplied by Blue Line Technology to prevent shoplifting, according to a report by Fox2Now.

“If we recognize them as a suspicious character, we follow them around and we sort of hound them out of the store,” said Christopher Thau, the owner of a store called Christopher’s. “I hate to put it that way but that’s what we do.”

Since shoplifters often move from one store to the next, many store owners and managers help each other by distributing pictures of potential suspects.

Blue Line Technology provides facial recognition software to help police and businesses track potential threats of shoplifting.

The First Line Facial Recognition system alerts store managers regarding the presence of known shoplifters, providing advance warning for protection against shoplifting and fraud in checks and credit cards.

Blenheim businesses prepare for the shoplifting season

The festive season boom sees a surge shoplifters, shopkeepers and police say.

Shopkeepers and police are preparing for an expected surge in shoplifting during the busy festive season.

Farmers Blenheim store manager Karen Stevenson said the months of November and December were the worst time of the year for theft in department stores.

“Christmas is a bad time for it … It’s a huge problem in Blenheim.”

Police had received 23 reports of shoplifting in Marlborough since August 20.

Blenheim community constable Russ Smith said an increase in shoplifting was expected ahead of the holidays.

“Part of the reason is that stores are advertising flat out and have more stock. They’re a lot busier, the store staff are busier, and shoplifters take advantage of those factors.”

Police would patrol the Blenheim shopping district closer to Christmas in an attempt to deter shoplifters.

“That’s only part of what we do preventatively, and it’s as much to make sure people are behaving in the late nights,” Smith said.

Postie Plus Blenheim ex-employee Barbara Drummond said the size of department stores made it extremely difficult to keep an eye on customers, especially during busy times like the festive season.

Firm that teaches ‘life skills’ to suspected shoplifters extorts them, suit alleges

Debra Black insists she is “not a thief.”

She says she rolled her electric wheelchair out of the Goodwill Industries store in Tustin after inadvertently neglecting to pay for a few items. The pack of purple napkins, headband and small purse came to $6.97.

But once a security guard stopped her that day in March 2013, things got heated. Black, 64, said she was frightened into signing a confession and agreeing to complete a six-hour “life skills” course and pay a Utah company $500.

When Black did not pay, she received multiple calls and letters from Corrective Education Co., including this final warning: “Contact us immediately to prevent the filing of a criminal complaint.”

Black unsuccessfully sued the firm, which refers to itself as CEC, along with Monument Security Inc., contending they were debt collectors that had violated laws governing that industry.

On Monday, the San Francisco city attorney weighed in, filing a new lawsuit that alleges CEC’s practices violate the California business and professions code and amount to extortion and false imprisonment.

The suit seeks civil penalties as well as restitution for every Californian who has paid into the program. About 20,000 accused shoplifters are believed to have participated nationwide.

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Shoplifting Prevention and Your Inventory

November 18, 2015 by Leave a Comment

theft (11)Keeping track of your inventory this holiday season is not an easy task.  The time and work that this task takes is not easy for many managers to keep up with, nor something they relished doing.  But maintaining an accurate inventory is not only good to keep up with customers likes and dislikes, but to keep a closer eye if shoplifting is happening in your store.

For more about this and other topics, follow the links below.

Business Security: 10 Tips to Prevent Shoplifting

In 2010, shoplifting accounted for 31% of retail inventory loss, according to a University of Florida retail security survey. This loss cost retailers about $10.94 billion during that year, according to a Washington Post article about the survey. 

Items most commonly stolen include clothing, books, music, jewelry, watches, tires and car parts. “Everyone thinks about little Johnny stealing a pack of bubble gum, but there are also professional gangs that target stores and steal billions of dollars every year,” says Joseph LaRocca, an adviser for the National Retail Federation, in the article.

While security cameras can help identify suspects after a theft occurs, there’s plenty a retailer can do to prevent shoplifting from happening in the first place, according to the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission and the Specialty Retail Report.

  1. Greet customers as soon as they come into the store. Addressing customers removes their anonymity. Shoplifters are known to avoid stores with attentive salespeople

5 Quick and Low-Tech Tips To Prevent Shoplifting in Your Retail Store

As a small business retailer, it’s not always easy to just throw money at problems like shoplifting and take advantage of all the technology that big box retailers may be privy to. Whether it’s cameras, door scanners, or facial-recognition software, sometimes their big-ticket cost just doesn’t fit with your small business security budget.

But when you recognize facts like shoplifting costing retailers upwards of $13 billion each year, it’s important to identify it as a problem that needs to be dealt with.

So, what’s a boutique owner to do? In this post, I’ll be looking at cost-effective and low-tech tactics that you can start implementing right away.

Let’s dive in.

1. Keep Your Store Organized and Products Well-Placed

How easy should it be to identify whether something has gone “missing” from your store? Empty space on your shelves should be enough of a visual cue to signal something has gone wrong.

However, if your store is messy, disorganized, or a maze to get through, it can be harder to notice that you’ve been “gotten” until it’s too late.

Security expert and founder of Crime Doctor, Chris McGoey recommends the following: “You want to keep all your merchandise “faced,” which means pulling your products to the edge of the shelf to create a solid wall of product. If someone sweeps the shelf, then it is easy to tell.”

Impact of retail theft: Costs customers, hurts business fuels drug trade

Shoplifting is a crime that happens often, but many people don’t often stop to think about its impact. The retailer suffers, shoppers pay more and police resources are expended.

Walmart is one of many stores that are frequently targeted by shoplifters.

By Zach Glenn
[email protected]

Posted Nov. 14, 2015 at 8:15 AM

Shoplifting is a crime that happens often, but many people don’t often stop to think about its impact. The retailer suffers, shoppers pay more and police resources are expended.

“From the law enforcement side (retail theft) can take up a lot of resources when it comes to investigations which can be problematic when there are other emergencies coming in and other cases that need worked on,” said Pennsylvania State Police spokesman Robert Hicks. “From a societal point, we all know when businesses lose money from theft that their prices increase which impacts all of us as consumers.”

Police calls

Last year, Walmart reported that around 1 percent of its total profits had been lost to shoplifting — for a total of $3 billion. Greg Foran, head of U.S. Walmart operations, said in a statement earlier this year that without theft, prices could be lower.

Other stores targeted by shoplifters sell items that are easy to resell, such as scrap metal from home improvement stores like Lowe’s or Home Depot and movies, music and video games from electronics stores like Best Buy.

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Employee Theft Can Create Managerial Burnout

November 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment

meetingpic.It’s no secret that employee theft in retail stores continues to rise.  The amount of lost revenue is in the billions.  There are many articles, memos, reports and studies about its affect on the bottom line.  But, equally important, and less talked about, is the cost of employee theft on their managers.

Many managers say that “being betrayed” by employees who steal is “the last straw”.  This last straw is the one that puts them “over the edge”, which creates burnout.  Some of the symptoms of burnout are apathy, anger and unhappiness.  Unfortunately, if a supervisor doesn’t recognize and deal with these symptoms a cycle starts. 

She starts to resent the employees and dislike her job.  The resentment spreads to upper management, customers, vendors and peers.  Everyone reacts to her resentment with their own anger.  Inevitably, the resentment causes bad behavior or acting out, which leads to an unending process of more hurt feelings and acting out.

The store becomes one of those stores – we’ve all been in them – where everyone has a bad attitude.  By the time they’re that toxic it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to sort out whose “fault” the problems are, because both management and employees are responsible. 

This cycle usually starts with supervisors who expect and want their employees to have personal relationships with them.  They see the workplace as a social situation and the employees as friends.  They want everyone to be “one big happy family”.  When, not if, an employee is caught stealing he’s seen as a disloyal, unfaithful friend. 

The manager’s resulting feeling of betrayal is a personal response, rather than a professional one.  Personal response – How could he do that to me, after all I did for him?  I treated him like a friend/family member.  Professional response – This is disappointing.  But, it just goes to show that you can never tell.

Employee theft will continue to be a major problem in retail.  A smart, emotionally balanced manager will not take it personally, nor let it create a cycle of burnout.  Establishing and keeping a boundary between work and home is a part of good mental health. 

Nicole Abbott is a writer, business consultant and psycho-therapist with over 20 years of experience in the fields of mental health, business and addiction.  She’s an educator, coach, lecturer, trainer and facilitator – who has conducted over 200 workshops, trainings, presentations, college classes and seminars. 

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Do you have a Business “Go Kit”?

November 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment

shopliftingMany folks have go kits set up so that in the event of a storm, natural disaster or civil disturbance, they can grab their family and the Go Kit and be covered. Personal Go Kits tend to have copies of documents such as drivers licenses, birth certificates, passports, deeds…. But Go Kits can also include items to survive such as water, food, medicines, flashlights, a weapon…. These concepts used to be confined to those among us that are expecting a doom’s day interruption or ending to our society.

However, with the complexity of our society come other issues. How would you easily prove that a house belongs to you, if the area was damaged beyond recognition? Say a hurricane, flood, wild fire or earthquake? What happens if the official records are also lost? Are you going to depend on others to put your life back together again?

The same applies to your business. How will you prove to your insurance company that your inventory is valued at $XXXX if your records all disappear in a fire? The same applies to payroll records and the like. You need to have a BUSINESS Go Kit!

Thankfully this is simpler than you may think. Consider keeping your data files in a cloud environment that has multiple backups on servers that are located in multiple locations around the US. If they are on one server located in New Orleans or Miami, I would re-think that strategy. We use Google’s cloud. It costs us $5/month per employee and the redundant backups are on five separate servers in five different geographical locations in the United States.

Scan in important documents such as business licenses, insurance documents, titles, vendor documents, etc. Put them in your cloud. That way you have access wherever you are. It might be a good idea to put photos of your business, inventory, equipment and more on there, every six months or annually. Have your backups of accounting data such as Quick Books reside their also. All of this plus payroll records, taxes and more could be rebuilt but why would you want to take the time to do this when it is simply a matter of changing your habits?

Oh but “it will never happen to me” or “I will get to that tomorrow” are favorite phrases we all like to use to put something off that we know should be done. It will happen to you and it will happen “tomorrow”. An earthquake may never threaten your business but then again a data loss, PC crash probably will.

Unless you are wealthy beyond belief, then like the rest of us that are not, we depend on our business to provide for our families and life style. We will need to restore that cash flow in the quickest manner possible and with the least amount of effort to get there. Your business Go Kit will help make that happen.

It is also a good idea to keep a few extra cases of water, blankets, candles and canned soup on hand. I may be miserable but being warm, having a full stomach and a little light to read by will make it a little less miserable.

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COPYING EMPLOYEE THEFT

November 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting1Quite often, I like to showcase a new theft trend, or perhaps a funnier shoplifter story for a bit of humor. This month is no different. We’ve talked about some pretty serious issues on the past two articles and now I just want to share a story that goes along with that employee theft piece. It’s something I bet each and every one of you will react to immediately after reading.

At one point last year, our company finally gave us (Regional LP Managers) access to our store’s P&L statements. You would think we would have already had this… Better late than never I suppose. It’s a great tool for me to see the overall profitability of the store. I can use my expertise to help the store reduces losses/expenses and to become a more profitable business. One store in particular stuck out. They were over their office supply budget by thousands of dollars. Odd.

Most stores spent between $500-$1000 a month on office supplies like toner, paper, pens and pencils. This particular store was spending triple that; at least $3k each month. I met with the store manager during a visit and asked about that line item. He was just as perplexed. Where were these office supplies going each and every month? We devised a plan. We initiated a “buy back” program for all employees. We put up signs in the offices and common areas asking all employees to clear their lockers, cars and homes of any supplies they may have taken home. It happens, no big deal. When the employees returned the items, we weighed them on a digital scale. The employee with the heaviest return received a gift card. Well, it worked. We had pens and pencils for the next two years. Next month, the store still spent $2k in supplies.

Baffled, I reached out to our accounting department. Surely, there had to be an error somewhere. Perhaps a line item was being mixed in where it shouldn’t be. It took a few days, but I convinced one of the accountants to give me an itemized breakdown of all office supplies the store had ordered over the past year. Toner. The store was ordering toner. Lots and lots of toner.

I questioned the managers and personally searched the store. Over the past six months, the store had ordered nearly 25 replacement toner cartridges. Couldn’t find them, and couldn’t explain why the store was ordering so many. I decided to ask the administrative assistant. A kind of last ditch effort to explain why the store kept ordering copy toner. 15 minutes into my conversation and I had a theft confession.

Toner, apparently, will resell very easily online, especially if you mark it down about 50%. The administrative assistant was ordering toner, then simply walking out the front door with it. She’d post it on eBay and was making a pretty healthy profit from it. It was a first for our LP department. No one else had ever, in my company’s history, uncovered this form of theft. It was a bit unusual, but still cost us well over $12k. My advice to you; look over your office supply orders.

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Shoplifting, Technology And The Customer’s Privacy

November 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting4

For many retail stores the holiday season is a time when they see a huge jump in sales, and profits hopefully follow.  For many of those same stores, the problem of shoplifting is something they have to deal more than ever during this time of year.  Billions of dollars are lost due to this crime and stores spend a lot of time and money to combat shoplifting.  So, what are some of these big retailers doing this holiday season to combat this crime?  Follow the links below to read more about this topic.

Walmart’s Use of Sci-fi Tech To Spot Shoplifters Raises Privacy Questions

Retailers are scanning shoppers with high-tech tools to automatically pick out suspected thieves, absent rules to protect privacy.

In the old days, when a store caught someone stealing, a detective would march the thief to a backroom and take his picture with a Polaroid camera. The photo would be added to the retailer’s in-house rogues gallery to help store security keep an eye out for bad guys.

But earlier this year, Walmart  WMT -0.70%  showed how times have changed. It tested a system that scanned the face of everyone entering several of its stores, identified suspected shoplifters, and instantly alerted store security on their mobile devices.

The potential of such facial recognition technology has been discussed for years. But now some stores are actually using it.

Shoplifting – is it worth the price? | Your legal corner

The holiday season is quickly approaching as we begin to plan our Thanksgiving feast.  Yes, families will gather around the Thanksgiving table and give thanks once again for the blessings received throughout the year.  For many, Thanksgiving will also be the official start of the holiday shopping season.

Don’t ruin your holiday season by attempting to shoplift.  A moment of weakness is not worth the ultimate price. Shoplifting cannot only put a damper on your holidays but the penalties imposed may follow you around for the rest of your life.

Types of Shoplifting

Shoplifting can take many forms.  Most people believe shoplifting is limited to removing merchandise from a store.  However, just concealing merchandise may be considered shoplifting.  Or, what if you simply switch or alter a price tag?  This also may be considered evidence of your intent to steal and is considered shoplifting.

Legendary jewel thief caught trying to swipe earrings — at age 85!

Cops nabbed an international jewel thief who was allegedly up to her very old tricks again at an Atlanta department store.

Security personnel at a Saks Fifth Avenue store spotted 85-year-old Doris Payne — who’s been stealing pricey jewels for over half a century — on video trying to swipe a $690 pair of earrings, Atlanta Police said.

The sticky-fingered 5-foot-1, 110-pound woman was found some time later at a shopping mall next door with the earrings in her pocket, authorities said.

She was taken into custody and charged with shoplifting.

Payne, who was still in the Fulton County jail on Tuesday, was the subject of a 2013 documentary titled “The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne.”

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What Is The Profile Of A Shoplifter?

November 4, 2015 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting2

There is no profile of a shoplifter. And although lately some retail stores have been charged with profiling shoppers, the truth is, you cannot know whether a customer entering your store is a shoplifter or not. Security cameras, loss prevention officers and well trained managers can help a business with shoplifting.  But making assumptions whether this particular customer is a shoplifter can, in the long run, make your business loose more money by engaging in profiling.

For more about this and other news follow the links below.

Ex-Trooper Who Shot Man Arrested for Shoplifting

Columbia, SC (WLTX) – A former South Carolina Highway Patrol officer who shot a man during a traffic stop last year has been arrested on a shoplifting charge.

Sean Groubert, 32, and his wife, 23-year-old Morgan Groubert were both arrested back on October 18, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

According to an incident report, the two were at the Walmart at 10060 Two Notch Road. A loss-prevention employee at the store said the two were at the self-checkout register paying $29.84 for items worth $136.04. The employee told deputies the men had changed the price tags on the items.

Both were booked at the Richland County Detention Center. Groubert’s lawyer said his client is accused of stealing food.

At a hearing Monday morning, a judge did not revoke bond for Sean Groubert on the charges he’s facing related to the shooting, but did order him to be on house arrest without electronic monitoring. Sean Groubert asked the judge to keep him out of jail because he said his wife is expecting a child and he’s the only source of income.

At odds over shoplifting policy in Knoxville, Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The Knox County District Attorney is taking an aggressive new approach against shoplifters that could land repeat offenders in prison for years.

District Attorney General Charme Allen has authorized the use of felony burglary charges to prosecute petty thieves who return to the scene of their shoplifting crimes, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/1RspPlA). The policy, enacted a few months ago, is untested in Tennessee’s appellate courts, according to attorneys.

Montana State player pleads guilty to shoplifting

BOZEMAN, MONT. 

A Montana State men’s basketball player has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft for shoplifting from a Bozeman grocery store.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/1OlokYC ) 22-year-old Shikei “Shy” Blake pleaded guilty to Bozeman Municipal Court on Oct. 21. Sentencing is set for Nov. 18.

A citation indicates the theft happened on Sept. 20 at Town & Country Foods. No additional information was available.

MSU coach Brian Fish declined to comment.

Blake is a junior center from Wilmington, Delaware, and transferred to MSU from Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado. He arrived on campus in late July.

The Bobcats open their season with an exhibition game Tuesday against Northwest Indian College.

State’s shoplifting laws handcuff retailers

The other day, I walked out of a hardware store without making a purchase because I couldn’t get a clerk to come unlock the anti-theft hook from which the item I wanted was dangling. My petulance came cheap because I knew I could buy the same item at any number of other places, but it made me wonder how often anti-theft devices do double duty as anti-sales devices.

According to the 24th annual National Retail Security Survey, American retailers lost $16.7 billion to shoplifters in 2014. Since the study looked at inventory shrink, it apparently didn’t factor in the cost of anti-shoplifting devices – or lost sales to customers irritated by them.

Nor, apparently, did it include the cost of chunky tags on clothing, swiveling surveillance cameras and the hiring of loss-prevention specialists, those retail employees whose jobs have nothing to do with selling or customer satisfaction.

We’ve grown accustomed to the sight of uniformed guards standing sentry near store exits and patrolling the parking lot the way cowboys once rode the fence line. According to federal statistics, private security guards now outnumber certified law enforcement officers by a 3-2 margin. Security, in America, is increasingly a product to be purchased.

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