How random ‘demonstrations’ help with retail theft prevention

Almost everyone is familiar with practices such as ‘the perp walk’ or ‘a munitions test’.  They are shows of power.  They are opportunity for an authority to flex its muscle in the face of its adversaries.  In loss prevention we don’t have access to ballistic missiles or the ability to march an apprehended shoplifter through the store to identify and embarrass them (in most cases anyway).  For us, the only way to flex our muscles is generally passive in nature, to show we are watching.  Having retail theft prevention systems visibly in play are one way of doing this; cameras (be they dummy or actual) mounted to the walls or ceilings, Checkpoint security tags on the merchandise, even a uniformed agent standing guard at an access point.

I myself have thought of a more aggressive method of demonstrating that we are vigilantly watching in the hopes that those who bear witness may be dissuaded from potentially illicit acts.  I’d like to think of it as an anti shoplifting drill.  The way it works is you have an employee (preferably another loss prevention agent in plainclothes) do a rather conspicuous shoplifting exercise throughout the store, concealing product on their person or in a prop bag.  Then they will make their way to the most populated or traveled access point of the store, preferably passing through a Checkpoint security system, where other loss prevention agents will appear to make the ‘apprehension’ in a very public manner.  The more people that see, the better.  Obviously this is a practice only really works if you have the available manpower and the time to do it, but it would be a show of your team’s anti shoplifting prowess that can work to your advantage.

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