RAT in Retail Theft Prevention

When investigating methods in order to implement an effective retail theft prevention program, it is critical to consider the process when attempting to understand why an offense occurs and why some measures are effective and why others fail to deter crime.

Routine Activity Theory (developed by Marcus Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen) draws on the principles of Rational Choice Theory and Situational Crime Prevention to address these issues.  

A delinquent act occurs through the interaction of three necessary conditions: offenders (shoplifters), targets (merchandise), and locations where offenders and targets intersect (retail stores). Furthermore, each condition has a controller because the controller influences each condition: handler, guardian, or manager.

Handlers are individuals with whom an offender has an emotional attachment and can shape their actions. Guardians are responsible for protecting the targets, such as Checkpoint security tags or security guards. Finally, managers are the retailers, owners, and employees who affect the functioning of the retail environment.

According to RAT, a crime is likely to occur if an offender meets a target in a place that lacks controls. For the purposes of this particular anti-shoplifting analysis, guardians are the most crucial control in establishing retail theft prevention.

Most retailers are unable to direct an offender’s actions or determine if they have proper role models in their life. In addition, managers can only manipulate the environment to a certain degree without impeding an honest customer’s enjoyable shopping experience and risking undesirable consequences in this competitive and litigious society.

Retailers can most effectively deter shoplifting by applying the guardian controller to protect merchandise when using RAT to determine retail theft prevention procedures. The most valuable guardian is Checkpoint security tags when applying this controller in terms of anti-shoplifting endeavors.

Stores have less risk of becoming places where offenders and targets meet without controls when taking advantage of solutions offered by loss prevention experts who utilize Checkpoint systems.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to find retail ant- theft devices and Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system from Checkpoint Systems.

For more information on ant- shoplifting, Checkpoint Security System and Checkpoint Security Tags or how they work with Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS system) please contact us via retail theft prevention or call 1.770.426.0547.