Many Retailers struggle with this question. The decision can be fraught with indecision and even fear. “What if I am wrong?”, “Is this the right thing to do?”, “How will this impact my business?” These are all valid and important questions. Let me first say right up front that as a business owner, consultant and LP Executive, I firmly believe that you should prosecute each and every time. Let me give you some food for thought. After dealing with shoplifters for the last 35 plus years, I see four areas that you should consider when trying to decide whether or not to prosecute.
1 Legal – Every U.S. State has different laws in dealing with shoplifters. However, most of the laws are similar. Most States have what is commonly referred to as “Merchant Laws”. These laws generally protect the Merchant from criminal or civil liability if they follow the law in that State. That means in most cases that as long as you treat the shoplifting suspect fairly, you are free to investigate, if they stole from you or not. If you conclude that they have, then you should call the Police. When you do call the Police, you should never accuse anyone. Let the Police make their decisions based on the evidence presented. This way you are letting the Police do their jobs and it is the State, County or City that is prosecuting. If you are not sure about the laws in your state, go to your States Sectary of State website and search for shoplifting or theft laws.
2 Precedent – If you do not prosecute, word spreads quickly that you are an easy mark and this will actually attract more shoplifters to your store. This happens because shoplifters do talk to each other. If they know the worst that will happen is a warning from you, then the flood gates are open.
3 Prevention – Although similar to precedent, prevention is more about how you and your company deal with shoplifting overall. Our goal is to stop the shoplifter before they even try to steal. We do this with a variety of techniques. To begin with the physical store layout, customer service techniques your staff uses and the Anti-shoplifting equipment such as a Checkpoint System all combined create your stores prevention environment. This environment gives you more ability to prosecute in a business-like manner. This tells the Police, Prosecutor and the Courts that you have a defined way to not only discourage shoplifting but to detect and handle it. I cannot stress prevention enough. More prevention equals less shoplifting equals less prosecution.
4 Emotion – Whether we admit it or not emotion comes into the decision to prosecute. Anyone that steals from our stores is essentially stealing from our pockets. This applies equally to owners, managers and store staff in some form or another. They have taken something from us that has cost us. This may mean the difference in staying in business, if we make a profit, sales numbers or even have a job. Getting angry at the individual shoplifter is counterproductive. Do not “attack” the shoplifter either verbally or physically. Rather treat this as any other business problem and solve it with business solutions not emotion. Prosecution is part of this. By the way, I believe that you should also always prosecute under age and elderly offenders. If you do not get law enforcement involved and simply issue a stern warning, you open yourself up to false accusations. Let the Police deal with this. They are equipped for it.
Overall keep this in mind that your shoplifting problem is not some insurmountable issue that you have to tolerate. Do not bury your head in the sand. Tackle it head on and you will find that your frustration will go down, profits will go up and the shoplifters will go elsewhere.
Loss Prevention Systems is here to help you! We have an all-inclusive anti-shoplifting program that consists of policy and procedure, Checkpoint and Alpha High Theft solutions equipment and shoplifting prevention training that will allow you to then focus on your core business. Call us today at 1-770-426-0547.
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