Should They Stay, Or Should They Go?

When you or your employees apprehend a shoplifter, you will need to make one of two choices as to what to do with them. You can either recover your merchandise and let the shoplifter go about their way, or you can take the shoplifter back to an office or other neutral location within your store. Both have their advantages, and both have potentially negative outcomes if not conducted properly.

The easiest thing to do is to retrieve your merchandise from the shoplifter and let them go. No muss, no fuss, and no lengthy apprehension process to deal with. You will need to document the incident and keep the report in a secured location. You need to document the time and date, the description of the suspect, what merchandise (include item numbers or UPC codes) was taken and recovered. Any video of the incident should be retained, and a photo of the merchandise should be taken also. Notate what happened to the merchandise- is it being kept as evidence, or was it returned to the sales floor after being photographed.

Don’t underestimate that a shoplifter will try and come back and sue your store for false detention and liable. They may assume that because you did not prosecute that you did not have enough evidence, which is why you let them go. Even if they were to loose the case (because you had everything well documented) you can still fight with your store’s reputation if the media gets involved, or simply the time and money it will cost you to fight the charges.

Of course this is assuming that the shoplifter stopped and willingly handed over the stolen merchandise they were carrying. If the shoplifter runs, fights, or is problematic, it might not be easy to recover your merchandise. Similarly, if the merchandise is hidden within a bag, or on the shoplifter’s body somewhere, you cannot go searching for it to get it back- especially if the shoplifter is denying having stolen anything.

If you do bring a shoplifter back to your office, you should do so with purpose. Do you need to recover product in a bag? The shoplifter will still need to hand it over to you; you may not search their personal belongings. If the suspect has hidden merchandise on their person, you may not make them disrobe to retrieve your merchandise. That is something that absolutely should be left for law enforcement to do.

Once back in the office, your witness should be taking notes as to what is being said, and what transpires. The shoplifter’s ID should be obtained and photocopied (as proof of who was stopped). You may question the suspect to find out why they are taking product from you and what were they going to do with it later. This is particularly important if you are experiencing multiple losses of the same products. Keep in mind that they may not talk to you, and they are not required to talk to you. You may not force them or coerce them into confessions or into giving up more information.

Your company should have a set policy on who is prosecuted and who is not (also why not). Commonly, elderly, young children or minors, and mentally disabled are not prosecuted. Generally it is because these categories of people do not have the mental capacity to distinguish right from wrong. Prosecutions and referrals to law enforcement should have standardization to them. This way, employees won’t need to make a personal judgment call on who is prosecuted and who is not.

Finally, keep you back office area, or where ever you will bring shoplifters to, clean. There should not be anything large or heavy (staplers, three hole punches, scissors) that can be turned into a weapon. This area should also be relatively remote. It should not be an area where customers and other employees can walk by. The suspect has a right to their privacy during the apprehension. They should not feel like they are out on display.