Shoplifting and shoplifters have been a constant reliable problem the retail industry has had for many years. The billions of dollars lost due to shoplifting is not a laughing matter. The millions of dollars the retail industry suffers daily due to shoplifting, cripples local economies and leaves them unable to fund social programs that benefit those communities. The tax loss from stolen merchandise affects those communities as well.
It is very hard to empathize with a shoplifter. Shoplifting is a crime after all but, we must remember that shoplifters have rights and whether security personnel likes it or not they must follow the law. The procedures a security employee must take when apprehending a shoplifter are very clear. Law enforcement personnel must follow procedures as well. Shoplifters have rights, and as a security employee you must follow them.
For more about this and other topics, follow the links below.
LP Interrogation Techniques Can Work as Negotiation Tactics
Negotiation tactics are synonymous with terms ranging from compromise and mediation to haggle and interrogation. It is not difficult to argue the fact that interrogations represent the hardest form of negotiating. When people enter into negotiations or mediations, they understand they may need to sacrifice some of their interests in order to reach a mutual agreement because both parties, at some level, have shared interests.
On the contrary, when subjects enter into loss prevention interrogation, they have no intentions of sacrificing any of their interests. Interrogation subjects are typically motivated to stake themselves to a position of innocence and to vehemently defend that position. Skilled interrogators overcome these obstacles by creating shared interests, reducing their subject’s resistance, and creating perceived benefits for confessing.
Many corporate executives view negotiating tactics and skills as both critical to their success and professional development.
Court rules company extorts money from accused shoplifters
SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) – A State Superior Court judge has ruled that a “corrective education” scheme for accused shoplifters is considered “extortion.”
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed the lawsuit against Corrective Education Company, which partners with retailers like Walmart, Bloomingdale’s, Burlington Coat Factory, Abercrombie & Fitch, Ralph’s grocery chain and Kroger’s.
Suspected shoplifters at those retailers don’t get handcuffed by police, instead, Herrera says they answer to a private business called CEC or Corrective Education Company.
“They basically would intimidate and get someone they suspected of being a shoplifter and say uh, unless you sign this form and and pay us money, we’re gonna report you to the police,” said Herrera.
The problem with that, Herrera says… it’s illegal.
“The law is clear. This is a textbook case of extortion and false imprisonment,” said Herrera who filed the lawsuit back in November of 2015.
This week, California’s State Superior court agreed.
Burlington Coat Factory Security Guard Arrested After Shooting
A security guard who shot a man Tuesday during a confrontation over an alleged shoplifting incident in San Francisco has been arrested, police said today.
The shooting occurred shortly after 2:30pm in the area of Fifth and Howard streets at a Burlington Coat Factory store where the guard, a 42-year-old man, confronted a suspected shoplifter, according to Officer Robert Rueca.
A struggle ensued that moved outside of the store, and the guard shot the 33-year-old man in the leg, Rueca said.
The victim was taken to a hospital with injuries that are not considered life-threatening.
The guard, whose identity has not yet been released, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a firearm and shooting at an inhabited dwelling.
How often does it happen? You are in front of your television watching your favorite college football team playing a game and your spouse starts talking to you about their day or what you need from the grocery store. Then suddenly the conversation takes a nasty turn and you are asked for input about the conversation you weren’t really engaged in. The textbook reply, “Yes Dear” or
We’ve all been there, we are on our way to work and the next thing you know you come to a standstill. Cars backed up as far as you can see and no one is going anywhere. The clock is ticking away and you begin to worry knowing you are going to be late getting to the office. You look for a side street to try to get out of the mess then, someone with a little bit of guts and a four-wheel drive truck pulls onto the shoulder of the road and speeds by everyone to get to their destination. Everyone gets to where they are going but some people are determined not to let obstacles get in their way and they take the fast track to get there. They went the same route they just overcame the obstacles that would get in their way.
Retail shelving along with store design has a huge impact on shoplifting losses. Typically a shoplifter likes and needs privacy even if only for a moment. So why not keep that in mind when designing or remodeling your store. Your shelving and isles can work for you by simply considering several factors.
Growing up did you ever do something dumb and your mom or your dad would ask you, “What were you thinking?” Having lived in south for the past 32 years I have learned of the local colloquialism when someone does something stupid, “Didn’t your momma teach you better?” Unfortunately, as a young boy I did a lot of dumb things making me wonder if my brain developed a lot later in life than most people. For example, I had a propensity for walking behind batters warming up to go to the plate for my father’s teen baseball teams. I ended up with more than one fat lip from my stupidity…obviously not learning the lesson the first time. I had a fascination with electrical outlets and wires and old rotary dial telephones…I won’t go into details but no they didn’t work when the wires were pushed into the outlet, I was not injured but I had one very busy guardian angel.
Loss Prevention Officers and Managers catch shoplifters and dishonest employees. That is a common perception and in some stores it may be a true picture of what Loss Prevention departments do, with the additional caveat that they may have uniformed people who conduct receipt checks. If this is all that the department does it can be hard to sell store managers on the value of having them on staff if the budget for them comes directly from the store. It is even more difficult for small, independent retailers to justify hiring a Loss Prevention Officer although if the store is in a high crime area they may contract a security guard. There was a time when there was an “us versus them” mindset between store managers and Loss Prevention teams. Over time some larger companies have focused their Loss Prevention teams more on operational issues. For example, I worked for a company that had Loss Prevention conduct food product out of date audits. Their position was that this was a safety issue so it fell to the Loss Prevention team. I had no problem doing the audits, but as I looked at the amount of out of date items I was finding I had to question what the freight team was doing when they were stocking. Who was auditing their work because there were a lot of FIFO (First In First Out) issues I was identifying that were causing out of date problems.
