Shoplifting investigations

Shoplifting investigations

shoplifting investigations

Shoplifting, or retail theft, is theft of retail merchandise in a shop, store, or other retail establishment, by a perpetrator posing as a customer. Shoplifters are divided into several categories: a) amateurs, b)juvenile, c)professional, d)kleptomaniacs, and e)drug and alcohol addicts. The reasons for shoplifting include: impulse, peer pressure, desperation, revenge, or behavioral disorder. Shoplifters may present the following statements as rationalization for their actions:

– Shoplifting is borrowing, not stealing.

– Everybody does it.

– Shoplifting is morally correct.

– Shoplifting is a reward for the job.

– Shoplifting is a legal political act in a social class struggle.

– Most of the shoplifters are amateurs, although there are professional shoplifters who are more skilled and therefore more difficult to catch.

Signs of a shoplifter

The following are some of the signs of potential shoplifters:

– Individuals wearing heavy oversized coats out of season

– Individuals wearing baggy pants and full skirts out of current trend

– Individuals displaying darting eye movement

– Individuals carrying many supermarket bags, large backpack and purses

– Individuals leaving the store in a hurry

– Customers who are not certain what they want and seem uninterested in merchandise they asked for

– Individuals who leave the store clutching a pile bags close to the body

– Customers who seem uninterested and claim that they are waiting for someone

– Customers who make an effort to distract sales clerks to conceal their actions

– A group of customers trying many items together in the fitting room

Prevention

– Offering employees rewards for deterring shoplifters

– Requiring employees to greet each person walking into the store

– Training store employees to recognize signs of potential shoplifters

– Maximizing visibility of all areas in the store by using closed circuit TV cameras, one-way and convex mirrors raising the cash registry area

– Using surveillance cameras

– Posting anti-shoplifting warning signs

– Reinforce the cash registry monitoring

– Keeping the cash registry locked all the time

Requiring cashiers to staple the receipt to the bag

– Monitoring delivery personel

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