Late yesterday I watched security camera footage at one of my newsagencies from Sunday afternoon when two people stole several hundreds dollars worth of products.
It is always easy to judge what allowed a theft after the event. This is where having the footage is helpful, so that everyone at the shop can learn and hopefully avoid such theft in the future.
The key items stolen were boxes of AFL footy cards. The two people knew what they were doing, where the cards were and when to hit. A few seconds of distraction at the counter is all it took. Once they had what they wanted they were out and away.
Given how they ‘cased’ the shop, I suspect that had we made our use of a security system more obvious they would have not hit us. We have an excellent security system but do not show this off in-store. We don’t have monitors up for shoppers to see in this newsagency.
In another retail business I have all shoppers entering are faced with a screen shooing their face. I am confident that the two who hit us Sunday would have left empty handed had they seen their faces on a screen.
These people who stole from us are scum. The best we can hope for is that the police catch them the courts mete out justice.
sometimes it pays to be proactive not reactive place screens where people can see them
Yep obvious screen is best i think too. Also, is it necessary to have more than one box of afl cards on show? On second thoughts maybe in a large newsagency it would be justified.
It seems we are catching more and more people shoplifting smaller items in our shop then ever before, most give the sob story that they are doing it hard and have never done it in the past and will never do it again, but they do not give a second thought to how hard retailers are doing it. we caught a kid steal a dvd and when they were pulled up the mother tried to make out we were the ones to blame for having it where the kid could grab it, not the fact that he had hid it in his jumper. People just do not think of others these days it is all about themselves, so I have a firm policy no matter how small the item or how young the shoplifter I call the cops and let them deal with it.
I do not work 80+ hours per week to feed my family just to have someone else think it is their right to steal.
Caught a lad this morning. I note that in Qld I am not allowed to touch, I am not allowed to search, I am not allowed to detain. I AM allowed to arrest (citizens arrrest) but should I get ANY element of the procedure wrong I will be sued. The Police agree that the crooks have more rights that we do. Ive booked another appointment with my local member to see if we cant fix the laws so that these kids are discouraged.
All I really want to do is to publish their photos somewhere which other retailers can access so they know what to look for. The real payoff for us is a lesson learned.
Not allowed to post a photo either
We have a lucky customer competition we run in store and we like to show off the winners.
I followed him down the mall and out to the carpark calling out loudly that he was a thief.
I have installed fake cameras with warning signs that the store is under surveilance. I will be putting in cameras very soon. We have an after hours alarms system. We have noticed parents telling kids the camera is watching. A number of stores with no security have had after hours break ins. Touch wood we have not had any but our”cameras” may be a deterrant. The real thing is best but fake seems to work.
We find that cameras provide little to no deterrence for shoplifters. They do allow us to catch people during or after the act, but they aren’t a very effective prevention tool.
Brett,
It is my understanding that it is not illegal to display a photo of a shoplifter. It is usually advised against because you may leave yourself open to civil action if you are wrong or don’t have sufficient evidence to support your claim.
We haven’t actually caught a shop lifter in a while, but when we do………. we call the police and shopping centre security. We detain the thief. We expect charges to be laid no matter how trivial the theft. The police have in the past been less than supportive so we insist they do their job too. These thieves will almost always be repeat offenders and their crimes add up. The police do not seem to comprehend that nipping it in the bud at this level may prevent an offender moving onto bigger crimes. They frustrate me!!!!!
Jarryd,
Im close to our local constabulary. They STRONGLY advise against photos unless the offender has been tried and found guilty. A defamation claim will cost you more than the product they left with.
Carol, 24 hour cameras make absolutely no difference as to whether they break in to your shop or not. They only potentially make it easier to identify the bandits, assuming they aren’t wearing balaclavas/wrapping shirts around their faces/ wearing sunglasses and beanies.
We were broken into 12 months ago at night when they came in for cigarettes. A security guard on his patrol a couple of streets away heard it, and even though we weren’t with his company, he raced around and basically caused them to take off before they cleaned the lot out. All were wearing gloves and had jumpers with hoodies and t shirts wrapped around their face. Cameras made no difference and tbh the back to base alarm didn’t either , only the external alarm, as the paid security service didn’t arrive for over 15 minutes and neither did the Police.
My brothers a cop and as he says it’s only the idiots that are easy to catch or put off by the “basic” security measures.
Regarding putting up pictures, similar to what is provided in the regular Police neighbourhood watch bulletins, I believe you can identify the person as someone you would like to identify but not the unproven reason you want to identify them for. For instance they could be a prize winner or have left something behind in your store so long as you haven’t said “wanted for shop lifting”. The problem is linking this to deterence then.
Paul,
You’re right – its only the idots that are easy to catch. Physical prevention measures are most retailers best hope at preventing larger after-hours style theft.
In terms of identification you are able to identify them as “shoplifters” when displaying a photo. However it leaves you open to a lawsuit. Even placing some non-descript reason may leave you legally exposed if, for example, it was common knowledge amongst your customers that the photos you displayed were of shoplifters (even if it didn’t say as such in print).
We put the pictures of the offenders up on our powerpoint display on the counters together with what they stole. Each slide has the title “Dishonour Roll” and where possible will show a picture of the item being concealed. I have been doing this for the last 7 years or so with no repercussions or complaint. Many other businesses in our area do the same (printed photos on the wall adjacent to the entry to the supermarket).
Prior to the pictures going up we have to be 100% certain that they stole and have the video footage backed up to prove it. The local police sergeant has suggested to me I just put their pictures up on the screen and not press charges, however I also insist that the police deal with every individual we catch.
Do the police try to dissuade charges being pressed as is keeps the crime stats down???
I think maybe so.
Brendan,
I’ve always wondered why people claim police try to keep crime stats down.
Every police force are always asking for increased funding. Keeping stats down would be counterintuative in acheiving such budget increases. It would also result in less officers being allocated to a station – more crime results in more officers.
Brendan , having both a family member and several close friends as Police it’s simply more likely a resource for reward issue for them. I’ve heard stories of crims, particularly the younger ones of a particular origin regularly taunting officers with “I’ll be out before you’ve finished your paperwork” which is an all to common occurrence. Unfortunately I suspect it’s just that with their limited resources the Police are reticent to spend 90 minutes doing paperwork for something worth, in some cases, $1 or less when there are much bigger crimes or public safety issues that need their attention. The various goverments are to blame for the declining police to population ratio.
BTW it doesn’t completely rule out that some Police, like any area of employment, may just be lazy.
Jarryd and Paul, my father was a police officer an reached the rank of Chief Inspector in VicPol. It was he who explained to me that one of the recent commissioners was discouraging the reporting of minor crimes in order to look like crime was decreasing. After some incidents in my store it became painfully clear that this was happening. The policy seems to be improving but only slowly. As for not wanting to waste time on minor crimes, these minor crimes are repeated over and over ant the cost to retail and hence the public is huge. Also, rather than deter young criminals at a stage where they may be straightened out, this lack of action encourages the minor criminals any a percentage of these will graduate onto bigger crimes so why not try to nip the problem in the bud??? No tolerance policing has apparently worked wonders in New York and unfortunately I believe it is required in Melbourne at present. We accept too much that is wrong too easily and we make a rod for our own backs.
We must be lucky in having good old fashioned coppers at our local station. If we call them they attend straight away. Last Saturday we caught a criminal stealing mothers day cards. She wouldn’t give them back, so I took the valves out of the tyres of her car, snatched her hand bag, up ended it on the foot path, took the cards and left the rest of her stuff in a pile on the footpath. The cops came and put a unroadworthy sticker on her car.
She won’t be back.
Brendan,
Commissioners will naturally attempt in decrease crime stats due to political pressure. There is however no incentive at the lower levels to do so.
New York’s “zero tolerance” policies were found to have had little effect on crime. Decreases were attributed mainly to economic/demographic changes.
Well Jarryd, either either the policy has come down the line (and I’m sure this does happen or else the tail is wagging the dog) or we have experienced some police officers that just don’t care, which I find harder to believe.