Shoplifting

Shoplifting (also known as commercial burglary) is theft of merchandise for sale in a shop, and money from cash register retail establishment, by an ostensible patron. It is one of the most common crimes for police and courts.

Most shoplifters are amateurs; however, there are people and groups who make their living from shoplifting, and they tend to be more skilled. Some individuals shoplift in an effort to resist selling their labor, and/or to protest corporate power. These individuals target--often exclusively--chain stores; Wal-Mart is an especially popular target for political shoplifters. (see Evasion) Some counter this by arguing that costs of theft are not absorbed by the targeted company, but instead may result in price increases.^[1] Therefore, shoplifting is thought to ultimately harm paying consumers, some of whom may be shopping at places such as Wal-Mart because they are poor and have few other options.

A common slang term for shoplifting in Australia and the United States is "five-finger discount". The "five-finger" aspect of the term refers to fact there are five fingers on the hand which is used to grab the stolen merchandise. In the U.S., it is often referred to as "jacking" or "racking" and in the UK as "nicking" or "chaving". Professional shoplifters or organized shoplifting groups are often referred to as "boosters."

Economic impact and response from shops

Retailers report that shoplifting has significant effect on their bottom line, stating that about 0.6% of all inventory disappears to shoplifters. In 2001 it was claimed that shoplifting cost US retailers $25 million a day. Other observers, however, believe industry shoplifting numbers to be greatly exaggerated. Studies have found that over half of what is reported as shoplifting is either employee theft or fraud.

According to the 2001 National Retail Security Survey conducted by the University of Florida retail operations suffered an average annual shrinkage percentage of 1.75% in 2000. Although most retailers experience a shrinkage percentage of less than 2% some smaller retailers often experience monthly and annual average shrinkage percentages as high as 20%. According to a study by the National Retail Security Survey 30.6% of shrinkage comes from shoplifting, 46% from employee embezzlement, 17.6% from administrative error, and 5.8% from vendor fraud.

Companies have introduced many technologies to combat shoplifting. Many stores have video cameras filming all areas of the store; larger stores are often patrolled by undercover investigators. Security devices are often affixed to products that set off alarms at the store exit if they are not deactivated or removed by a cashier.

According to the 2004 17th Annual Retail Theft survey conducted by Jack L. Hayes International, 689,340 shoplifters were apprehended by 27 of the major U.S. retailers. This figure was a 4.86% increase from a total of 657,414 shoplifters apprehended in 2003. In 2004 $70,039,564 dollars were recovered from shoplifting apprehensions compared to $68,927,833 in 2003. In 2004, the average dollar value for a shoplifting apprehension was $101.60 dollars.

A common rationalization for engaging in shoplifting is that items are overpriced and honestly paying for items serves only to line the pockets of executives with their monstrous pay packages, thus those struggling to make ends meet should "fight back". This argument is dispelled by the fact that loss in stores serves only to hurt honest customers with higher prices. However it is countered that higher prices will eventually damage the targeted retail store if customers decide not to buy goods there anymore and seek cheaper prices elsewhere. On many occasions people prefer to steal from large shops and corporations since when you steal from a corporation, you are not really stealing from any particular person, therefore not affecting any individuals. This is known as ethical shoplifting. Shoplifting can also be seen as a powerful politcal tool. In the past social justice movements have used boycotts to express their concern over a particle company good or service, however shoplifting intrinsically damages these corporations at the same time as it (however covertly) demonstrates dissatisfaction. Therefore it is seen as far more effective resulting in direct financial losses to the particle shop rather than just denying it profit, it also means that the shoplifter is still able to obtain the products for their benifit.

There are a several types of shoplifters.

People who simply do not wish to pay for an item they want .
Those who do not want or need the item but get a thrill out of taking them.
People who want or need the merchandise but cannot pay for it.
Those who shoplift items they intend to sell (fence) for cash.
Those who may suffer from kleptomania.
Those who are intent of bringing legal action against the store by faking the crime.
Those who try to impose economic damage on the store managenment or ownership. Sometimes referred to as political shoplifters.
Those who are actually employed by the store they are shoplifting from, or security personnel who work for the store.

Legal status in Canada

According to section 322 of the Code theft is defined as taking or converting anything fraudulently and without colour of right, with the intent to deprive the owner of it, either permanently or temporarily. There is no specific offense of "shoplifting" under Canadian law. Instead, shoplifting is covered under the general provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada that deal with theft. If the goods are worth less than $5000 the maximum possible punishment is 2 years imprisonment and/or $2000.00 in fines, while if the stolen goods are worth $5000 or more, or are a testamentary instrument, the crime may be punished by imprisonment for up to 10 years. For punishment purposes, section 334 of the Code then categorizes theft according to the value and nature of the goods that are stolen. However, first offenders often face only extrajudicial sanctions.

Rights

Store operator

In the state of California, and in most cases the rest of the United States and other countries, store employees and managers have certain powers of arrest. Store Officials may detain for investigation (a reasonable length of time), whom they have probable cause to believe is attempting to take or has unlawfully taken merchandise.

In the state of California, merchants may conduct a limited search to recover the item by those authorized to make the detention. Only packages, shopping bags, handbags or other property in the immediate possession of the person detained may be searched, but not any clothing worn by the person, pursuant to subdivision

A main fear of a store operator is an accused shoplifter would press charges on the business or the owner. Even if the accused had stolen from the establishment, the business may still run the risk of a lawsuit due to variables that may have occurred during the entire process. That's why many large franchises have very strict guidelines of how to handle shoplifters.

Accused shoplifters rights

An accused shoplifter has many rights that protect them from being falsely detained. An accused is subject to the many of the same rights as would be present in an arrest from sworn law enforcement, such as the right to remain silent.

False imprisonment is the unlawful restraint of someone that affects the person’s freedom of movement. Both the threat of being physically confined and actually being physically confined can be considered false imprisonment if the customer is not free to leave. A store that performs receipt checks may not perform an arrest if a customer refuses to have their receipt checked.^{[citation needed]}

Anti-shoplifting options

Closed circuit television

CCTV monitoring is an important anti shoplifting method. Retailers focused on loss prevention often devote most of their resources to this technology.

Electronic article surveillance

Electronic article surveillance is second only to CCTV in popularity amongst retailers looking for inventory protection. EAS refers to the security tags that attach to a garment and cause an alarm to sound when removed from the store.

Phony shoppers

Loss Prevention personnel will patrol the store acting as if they are real shoppers. They may try on merchandise and browse the racks, all the while looking for signs of shoplifting and looking for possible shoplifters. Many large retail companies utilize this technique, and will watch a shoplifter conceal an item then stop them after they have exited the store.

Uniformed guards

Mostly used by high end retail establishments. The presence of a uniformed guard acts as a deterrent to shoplifting activity.

Exit inspections

Costco shoppers are familiar with this. No shopping cart gets out the door until its contents are compared against the register tape. In most of the US, however, shoppers are under no obligation to accede to a search unless the employee has reasonable grounds to suspect shoplifting.^[2]^[3]

Close customer service

Floor attendants are instructed to greet, follow, and offer help with their shopping. Shoplifters are not comfortable with this attention and will go somewhere else where they can work unnoticed.

BOB mirrors

Bottom of basket mirrors are commonly used in grocery stores where the check out lanes are close together and the cashier might be unable to see the entire basket to ensure there are no items being unpaid for.

Locked merchandise

Some merchandise will be in a locked case requiring an employee to get items at a customer's request. The customer is either required to purchase the merchandise immediately or it is left at the checkout area for the customer to purchase when finishing shopping. This prevents the customer from having a chance to conceal the item.

Another formed of locked merchandise is especially popular with liquor. A secure, store- administered hard-plastic cap is placed on the regular bottle top that cannot be removed without a store key. Once it is purchased the clerk will remove it, otherwise the shoplifter must struggle to open the bottle as the cap is designed to be extremely difficult to remove.

Personnel policy

The choice of store and security personnel can strongly affect the ability of shoplifters to succeed. All personnel must be trained in the techniques shoplifters use to steal merchandise and the proper actions to take.

Famous cases

Probably the most famous legal case involving shoplifting occurred in 2001 when actress Winona Ryder was arrested for shoplifting at Saks Fifth Avenue department store in Beverly Hills, California. Ryder was eventually convicted of misdemeanor theft and vandalism.^[4] In 2003, Will & Grace actress Shelley Morrison (who played Rosario Salazar) was arrested for shoplifting at a Robinsons-May store in California; the charges were later dropped. In early 2006, former White House aide Claude Allen was arrested for an alleged return scam at a Target store in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Jean Eaton, while mayor of Albert Lea, MN, was accused of stealing hundreds of dollars worth of clothing from Marshall Field's stores in Rochester, Edina and St. Cloud in an alleged clothing swap scam. Eaton had claimed that police acted illegally when they executed a search warrant that gathered evidence used to support a felony theft charge against her. Eaton later reached a plea agreement with Olmsted County prosecutor's by entering into an adult diversion program, which includes restitution, and possibly community service to have the felony charges dropped.

Kleptomania

Some shoplifters (who are almost invariably - and erroneously - labelled as suffering from kleptomania) are persons who clinical investigator Dr. Will Cupchik has labelled 'Atypical Theft Offenders'. These usually honest persons may steal in response to personally meaningful losses and/or other stressors. His book, Why Honest People Shoplift or Commit Other Acts of Theft (2002) provides data and conclusions of two studies conducted by Dr. Cupchik, as well as assessment and treatment methods. The major reasons that these persons should not be labelled as kleptomaniacs has to do with the fact that there are virtually always external triggering events that can be identified as just preceding the theft activity, and the fact that the stealing is virtually always an act of vengeance carried out in anger (although seldom recognized as such by the offender). The existence of an external trigger and the feelings of anger and desire for vengeance are factors that, according to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, would exclude the diagnosis of 'kleptomania'.

Shoplifting in Popular Culture

Morrissey, along with his band The Smiths, wrote a song entitled "Shoplifters of the World Unite", with a pro-shoplifting theme.

References

Abbie Hoffman (2002). Steal This Book. Four Walls Eight Windows. ISBN 1-56858-217-X.

Books

Budden, M. C., "Preventing Shoplifting Without Being Sued", 1999, ISBN 1567201199
Christman, J. H., "Shoplifting;Managing the Problem", 2006, ISBN 1887056634
Hayes, R., "Retail Security and Loss Prevention", 1991, ISBN 0570690380
Horan, D.J., "The Retailer's Guide to Loss Prevention and Security", 1996, ISBN 084938110X
Kimieckik, R., C., "Loss Prevention Guide for Retail Businesses", 1995, ISBN 0471076368
Sennewald, C.,A., "Shoplifters vs Retailers", 2000, ISBN 1890035181
Thomas, C., "Loss Prevention in the Retail Business", 2005, ISBN 0471723215