Shoplifting is
theftIn common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...
of goods from a
retailRetail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
establishment. It is one of the most common
property crimeProperty crime is a category of crime that includes, among other crimes, burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, shoplifting, and vandalism. Property crime only involves the taking of money or property, and does not involve force or threat of force against a victim...
s dealt with by
policeThe police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
and
courtA court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
s.
Most shoplifters are amateurs; however, there are people and groups who make their living from shoplifting, and they tend to be more skilled. Generally, criminal theft involves taking possession of property illegally. In the case of shoplifting, though, customers are allowed by the property owner to take physical possession of the property (holding it in their hands or in a shopping cart controlled by them, for instance). This leaves areas of ambiguity that could criminalize some people for simple mistakes (such as accidental hiding of a small item or forgetting to pay). That is one of the reasons that penalties for shoplifting are generally lower than those for general theft. However, in practice most stores are aware of the hazards of making a false arrest and are instructed to be sure there is no doubt (ambiguity) before they make the arrest. Trained staff know the basics, observe the person, observe the item, observe the concealment (theft), keep constant unrestricted contact with the shoplifter, wait until the shoplifter leaves the store - make the arrest. As for penalties being less for shoplifter vs for "general" theft, in most states there is no specific "shoplifting" law; rather, shoplifting is charged simply as "theft". If the dollar amount of the item stolen is low it is a lower (less serious) theft crime. If the dollar value is higher, it is a more serious theft crime.
Economic impact and response from shops
Retailers report that shoplifting has a 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. Observers believe that industry shoplifting numbers are over half of by employee theft or fraud and the rest by patrons. Of course, if apprehended during the shoplifting the merchandise is generally recovered by the retailers and there is often no loss to the store owner when the merchandise is surrendered to the store by the suspects. In addition, in many states retailers have the right to recover civil damages to cover the cost of providing security.
According to a December 23, 2008 article in the
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the "PG," is the largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.-Early history:...
, Dimperio's Market, the only full service grocery store in the
HazelwoodHazelwood is a neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is represented on by Douglas Shields. It is bordered by Greenfield and Oakland on the north, Squirrel Hill and Glen Hazel on the east, and the Monongahela River on the south and west...
neighborhood of Pittsburgh,
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, is closing because of shoplifters.
Legal aspects
Shoplifting is considered a form of theft and is subject to prosecution.
In the state of
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and in most cases the rest of the United States, store employees and managers have certain powers of arrest. Store officials may detain for investigation (for a reasonable length of time), the person who they have probable cause to believe is attempting to take or has unlawfully taken merchandise. At the very least, staff usually have
citizen's arrestA citizen's arrest is an arrest made by a person who is not acting as a sworn law-enforcement official. In common law jurisdictions, the practice dates back to medieval Britain and the English common law, in which sheriffs encouraged ordinary citizens to help apprehend law breakers.Despite the...
powers.
Title 13, Chapter 5, of the California Penal Code Section 490.5(f)(1) allows an employee to detain a suspected shoplifter for a reasonable amount of time.
Generally, in the United States, the store employees who detain suspects outside of and inside the store premises are allowed by state statute limited powers of arrest and have the power to initiate criminal arrests or civil sanctions, or both, depending upon the policy of the retailer and the state statutes governing civil demands and civil recovery for shoplifting as reconciled with the criminal laws of the jurisdiction.
Retailers in the United States may have the authority under state laws to request
Civil Recovery Demands (Shoplifting)Retailers in the 50 States of the United States have the authority under state laws, that have been passed within the past several decades to demand civil damages by letter notice from apprehended shoplifters. A conviction for shoplifting is not a prerequisite to the civil demand for damages by...
.
Anti-shoplifting options
Shoplifting may be prevented and detected. Both options contribute to sound strategies.
Closed circuit television
Closed-circuit televisionClosed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
(CCTV) monitoring is an important anti-shoplifting technology. Retailers focusing on loss prevention often devote most of their resources to this technology. Using CCTVs to apprehend shoplifters in the act requires full-time human monitoring of the cameras.
Sophisticated CCTV systems discriminate the scenes to detect and segregate suspicious behaviour from numerous screens and to enable automatic alerting. However, the attentiveness of the surveillance personnel may be threatened by false reliance on automatics.
CCTV is more effective if used in conjunction with
electronic article surveillanceElectronic article surveillance is a technological method for preventing shoplifting from retail stores or pilferage of books from libraries. Special tags are fixed to merchandise or books. These tags are removed or deactivated by the clerks when the item is properly bought or checked out...
(EAS) systems. The EAS system will warn of a potential shoplifter and the video may provide evidence for prosecution if the shoplifter is allowed to pass checkout points or leave store premises with unbought merchandise.
Electronic article surveillance
Electronic article surveillanceElectronic article surveillance is a technological method for preventing shoplifting from retail stores or pilferage of books from libraries. Special tags are fixed to merchandise or books. These tags are removed or deactivated by the clerks when the item is properly bought or checked out...
(EAS) is second only to CCTV in popularity amongst retailers looking for inventory protection. EAS refers to the security tags that are attached to merchandise and cause an alarm to sound on exiting the store. Regularly, even when an alarm does sound, a shoplifter walks out casually and is not confronted if no guards are present. This is due to the high number of false alarms, especially in malls, due to "tag pollution" whereby non-deactivated tags from other stores set off the alarm.
This can be overcome with newer systems and a properly trained staff. Some new systems either do not alarm from "tag pollution" or they produce a specific alarm when a customer enters the store with a non-deactivated tag so that store personnel can remove or deactivate it so it does not produce a false alarm when exiting the store. However, with tags that are stuck onto merchandise with glue (rather than being superimposed on) the shoplifter can easily scrape off the tag in their pocket.
Loss prevention personnel
Loss preventionRetail loss prevention is a form of private investigation into larceny or theft. The focus of such investigations generally includes shoplifting, package pilferage, embezzlement, credit fraud, and check fraud...
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 use this technique, and will watch a shoplifter conceal an item then stop them after they have exited the store. These types of personnel must follow a strict set of rules because of very high liability risks. Many big retail or grocery stores like
Wal-MartWal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
,
Rite AidRite Aid is a drugstore chain in the United States and a Fortune 500 company headquartered in East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania, near Camp Hill. Rite Aid is the largest drugstore chain on the East Coast and the third largest drugstore chain in the U.S....
,
ZellersZellers Inc. is Canada's second-largest chain of mass merchandise discount stores, with locations in communities across Canada. A subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Company , it has 273 locations across the country....
,
LoblawsLoblaws is a supermarket chain with over 70 stores in Canada, headquartered in Brampton, with stores across Ontario and Quebec. Loblaws is a division of Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada's largest food distributor...
, etc. have a loss prevention officer to keep an eye out for shoplifters. Most of these stores use secret codes to alert management, LPs and associates of shoplifters. LP is a very crucial job in that they act as an ordinary shopper and have to follow the suspects all around the store by foot or by joining the cameras, and watch every move the person makes so that they don't face a lawsuit for apprehending the wrong person.
Uniformed guards
The presence of uniformed guards acts as a deterrent to shoplifting activity and they are mostly used by high-end retail establishments. However they are also used in stores like
TargetTarget Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
and
Wal-MartWal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
.
Exit inspections
Shoppers in some stores are asked when leaving the premises to have their purchases checked against the
register tapeA receipt is a written acknowledgment that a specified article or sum of money has been received as an exchange for goods or services. The receipt is evidence of purchase of the property or service obtained in the exchange.-Printed:...
.
CostcoCostco Wholesale Corporation is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States. it is the third largest retailer in the United States, where it originated, and the ninth largest in the world...
and BestBuy are well known companies that employ this tactic. However, this is voluntary, as the store cannot legally detain the shopper unless they have
probable causeIn United States criminal law, probable cause is the standard by which an officer or agent of the law has the grounds to make an arrest, to conduct a personal or property search, or to obtain a warrant for arrest, etc. when criminal charges are being considered. It is also used to refer to the...
to suspect the shopper of shoplifting.
Brazil
Shoppers in Brazil often have to leave their bags at the door on entering a store, and to receipt inspections when leaving. At popular restaurants called "comida a quilo" (food by the kilogram), it is usual to ask customers to return a "bilhete de liberdade" (liberty ticket) to the doorman. This is handed to the shopper along with the receipt for the customer to return to the doorman at the exit, which is usually only a couple metres away.
USA
In all 50 states, shoppers are under no actual obligation to accede to such a search unless the employee has reasonable grounds to suspect shoplifting, and arrests the customer or takes or looks at the receipt from the customer without violating any laws or if the customer has signed a membership agreement which stipulates that customers will subject themselves to inspections before taking the purchased merchandise from the store. In the cases of
Sam's ClubSam's Club is a chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. , the Sam's Club chain serves more than 47 million U.S. members...
and
CostcoCostco Wholesale Corporation is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States. it is the third largest retailer in the United States, where it originated, and the ninth largest in the world...
, the contracts merely say that it is their policy to check receipts at the exit or that they "reserve the right". That wording does not specify the results of non-compliance by the customer, and since they did not have a right to re-check receipts in the first place, it may not be legally binding at all. The purchaser who holds the receipt owns the merchandise. Employees who harass, assault, touch, or detain customers or take their purchased merchandise may be committing torts or crimes against the customers.
Close customer service
Floor attendants are instructed to greet, follow, and offer help with customer shopping. Shoplifters are not comfortable with this attention and may go somewhere else where they can work unnoticed.
BOB mirrors
Bottom of basket mirrors are commonly used in grocery stores where the checkout lanes are close together and the cashier might be unable to see the entire basket to ensure payment of all items.
Locked merchandise
Some expensive 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 way of locking merchandise, especially popular in liquor stores, is to place a secure, store-administered hard-plastic cap on a regular bottle top. Once purchased the clerk will remove the cap with a store key. It is not otherwise easily removable.
Many stores also lock CDs and DVDs and Video games in locking cases, which can only be opened by the checkout operator once the item has gone through the checkout.
Dummy cases
Some stores will use dummy cases, also known as "dead boxes", where the box or case on the shelf is entirely empty and the customer will not be given the item they have paid for until the transaction has been completed, usually by other Store staff. Some stores have been known to take this idea further by filling the dummy cases or boxes with a weight, similar to the weight of the actual item by using a weight specially made to fit inside the box. This causes the shoplifter to think that the box is full, trying to steal it and ending up with nothing. This is especially popular in movie rental stores such as Blockbuster. This can, however, cause issues as at these stores the merchandise may not be new as a employee may have taken the merchandise themselves. This is rather problematic at stores such as GameStop.
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.
Test shoppers
Test shopping is a strategy to test the detection means in a shop. Subject of testing is primarily the alertness of surveillance staff and of the staff operating in the shopping areas.
Notable cases
In 1897, accused murderer,
Lizzie Borden again got media attention when she was accused of shoplifting.
In 1990 Major League Baseball umpire
Bob EngelRobert Allen Engel is a former professional baseball umpire who worked for in the National League from 1965 to 1990. Engel was an umpire in the 1972, 1979, and 1985 World Series. He worked four Major League Baseball All-Star Games, and six National League Championship Series. In his career, Engel...
was caught stealing over 4,000 Score baseball cards from a Target store in Bakersfield, California. He pled guilty and resigned as an umpire.
In 2001, actress
Winona RyderWinona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
was arrested for shoplifting at
Saks Fifth AvenueSaks Fifth Avenue is a luxury American specialty store owned and operated by Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises , a subsidiary of Saks Incorporated. It competes in the high-end specialty store market in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, i.e. 'the 3 B's' Bergdorf, Barneys, Bloomingdale's and Lord & Taylor...
department storeA department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
in
Beverly Hills, CaliforniaBeverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
. Ryder was eventually convicted of misdemeanor theft and vandalism and will be eligible for expungement of the conviction after finishing probation. Ryder was originally convicted by a jury of felony larceny/vandalism and was sentenced in a nationally televised California Superior Court proceeding in December 2002.
In 2003,
Will & GraceWill & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
actress
Shelley MorrisonShelley Morrison is an American actress. Early in her career, she was sometimes credited as Rachel Domínguez. Morrison has been a theater and television actress since the early 1960s, predominantly as a character actress in ethnic roles...
(who played
Rosario SalazarRosario Inés Consuelo Yolanda Salazar McFarland is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Will & Grace. She is played by actress Shelley Morrison...
) was arrested for shoplifting at a
Robinsons-MayRobinsons-May was a chain of department stores operating in Southern California, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada, previously with headquarters in North Hollywood, California...
store in
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
; the charges were later dropped.
In early 2006, former
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
aide
Claude AllenClaude Alexander Allen was the Assistant to the President of the United States for Domestic Policy in George W. Bush's White House and a withdrawn Bush judicial nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The African-American Republican was appointed to his White House...
was arrested for an alleged
return scamRefund theft, also known as refund fraud, refund scam or whitehouse scam, is crime which involves returning goods to a retailer in exchange for money or other goods.The goods returned may be stolen, or they may be damaged goods recovered from a dumpster. The return provides cash or an exchange for...
at a
TargetTarget Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
store in
Gaithersburg, MarylandGaithersburg is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The city had a population of 59,933 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth largest incorporated city in the state, behind Baltimore, Frederick, and Rockville...
.
In August 2010,
Rudy GiulianiRudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
's daughter Caroline was arrested for stealing five beauty items worth about $100 from a
SephoraSephora is a chain of cosmetics stores founded in France in 1970 and acquired by Paris-based conglomerate LVMH in 1997. The Sephora chain includes more than 750 stores in 17 countries...
store in
ManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. She was later offered a dismissal in return for a day of community service and six months without a further offense. Ironically, Rudy Giuliani - a former Republican candidate for President, former Mayor of New York City, and former
United States AttorneyUnited States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
- is known in the law enforcement community for being a proponent of
zero toleranceZero tolerance imposes automatic punishment for infractions of a stated rule, with the intention of eliminating undesirable conduct. Zero-tolerance policies forbid persons in positions of authority from exercising discretion or changing punishments to fit the circumstances subjectively; they are...
, where police are told to arrest petty criminals as a way to deter major crimes.
In April 2011 Cincinnati Reds pitcher
Mike LeakeMichael Raymond Leake , is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds. He bats and throws right-handed...
was caught shoplifting $59 worth of apparel from a Macy's store in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.
See also
- Book store shoplifting
Book store shoplifting is a problem for book sellers and has sometimes led stores to keep certain volumes behind store counters.Shoplifters at book stores, also known as book shops, may be either amateur or professional thieves...
- Civil recovery
-United Kingdom:In the legal systems of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom, civil recovery is claimed by retailers to enable the retailer's claims handling agent to recover, in civil proceedings before the High Court or Court of Session, property which is, or represents, property...
- Exit control lock
An exit control lock, also known as an exit control device, exit lock, or simply an exit control, prevents or deters unauthorized exit.-Typical uses:...
- Fence (criminal)
A fence is an individual who knowingly buys stolen property for later resale, sometimes in a legitimate market. The fence thus acts as a middleman between thieves and the eventual buyers of stolen goods who may or may not be aware that the goods are stolen. As a verb, the word describes the...
- Kleptomania
Kleptomania is an irresistible urge to steal items of trivial value. People with this disorder are compelled to steal things, generally, but not limited to, objects of little or no significant value, such as pens, paper clips, paper and tape...
- Larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the wrongful acquisition of the personal property of another person. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of England into their own law. It has been abolished in England and Wales,...
- Loss prevention
Retail loss prevention is a form of private investigation into larceny or theft. The focus of such investigations generally includes shoplifting, package pilferage, embezzlement, credit fraud, and check fraud...
- Organized retail crime
Organized retail crime refers to professional shoplifting, cargo theft, retail crime rings and other organized crime occurring in retail environments. One person acting alone is not considered an example of organized retail crime. The FBI has estimated that the losses attributed to organized...
- Package pilferage
Pilferage is the theft of part of the contents of a package. It may also include theft of the contents but leaving the package, perhaps resealed with bogus contents. Small packages can be pilfered from a larger package such as a shipping container...
- Receipt of stolen property
- Yomango
Yomango is a shoplifting movement that originated in Barcelona in 2002. It is billed as an anti-consumer lifestyle....
- Evasion
Evasion is a book that spun off from a zine of the same name. It was published by CrimethInc. in 2003. The book comprises 108 pages of slightly revised text from the original zine along with 162 pages of new material....
, an autobiography detailing one man's shoplifting and dumpster divingDumpster diving is the practice of sifting through commercial or residential trash to find items that have been discarded by their owners, but that may be useful to the dumpster diver.-Etymology and alternate names:...
-supported travels
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