An Organized Retail Theft Story

Broad & Liberty ran my piece on organized retail theft. You can read the piece via the link below or the below text:

 Paul Davis: An organized retail theft story

In my last piece here, I covered organized retail theft. A young woman read my piece and contacted me to tell her story.

The young woman, who called herself “Mary,” as she didn’t want to reveal her true identity, spoke to me about the time she worked as a manager for an upscale woman’s clothing store in Philadelphia a few years back. The store was plagued with shoplifters, both singular and in organized groups. 

One early evening, a group of four people, two women and two men, who looked to be in their late 20s or early 30s, entered the store. Mary was suspicious, believing the four people were clearly intent on shoplifting. She could tell, she said, as she had worked in retail clothing stores for many years and had seen many shoplifters set up to ply their criminal trade.  

The four people mulled around the store, exchanging glances to one another but never speaking to each other. Mary stepped out from behind the counter and walked towards the door. With an undetected signal, the four people tore clothing items in hangers off the racks, bundled them in their arms and charged towards the door. Mary was knocked down by the first two shoplifters barging through the door, but she was back on her feet and grabbed the third shoplifter and pushed the woman back into the store. 

As she was grappling with the woman, the last of the four shoplifters pushed her away from the shoplifting woman, allowing her to escape out the door, followed closely by the man. The store’s security guard was in the men’s room, and did see or hear what was happening, Mary said, but a store employee that Mary called “John,” ran out the door and tackled the last of the four shoplifters running away in the parking lot. 

The shoplifter was a wiry and slippery man, but John had been a high school football player, and he held on tight to the shoplifter until the police, who had been called by Mary, arrived. 

The shoplifter was arrested as the expensive clothing that he had attempted to steal totaled more than $1,500. The police took statements from Mary and John and the other store employees and customers. They took the stolen items as evidence, explaining to Mary that the items would be returned to the store, once the case was closed. 

Both Mary and John sustained minor injuries from their physical encounters with the shoplifters, but they declined to visit the hospital and did not report the injuries to the clothing store company and did not seek compensation or reward of any kind.

And the clothing company’s response to their dedicated and brave employees?

They fired them.

As Mary explained to me, both she and John violated the company’s policy of not interfering with shoplifters in any way. She said that the company had set aside a certain amount in its business plan for shoplifting losses, but it feared lawsuits, even from offending shoplifters. 

Mary felt bad for John, who only followed her lead in attempting to stop the shoplifters, and she tried to save his job, but to no avail. 

The upside to the story is that the arrested shoplifter took a plea and ratted out his partners in the organized shoplifter ring. The other three shoplifters were arrested and they in turn pleaded guilty.      

Although I sympathize with Mary and John, I understand the store’s policy. Store managers and employees are not trained to apprehend solo shoplifters or groups of shoplifters. Even hired security guards have limited training and their instructions regarding apprehending shoplifters vary from store to store. Grappling with shoplifters can be dangerous and the employees can be seriously injured.

Store employees like Mary and John run the risk of not only being injured, they also risk being arrested themselves for assault and false imprisonment. And yes, the accused shoplifter can sue both the store and the individual employees.     

Store employees should consider that the shoplifters might turn violent if one attempts to stop them from leaving the store with stolen items. All too often, the shoplifter is mentally ill and homeless. Attempting to stop shoplifters can cause the accused thief to use a gun, knife or other weapon to avoid being caught.  

Stores are, and should be, more concerned with employee security and safety than the loss of products through shoplifting. Generally, insurance companies can cover the loss of stolen items but may not cover employee medical expenses or legal bills if they intervene and attempt to apprehend shoplifters.    

Stores should ideally hire guards from security companies that train the guards to apprehend shoplifters and hold them until the police arrive to make an arrest. 

One way many stores have adapted to the shoplifting threat is to place many items in locked glass cases so the shoplifters cannot grab the items easily and run out of the store. 

The downside of this is that legitimate customers often have to wait ten minutes or more for a store employee to unlock the case for them. And the extra cost of this service, of course, is passed on to the customer.

Paul Davis, a Philadelphia writer and frequent contributor to Broad + Liberty, also contributes to Counterterrorism magazine and writes their online Threatcon column. He also writes an online Crime Beat column. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com