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September 2, 2010
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Shopping for Free
Published December 20, 2009
The experts say the high these people get from their behavior is a little like successfully running the gauntlet. There are risks to face during the run but an emotional high second to none when they reach the other side.
So is the act of shoplifting to a true shoplifting addict.
The tension experienced during the act of choosing an item, concealing it and making it through the checkout without being detected produces an excitement that is similar to the high achieved by a drug addict. And it’s that high that keeps them going back again and again — even after being caught.
“We arrested a woman in Loganville who had a couple of dozen convictions — in Winder, DeKalb County, all over — but she was here shoplifting again,” said Maj. Dick Lowry, of the Loganville Police Department. “It’s one of those crimes where there are many repeat offenders.”
Lowry said, however, not all shoplifters are addicts — some are hardened criminals to which shoplifting is almost a version of organized crime. The city is still holding onto evidence confiscated in a recent case where the shoplifting ring was a family business, with the family members working several different locations. The business, however, came to an end in Loganville and the perpetrators are now in prison.
“The goods are still in our evidence room because we can’t find where they were stolen from,” Lowry said. “They were probably concealed inside other packaging when they were removed so without the scan it is difficult to find out which store they came from.”
The crime of shoplifting is defined as “the act of larceny in a shop” and while people tend to think of shoplifting as someone concealing an item in a purse or pocket, there are in fact many different ways of stealing the goods.
Some shoplifters conceal some of the items and pay for others as they exit; others conceal some items inside the packaging of an item they are paying and others omit to scan everything at the self check-out register. Also considered shoplifting is the act of switching a more expensive label and replacing it with a lower price tag, returning an already shoplifted item for cash or even knowingly using counterfeit money to purchase items, as in the case that happened in Loganville last month.
“The problem is with technology it is becoming increasingly more difficult to identify a forgery,” Lowry said. “The counterfeiters use real notes that are bleached and then re-printed with a higher denomination — like using a $1 bill for $100. But people are a little more suspicious of $100 bills. That is what happened in the case at Wal-Mart in Loganville.
“These are usually organized groups but that case is still under investigation.”
Types of shoplifter
According to the National Association of Shoplifting Prevention, there are two distinct types of shoplifters — the professional shoplifter and the non-professional shoplifter.
The professional is someone who shoplifts as a way to get money — either to feed a drug habit or for re-sale to support a lifestyle. According to the NASP, these individuals generally lack conscience or guilt and frequently commit other types of crimes.
The non-professional shoplifter includes the shoplifting addict and includes a majority of shoplifters. The non-professional shoplifter steals for a variety of reasons, mostly related to common life situations and a personal inability to cope. They include people who are depressed, frustrated, anxious, influenced by peers, thrill seekers or just plain kleptomaniacs.
According to the NASP, this type of shoplifting is rarely about greed or poverty but more about personal conflicts and needs. They rarely plan the theft in advance and never try to sell the item for profit and while they might have a prior record for shoplifting, they rarely commit other types of crimes. The behavior is more related to a psychological problem than criminal intent.
Cost to consumer, retailer
The NASP puts shoplifting as one of the most prevalent crimes in the United States today with about 550,000 shoplifting incidents taking place every day, resulting in more than $13 billion worth of goods stolen from retailers each year. That puts the losses per day at $35 million. More than 10 million people have been caught shoplifting in America in the last five year.
Estimates have one in every 11 Americans involved in some form of shoplifting, with shoplifters reportedly only getting caught once in every 49 times they steal and even then only 50 percent of those caught are ever prosecuted.
The large retail corporations, such as Wal-Mart, have asset protection divisions that work to reduce the cost as much as possible, also employing loss protection managers for each store and a greeter at each exit to ensure large visible items have been paid for and returns are items that were genuinely purchased. These costs are passed on to consumers in the long run. There is also the cost of surveillance equipment and staff to man such equipment — another cost eventually borne by the consumer.
Wal-Mart corporate spokesperson Anna Taylor said the company takes asset protection very seriously.
“Criminal activity takes place in every community and we work with law enforcement in all the communities to protect our assets,” Taylor said, adding it was not company policy to disclose just what procedures are in place to accomplish this.
Law enforcement and large retailers recently created the Law Enforcement Retail Partnership Network to help deal with the shoplifting problem and Wal-Mart is one of the companies that subscribes to the database along with Kohl's, Target and several other large retail outlets.
Cost to law enforcement, taxpayer
According to the NASP, even with all the advances in security measures, shoplifters are caught less than half the time and of those caught, about half are only prosecuted. This is due, in part, to the fact there is a trend away from shoplifter apprehension and prosecution by retailers, law enforcement and the courts as a way to cope with increasing costs, time issues and legal liability. Even so, reported shoplifting offenses are currently on the rise according to the FBI Crime Index.
Walton County District Attorney Ken Wynne said statistics in Walton County reflect this trend.
“Last year, we opened 29 shoplifting cases in Walton County,” said Wynne. “This year, so far we’ve opened 59. These are just superior court cases and do not include cases prosecuted in the municipal courts.”
Wynne said he doesn’t have the resources to separate the cost of prosecution to the court system and even then in many instances the superior courts only get a prosecution after the first two or three have been handled in the municipal or magistrate court. He said the time and resources invested in a shoplifting case would, however, obviously be less than what is required for a murder case.
Lowry said up until last week the Loganville Police Department had arrested 102 people on shoplifting charges, about half of them teenagers. Lowry said going to the retail outlet, picking up the individual accused of shoplifting and processing the paperwork does take up valuable police resources that could be put to good use elsewhere.
“We have had instances where we’ve had three or four cases on the same day,” Lowry said. “We would just get back from one case and would have to go back to the store on another.”
In some instances, if the shoplifted items are less than $300, or first offenses, the cases are handled as misdemeanors in a lower court. However, repeat offenses within a certain timeframe or amounts larger than $300 are considered felonies and subject to stiffer penalties.
Cost to the criminal
Shoplifters, especially teenagers, don’t think of the possible consequences of their actions. If caught, in many cases it leads to public humiliation by being detained by the authorities and sometimes escorted out in handcuffs. Multiple shoplifting offenses can earn a criminal record, which affect job opportunities or college applications and even those who are caught but not prosecuted can have their names placed in a database that other employers have access to, prevent job opportunities in the future.
There is also the possibility of civil prosecution by the company that experienced the loss, even if the perpetrator has already been charged criminally. Lowry said this is allowed under Georgia law and often the shoplifter believes he or she is dealing with the criminal case and pays up, believing that will resolve the matter.
“In reality, this civil remedy has nothing to do with the criminal case,” Lowry said, adding he was not aware if they could actually take someone to court if they didn’t pay but pointing to Georgia legislation that allows for “an owner’s right of action for damage to or theft involving personal property.”
Much of the information and statistics contained in this story were provided by the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention, a non-profit organization at www.shoplifting prevention.org.
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