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Super thieves

People are being checked at supermarkets and shopping malls these days for a very good reason..... Wathsala Mendis finds out why A well-dressed lady from an apparently high-class family enters a popular retail outlet at a trendy shopping mall, browses around, makes a few purchases, and pays her bill at the checkout. Before she leaves the place, the store security agent happens to check her bag in which he finds 20 bars of chocolate, unaccounted for! The woman goes red in the face, pulls out a credit card, and tries to throw her weight around, but to no avail. Hours later, she's paraded round the complex by the police much to the amusement of the crowd.

No, this is not a scene from a movie or a popular soap opera but a real-life drama that took place at a supermarket in Colombo. In fact, many would be surprised to hear that such incidents happen regularly in the most up-market sections of the city. Lucky is the shop owner who finds out, before the culprit walks confidently out the door with a bag full of unpaid-for wares.

Yes, shoplifters could be real pros, like pickpockets, and come up with the most sophisticated and unbelievable stunts. Sometimes there could be organized gangs, experienced and skilled in the art of shoplifting, even armed perhaps. Or a really creative person would go as far as handing an item of merchandise to a small child to carry it out of the store. If and when the two of them are stopped, the parent would throw a fit feigning surprise and anger at the child, who's truly innocent and an unwitting party to the crime.

The mechanics of shoplifting are aplenty. These include shopping techniques from the most unsophisticated, brazen, and thug-like grab-and-run theft to the highly professional 'crotching' or using 'booster equipment.'

One day a man walks in to a clothes' shop at Liberty Plaza with a huge backpack and seeing the place quite unattended, quickly shoves a pile of dresses in his bag. The salesgirl on duty who's seated behind the counter, hidden from his view, notices it and cries for help at which the man speeds past her and disappears into the crowd, leaving the bag behind. She, along with a few others, gives chase but the man is long gone.

Many incidents of shoplifting come under the category of walking out with goods concealed. The shoplifter could employ a variety of methods from the use of clothing to shopping bags and other hand-carriers such as ladies' handbags, attaché cases, folded umbrellas, diaper bags, baby strollers, and whatnots. If only they could talk!

Usually the person selects an item to steal and when he feels he is not being observed, simply slips the item under his clothes or in a pocket or virtually anything that could conceal the article and quietly walks out the door. Baggy coats, pants, and T shirts always come in handy. Shopping bags are another favourite of shoplifters for removing stolen merchandise. The danger lies in the assumption that goods already in a bag have been purchased, especially when customers walk around one store carrying a bag from another store.

Surveillance cameras could be used in all parts of a store except bathrooms and fitting rooms, a popular place for shoplifters to engage in their work with a feeling of security, shielded from casual observation.

In another incident a woman who appeared to be pregnant was checked by security personnel at a supermarket on suspicion, only to find a huge pocket full of stolen goods inside her preggy dress. Isn't that awesome? If you're not impressed, listen to this story. Once a well-groomed 'lady' was caught walking out of a store with 10 expensive silk dresses hidden between her legs, concealed by a large flowing skirt. Now that's what you call professionalism. Only a professional shoplifter would have the ability to 'crotch' merchandise and still walk in a normal fashion.

'Boosting' equipment is also used only by the old hands at shoplifting. Booster is a slang word for shoplifter, and to boost means to lift, to aid or to assist. Hence, booster equipment is any item including booster boxes, girdles, coats, and purses that could be used to assist the shoplifter. Incidentally, this technique is infrequently or rarely encountered in Sri Lanka, for it needs a high degree of mastery. What's more, it considerably increases the seriousness of the crime.

Diversion is another shoplifting technique. An accomplice, accomplices or the shoplifter himself would use various tactics to distract the sales clerk so that he can operate without interference. It was only last Saturday that two 'ladies' got away with some tubes of lipstick from a cosmetics shop at Majestic City. While seeking help in selecting merchandise, they had asked for a particular brand which wasn't on the the shelf. The moment the store empolyee's attention was diverted, the tubes on the nearby counter were gone. It all happened within seconds!

Sometimes customers would consume food items before paying for them. For example, a person who would bag two bars of chocolate eats one of them while shopping so that by the time he or she pays for the groceries at the checkout, there's only one bar left.

"It's usually the well-to-do people who do the most ill-to-do things," quipped a shop manager at Majestic City, referring to those who resort to shoplifting even when they could well afford to pay for the items. Occasionally, you do find the type who do it just for the heck of it or compulsive thieves such as kleptomaniacs.

Whatever the motive behind their action, what these people should realize is that ultimately it's the poor staff who have to bear the brunt since they have to make good the loss. The staff has no time to sit back, relax, or even to take a short breather, especially during the festive seasons. What's more, they're constantly under pressure from the management. It's a very stressful and strenuous job. Coughing up money from their hard-earned salary to pay for another's misdeed is the last thing they want to do.

One has to be extremely careful and tactful in dealing with a shoplifter because the slightest mistake could backfire. There's a right and a wrong way to detain such a person. The right way specifies the following steps:

1. You must see the person approach the merchandise.

2. You must see the person take possession of the merchandise.

3. You must see where the person conceals it.

4. You must maintain an uninterrupted surveillance to ensure that the person doesn't dispose of the merchandise.

5. You must see the person failing to pay for the merchandise.

6. You should approach the person outside the store.

In some cases, the offender is made to pay for the stolen items while in most of the cases, he or she is handed over to the police. When minors are involved, they're sometimes let off with a strict warning. In other instances, the security and staff let loose their anger by simply beating-up the person.

Shoplifting is a crime. But do store security officers or the staff, have the authority to use physical force on a person they believe has shoplifted, which could often lead to a lawsuit against the owner? On the other hand, if no force is allowed, wouldn't it be an invitation for would-be shoplifters that they could steal with impunity? Either way, it's unpleasant. Therefore, the golden rule here -as with many a disease- is 'prevention is better than cure.'

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