Brazen Shoplifting Teams Put Store Employees and Public At Risk
Charlotte NC June 18 2019
Dozens of snatch and grab thefts have occurred across the U.S. since the first of the year and many believe that it’s just the beginning to a new wave of large scale shoplifting.
Richard A. McCann, a 45-year law enforcement and public safety professional and founder of Private Officer International stated Monday that it’s ridiculous to think that a group of people can scoop up thousands of dollars of merchandise and walk out without ever being confronted by an employee of the store.
While some are part of larger Organized Retail Criminal teams, most are just local people who have heard about the changes in some area laws and the lack of prosecution by some retailers, McCann said.
These theft teams are shoplifting large quantities of merchandise at retailers across the country and they are growing and recent changes in the law and in some prosecutor office policies have fueled some of the increase, retail investigators and store owners say.
One of the latest theft incident occurred just two days ago in Vacaville California at an outlet store.
The thieves took their time gathering merchandise as store employees stood by and watched.
“They’re not trained for this kind of thing,” said Steve Reed, former head of security at Arden Fair Mall.
The robbery was caught on cell phone video. The thieves walked into the Tommy Hilfiger outlet store and casually started packing bags with merchandise. Then the criminals strolled through the front door, grabbing as much clothing as they could carry.
“It’s pretty bad… I mean stores have insurance but still, that’s a lot of money,” said Vacaville resident Crios Tobal.
Police say the thieves took off with more than $8,000 worth of items.
Reed says more and more retailers are adopting policies that prohibit workers from intervening in crimes.
“There’s so much liability involved if you interfere. And then we’ve had occasions where people actually had weapons like guns and knives,” Reed said.
He says criminals are starting to catch on to this trend — and it could be why these slow-moving thieves didn’t seem too concerned about the repercussions.
A security officer at Dicks Sporting Goods tried to stop a group of brazen thieves at Solano Town Center Mall as they scooped up armloads of clothing and headed for the door. Video shows the group threatening the security officer during the May theft and telling him to back off and that he better not touch them.
The security officer tried detaining several of them, even knocking merchandise to the ground but the thieves retrieve it before running into a waiting vehicle. (Video- https://youtu.be/e58z8gxNtEs)
A security officer stopping six shoplifters at a northern Virginia mall was injured in April as they fled from several stores with thousands of dollars’ worth of stolen goods.
Police said that they may be part of a larger group operating along the I-95 corridor.
Police responded to a Victoria Secret’s store in a Pennsylvania mall in February after a large group of more than a dozen, entered and overwhelmed store employees as they took more than $6000 of merchandise without ever trying to conceal what they were doing. They didn’t even try to cover up their face, police reported.
Other incidents this year so included w Two women stuff their purses full of items from an Old Navy store and assaulted security officers out of the way as they escape.\
Five men rushed into Saks Fifth Avenue, snatched dozens of high-end handbags and flee to their getaway car parked just outside the door.
And in a very violent incident that stunned an Eastside neighborhood, a man trying to steal armfuls of items from a clothing store fatally shoots in the head a man who tried to stop him.
On March 30, Ho Lee was found with two gunshots to the head inside the Body Gear clothing store at 2816 E. 38th St. in Indianapolis. Police said a young man trying to steal items fired a handgun at Lee three times when the 36-year-old Noblesville resident confronted him. A 19-year-old woman shopping at the store was shot in the leg.
Law enforcement, security professionals and store owners strongly believe that recent diluted shoplifting laws and the lack of prosecution of retail theft has begun to give professionals and certain dishonest people a stronger reason to shoplift.
Organized theft teams no longer have to sneak around the store while concealing merchandise. Now they simply walk in, scoop up valuable merchandise and head for the door with little fear of being challenged McCann said.
In 2018, the Atlanta police department announced that officers would not respond to shoplifting incidents in certain areas of the city unless someone had either displayed a weapon or an employee had been injured.
And Suffolk D.A. Rachael Rollins recently announced that her office would no longer prosecute most shoplifting cases.
Other states have increased the threshold of felony shoplifting between $1200 and $2000. Anything less, a criminal citation for a misdemeanor is issued if the shoplifter is caught.
Jerry Stanly a retired police lieutenant and an experienced loss prevention manager who has worked in retail security for the past fourteen years sees serious problems with the reduction of penalties and the lack of commitment from prosecutors to make shoplifting crimes more of a priority.
The broken window theory as we were taught no too long ago is a real thing. Ignore small cracks in our system and you’ll soon see those cracks become bigger and bigger until the window shatters. There are serious consequences with the mentality that some of these cities and prosecutors are showing.
You’re telling these people that’s okay to steal and that there’s nothing to fear.
Sooner or later, store owners are going to fight back and then what? Will they then face prosecution for protecting their business and their employees?
