| 1 | 1 | | The sparkling red BMW screeches to a halt outside the designer menswear store |
| 2 | | and two well-dressed, well-spoken young men climb out and enter the shop. The shop |
| 3 | | staff smell money and class, and the pair are welcomed with open arms. On every floor, |
| 4 | | the two men are helped into all sorts of expensive clothes before leaving without buying |
| 5 | | anything. |
| 2 | 6 | | But one store detective isn't totally satisfied. Years of experience have left him with |
| 7 | | nagging doubts about the seemingly perfect customers. He takes down the car's |
| 8 | | registration number and calls the police. Later that day, a search of the car confirms the |
| 9 | | store detective's suspicions. In the back, police discover many of the clothes the pair tried |
| 10 | | on ('Gosh, officer, I don't know how they got there,' says one). |
| 3 | 11 | | The pair are just two of a new breed of shoplifters: people with money to spend but |
| 12 | | who want something for nothing, a million miles from the normal image of poor old |
| 13 | | ladies slipping a couple of tins of food into their shopping bags. |
| 4 | 14 | | Midas, a London shop, sells exclusive designer fashionwear, making it an obvious |
| 15 | | target for jet-set shoplifters. 'We take all the obvious precautions - security tags, putting |
| 16 | | chains on the leather clothes, keeping staff on the look-out - but it's impossible to be 100 |
| 17 | | per cent secure,' says owner Michael Turner. |
| 5 | 18 | | Losses eventually made Midas introduce security tagging systems, but Turner |
| 19 | | knows experienced shoplifters are well aware of how to get around such systems. 'It's a |
| 20 | | cat and mouse game. They want to steal; you want to stop them. The more security you |
| 21 | | have, the more of a challenge it is for them and the more of a thrill they get if they get |
| 22 | | away with it.' |
| 6 | 23 | | Liz Watts runs an agency for store detectives. Her detectives are taught to look for |
| 24 | | the common signs that betray possible shoplifters. 'The chances of walking around a |
| 25 | | corner and seeing someone stealing something are very small. Instead, store detectives |
| 26 | | will look for suspicious actions. Then they will try to put off would-be thieves by staring |
| 27 | | them out and making their presence felt.' |
| 7 | 28 | | 'It's more satisfying to make an arrest,' she continues, 'but it's more practical to put |
| 29 | | someone off because while you're in the back room charging someone, other shoplifters |
| 30 | | are having a great time in the store.' |
| 8 | 31 | | Liz knows all the common tricks, including parcels with false bottoms and using a |
| 32 | | store's own carrier bag, and ensures that her detectives are fully aware of what to look |
| 33 | | out for. 'It's a question of common sense and instinct. Most shoplifters give themselves |
| 34 | | away by constantly looking around at cameras and cashiers or staying in the same area |
| 35 | | for a long time. Others stand out from the crowd by being gene rally nervous.' |
| 9 | 36 | | Baroness Phillips, director of the Association For The Prevention Of Theft From |
| 37 | | Shops, a 9,000 -strong united front against shoplifters, says: 'Too many people say they |
| 38 | | wouldn't shoplift because they might get caught. That's a dreadful attitude to have. You |
| 39 | | shouldn't shoplift because it's wrong.' |
| 10 | 40 | | She added: 'The people who do it even though they can afford to buy things are |
| 41 | | the worst, but I am far more concerned about the victims - the shops - than I am about |
| 42 | | the people who carry out the crime. It's still theft, whoever takes the item.' |
| | | |
| | | from an article by Tony Thompson in 'Sky', April 1989 |
