Page Six — THE GRYPHON — Thursday, February 10,1977
Area Shoplifting Explained
Shoplifting is a crime often
identified with teenagers. Cer
tainly people of all ages shoplift,
but somehow most people feel
that the teenager is the greatest
offender. Whether this be true
or false the problem exists. To
answer questions most often
asked concerning shoplifting the
Gryphon has investigated the
various aspects of this crime in
relation to the Rocky Mount
area. The foHowing retail stores
were contacted: Macks, Con
venient Food Mart, Winn Dixie,
The Book Shoppe, Bel Air
Chevrolet, K-Mart, Sears, Shoe
Show. Penny’s, Roses, J&M
Pet. Epstein’s, Bailey’s Jewel,
Day’s Inn Gift, Belk’s, Al-
mand’s Drugs, Barney’s News
Stand, Arts and Crafts, Pick
wick’s, Aimand’s-WestEnd,
Tarrytown Opticians and
Kerr’s.
spite).” Many couldn’t even say
why they had stolen.
Types
Why
Why do people shoplift?
Those persons apprehended
for shoplifting and asked this
question rarely answered, “for
need” or even “for lack of
money.” Reasons most fre
quently given were: “for kicks,
peer pressure, and personal
crusades against inflation (for
What type of person shoplifts?
In relation to age, sex, race
and economic class all types of
people shoplift. Various stores
released these varying statis
tics: 90% teenage females,
females from 12 or up, late
teens to early 20s, from nine
years to 18 years, an equal
number of blacks and whites,
eight years to 24 years, and
males in their early teens.
Apparently then, most shoplift
ers are young females from all
classes. Some stores in Rocky
Mount, mainly the larger ones,
have encountered professionals
who steal for a living. The
manager of Bel Air Chevrolet
tells an interesting story, “Two
men stole a car from here one
time by luring me out of my
office while another man took a
set of keys off my desk. We
didn’t notice the car missing
until a couple of hours later. The
car was found a week later after
the men had held up a jewelry
store. We couldn’t prosecute
because they were being held
for armed robbery.”
Similar to the professional but
less common to stores in this
area is the narcotic addict. He
differs from the professional in
that he has a more compelling
reason to steal — to support an
expensive drug habit. He is
often dangerous. Other specific
types more common to this area
are the vagrant and the
kleptomaniac. The vagrant
needs to steal occasionally so he
can convert merchandise into
food or wine. The kleptomaniac
is usually considered a sick
person with a compulsion to
steal anything for the sake of
stealing. This type of person will
accumulate large quantities of
stolen items and never use
them, or he may even give them
away.
Frequency
How frequent is shoplifting?
The frequency of shoplifting
differs greatly from store to
store. Various stores gave these
statistics: one is caught every
three months; one out of every
15 people probably steals; daily;
one is caught every one or two
weeks. One store claimed that
only one out of every 1000
shoplifters was caught.
Security
What types of security proced
ures are taken against
shoplifters?
Security procedures taken by
the stores in the Rocky Mount
area are similar. Most all use
one way mirrors with a few
using two-way mirrors. The
larger stores employ plain
clothes policemen and/or
guards and train their em
ployees to spot shoplifters.
Legality
What about warnings, prosecu
tions, and convictions?
While a few stores are
lenient, most are very strict.
Out of all the stores questioned
only two give warnings to first
offenders. One of these stores
never allows the shoplifter in
the store again. Most all the
stores prosecute those offend
ers over 16 while contacting the
parents of minors. One store
prosecutes all persons over 12.
The manager of one store
commented, “When you’re in
court it’s as if you’re on trial
(and not the shoplifter).”
Many of the stores agreed
that Nash and Edgecombe
courts are too lenient with
convictions. Too often the
offenders are given merely
suspended sentences.
Losses
What is the monetary loss to
these stores and how much of
this additional cost is passed
on to the customer?
Again the monetary losses
vary widely. Stores lose
between $1000 and $10,000 per
year or between one-half to two
per cent of their merchandise.
While most pass this additional
cost on to the customer, a few
don’t. In one store the
additional cost is passed on to
its employees for their failure to
catch the shoplifters. In most
stores between one to two per
cent of the price on each item is
additional cost due to shoplift
ing.
Kinds
What kind of shoplifting is most
prevalent?
Two types often overlooked
account for together more than
half of all shoplifting. They are
employee theft and bad checks.
Employees are in the best
situations to steal. Usually they
are trusted and they know store
procedures. It is estimated that
they account for 50% of retail
store shoplifting. Bad checks
are difficult to spot. Identifica
tion is not always required.
Signatures on checks are not
always compared to the
signatures on I.D.’s.
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