Prevent Shoplifting -3 WC blog 134
Retail Anti-Theft Devices-3
Building A Case On A Suspected Shoplifter Leads To The Arrest Of Store Break-In Suspects
With somewhere in the neighborhood of seventeen years of Retail Loss Prevention experience and thirteen or so of those years as a Loss Prevention Manager, you know there are bound to be interesting and funny stories to share. Many of those stories I have included in my articles on how to prevent shoplifting and the use of retail anti- theft devices. There are also a number of experiences I had that were interesting but did not fit into the subjects I write about. I now have the opportunity to include some of those incidents in a few articles that hopefully will make you smile or just say WOW!
One of my responsibilities as a Loss Prevention Manager was to be first on the alarm call list of our local police department. One very early morning, around 2:00am, I received a phone call from the police department that woke me out of my sound sleep. The officer said a cement block had been tossed through one of the glass front doors and officers were on the scene. I told him I would be there shortly and immediately dressed and drove the eight miles to my store. As I arrived I was met by several police officers and a crime scene investigator. We entered the store and with the front check lanes to my immediate front, right I could see one register had been pulled off of the counter and thrown to the floor. Another had been pulled apart, but it appeared the criminals got scared and left the store. I did not see any damage to retail anti-theft equipment such as our EAS antennas, which was some relief.
The police and I did a search of the building and after determining the suspects were gone, the investigator began his work taking fingerprints and photographing the crime scene. I made the required notifications to my chain of command and then began reviewing surveillance video. During my review I found the footage of the two suspects outside the building pacing, and then walking over to the neighboring hardware store where they found a cement block. Cameras were situated outside the store in such a way that the subjects were pictured selecting the block then tossing it through the door. Several cameras caught them as they entered through the opening they had made. I noticed they appeared to be teenagers; it was dark so the faces were not very clear, but one was a large kid and looked familiar to me. Video showed the larger suspect pulling up one register and slamming it to the floor, apparently in an attempt to get cash. The second suspect tugged at the other register but was unsuccessful in his effort to tear it from the counter.
It wasn’t long before the suspects looked at the doors, apparently hearing sirens, and left the building empty handed. I made copies of the videos for the police and released them to their custody. I continued to try to picture where I knew the bigger suspect from even though I could not see his face. It didn’t take too long before I realized I recognized the suspect, there had been numerous attempts by our team to prevent shoplifting by this teen and his friends. This young man had a peculiar way he walked that made him stand out. Since I had been suspicious of him I had tracked him on camera and I knew there was video footage! I pulled out those videos and sure enough, the suspect had the same particular gate to his walk that was exactly like the subject in my break-in. Because those earlier videos had great facial images, I shared my suspicions with my police partners and copied one of those videos and released it to them.
I left the store after our morning Leader On Duty Arrived and I returned to work late that morning to wrap up my reports. By 3:00pm police detectives stopped by the store to let me know that based on the videos I provided they were able to arrest the bigger suspect in a local park and he admitted to his role and gave them the name of the second suspect (it didn’t hurt that suspect number one was still wearing the clothes he had on during the break in). Suspect number two was arrested later that afternoon or the next day.
Loss Prevention work tends to focus on how to prevent shoplifting and using retail anti-theft devices to secure product but sometimes we get those unusual situations and we have to be ready to respond. They test us and make for great stories!
Need more information on how to prevent shoplifting? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
With somewhere in the neighborhood of seventeen years of Retail Loss Prevention experience and thirteen or so of those years as a Loss Prevention Manager, you know there are bound to be interesting and funny stories to share. Many of those stories I have included in my articles on how to prevent shoplifting and the use of retail anti- theft devices. There are also a number of experiences I had that were interesting but did not fit into the subjects I write about. I now have the opportunity to include some of those incidents in a few articles that hopefully will make you smile or just say WOW!
One of my responsibilities as a Loss Prevention Manager was to be first on the alarm call list of our local police department. One very early morning, around 2:00am, I received a phone call from the police department that woke me out of my sound sleep. The officer said a cement block had been tossed through one of the glass front doors and officers were on the scene. I told him I would be there shortly and immediately dressed and drove the eight miles to my store. As I arrived I was met by several police officers and a crime scene investigator. We entered the store and I could see one register had been pulled off of the counter and thrown to the floor. Another had been pulled apart, but it appeared the criminals got scared and left the store. I did not see any damage to retail anti-theft equipment such as our EAS antennas, which was some relief.
The police and I did a search of the building and after determining the suspects were gone, the investigator began his work taking fingerprints and photographing the crime scene. I made the required notifications to my chain of command and then began reviewing surveillance video. During my review I found the footage of the two suspects outside the building pacing, and then walking over to the neighboring hardware store where they found a cement block. Cameras were situated outside the store in such a way that the subjects were pictured selecting the block then tossing it through the door. Several cameras caught them as they entered through the opening they had made. I noticed they appeared to be teenagers; it was dark so the faces were not very clear, but one was a large kid and looked familiar to me. Video showed the larger suspect pulling up one register and slamming it to the floor, apparently in an attempt to get cash. The second suspect tugged at the other register but was unsuccessful in his effort to tear it from the counter.
It wasn’t long before the suspects looked at the doors, apparently hearing sirens, and left the building empty handed. I made copies of the videos for the police and released them to their custody. I continued to try to picture where I knew the bigger suspect from even though I could not see his face. It didn’t take too long before I realized I recognized the suspect, there had been numerous attempts by our team to prevent shoplifting by this teen and his friends.This young man had a peculiar way he walked that made him stand out. Since I had been suspicious of him I had tracked him on camera and I knew there was video footage! I pulled out those videos and sure enough, the suspect had the same particular gate to his walk that was exactly like the subject in my break-in. Because those earlier videos had great facial images, I shared my suspicions with my police partners and copied one of those videos and released it to them.
I left the store after our morning Leader On Duty Arrived and I returned to work late that morning to wrap up my reports. By 3:00pm police detectives stopped by the store to let me know that based on the videos I provided they were able to arrest the bigger suspect in a local park and he admitted to his role and gave them the name of the second suspect (it didn’t hurt that suspect number one was still wearing the clothes he had on during the break in). Suspect number two was arrested later that afternoon or the next day.
Loss Prevention work tends to focus on how to prevent shoplifting and using retail anti-theft devices to secure product but sometimes we get those unusual situations and we have to be ready to respond. They test us and make for great stories!
Need more information on how to prevent shoplifting? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
