Stick to the Plan

Theory and application; policy and procedures; chicken and egg. In many cases, it really doesn’t make much difference which comes first. When, for example, it comes to asset protection/loss prevention/retail security, the important thing is that there is a policy on suspected shoplifting, and that the policy is supported with written procedures and training for both security personnel and store associates.

There have been some vivid reminders lately about the importance of having – and adhering to — such operational basics. In one case, a California couple was arrested after boasting on the “Dr. Phil” TV show that they had made as much as $100,000 a year shoplifting and amassed as much as $1 million in stolen goods.

The groundwork for the couple’s arrest was laid when an associate at a Target store in Vista, Calif., identified the couple as suspects in a shoplifting case. When that employee saw the couple — identified as Laura and Matthew Eaton — on television, he called Det. Dave Hillen of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, setting in motion a September raid by the San Diego Regional Fraud Task Force involving the sheriff’s department, agents from the San Diego office of the U.S. Secret Service and other agencies.

Not all incidents are so straightforward, however. A male shopper walked out of a Broomfield, Colo., Best Buy store with merchandise a security guard suspected he hadn’t paid for.

According to news reports, the security guard followed the suspect out of the store and into the parking lot; another store asset protection employee followed and assisted when the security guard tackled the suspect. The suspect pulled a knife and in the ensuing melee, cut a store manager when she came out to determine what was going on.

The security guard and LP associate were fired for not following company procedures, which prohibit confronting suspected shoplifters outside the store.

“We have a long-standing policy that we do not address issues related to the termination of any former employee,” said Best Buy public relations manager Kelly Groehler in an e-mail to STORES.

“That said, I can tell you that employees who work in our stores are aware, and trained, on the standard operating procedures for dealing with shoplifting or theft — which include ceasing pursuit of suspected shoplifters once they exit the store. These procedures are in place first and foremost for the safety of our employees. In circumstances like these, we must cooperate with local authorities.”

Policy + training
Written store policy on shoplifting intervention plus training of security personnel will likely become part of any trial — particularly a civil trial, says Robert McCrie, professor of security management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, part of the City University of New York.

“In a discovery process for a civil action, the plaintiff will seek evidence on selection — that is, vetting, training and supervision of the personnel.” In an incident like the Best Buy confrontation, the plaintiff’s attorneys “will want to know who was the senior of the two personnel and why he didn’t stop his colleague and himself at the store’s exit. CCTV images should support suspicion of the shoplifters.”

And physical intervention may not have been required in this case, McCrie says. “If the correct procedures had been followed, the shoplifters’ vehicle could have been I.D.ed for the police.”

There are many ways to combat shoplifting, says Joe LaRocca, senior advisor, asset protection, for the National Retail Federation. “The decision to confront a shoplifter is never taken lightly, which is why retailers’ policies can vary substantially. Staffing levels, training, store location, environmental aspects of the perimeter and availability of mall security or police assistance all factor into policy decisions.”

Safety for everybody
LaRocca suggests that store associates and LP personnel carefully follow company policies and always exercise common sense before approaching people who may be stealing. “What all retailers have in common is the safety concern for their employees, customers — even shoplifters,” he says. “While it is difficult to observe a shoplifter getting away, nobody wants to have someone injured for stealing merchandise.”

Daniel J. Doyle, vice president of human resources and loss prevention administration for Bealls, says, many retailers have been forced to take “a less aggressive approach because we live in litigious times and they are just trying to reduce their risk. They balance what they could lose to shoplifting against what could be the cost” of just one settlement against them if someone were injured in a confrontation between a suspected thief and store employees.

Shoplifting, Doyle says, “is not a very palatable risk for any of us in retailing, but it comes down to: How aggressive do you want to be? What’s reasonable to you in the state in which your store is operating?”