Shoplifting

Retail crime costs us all. Every single theft and robbery impacts on sustainability of a business and ultimately increases the cost of goods to consumers. For some smaller business who are already dealing with tight profit margins, losing stock to thieves may force them to close their doors, forever.

What’s even more sobering is that less than 20% of retail crimes are estimated to be reported to police – with nearly 13,000 shoplifting incidents reported in South Australia during a recent 12-month period.

To help tackle this growing theft epidemic, we’ve partnered with South Australia Police and industry leaders to crack down on shoplifting and catch those responsible. There has been a significant increase in shoplifting activity across South Australia with beauty products, alcohol and expensive meat some of the main targets because they are easily concealed, high-value and in-demand.

For a basic offence in South Australia the maximum penalty for theft is 10 years imprisonment.

For an aggravated offence (such as stealing from a child under 12 years or a person over 60 years) the maximum penalty is extended to 15 years imprisonment.

South Australia now has harsher penalties for people who assault retail workers, with punishments the same as those for assaulting a police officer or paramedic.

If someone is convicted of basic assault against a worker selling goods they face up to 5 years in prison, while someone convicted of assault causing harm could be imprisoned for up to 7 years.

• Use protective devices, such as security cameras and security labels or tags
• Encourage staff to watch customers for suspicious behaviour
• Have someone monitor display counters, particularly where there are small, expensive items
• Make sure merchandise is not left lying around
• Keeping areas well lit
• Close the cash register between every transaction and removing keys from showcases.

• If you believe someone is leaving your business with stolen goods, then you have a right to conduct a bag search. The customer also has the right to refuse that request and they cannot be forced to agree, have physical force used against them or be unduly harassed into paying.

  If they refuse to have their bag searched, you may:

  • ask them to leave
  • refuse to sell them any goods
  • call for police assistance on 131 444 if you suspect they have been shoplifting.

When it comes to a shoplifter, a thief can be any race, gender, age or background — but generally they fall into two groups: amateurs and professionals. Amateur shoplifters usually steal on impulse, while professional shoplifters are more likely to work in pairs or groups, although there are still plenty who seem to work alone. They often steal to obtain a false refund for the items, have typically ‘cased out’ a store before stealing and target smaller, high-value and harder to trace items such as Lego, high-end cuts of meat and alcohol.

When looking for a shoplifter, consider the following red flags:

• Past offences – you may already be aware of specific individuals who have or have tried to steal from your store previously. Plenty of businesses now have images of known or suspected thieves in staff rooms so workers can keep an eye out.
• Atypical customers – while it’s certainly not an absolute sign of guilt, look out for people that don’t look like your ‘typical’ customer.
• Oversized clothing or big bags – someone wearing baggy clothes or carrying a big bag, such as a backpack, duffle bag, purse or grocery bag, is potentially a thief and they will use whatever means to conceal goods.
• Groups – there are plenty of thieves that work as a team, with someone distracting a worker while another member of the group steals goods. The distractor buys time by asking questions about how to find a specific item or whether something is in stock.
• Professionals – there are plenty of ‘professionals’ who spend all their time stealing, and they use more advanced tactics to take what isn’t theirs, such as carrying thin, sharp blades (like razor blades) to remove alarm tags in changing room or lining a bag with tin foil to prevent alarm tags from setting off the detectors at store exists.