Prevent Shoplifting through Covert Surveillance
Loss prevention has become an inevitable phenomenon in the today’s retail world. This is because of the fact that the retail store owners suffer losses equaling to billions of dollars as a consequence of shoplifting every year. According to a report, the losses suffered from retail thefts on a per day basis are almost $35 million dollars or more. The case would be otherwise, if traditional loss prevention was working. Unfortunately, it is not working, the significance of hiring the services of security companies and the loss prevention officers has increased to a great extent.
Shoplifting is considered as one of the most unreported and least noticed crime. Stock control is so insufficient in a lot of retail stores that the store owners do not completely know about the proportion of the goods they are losing to their own staff and the shoplifters. According to statistics, the overall shrinkage in the goods is around 2-3 % of the goods sold, so the retail stores owners pay little attention to this insignificant loss.
Store loss prevention officers employ different techniques in order to effectively resolve the issue. One technique is to blend in with the customers by dressing and acting as though they are the consumers. Another technique that proves effective is to actually shop in the particular store. Store loss prevention officers have to actually look at and carry the products in the store while shopping. The store loss prevention officers must conceal any equipment that they normally have.
Normally the shoplifters do not want be noticed, so if you want to spot a shoplifter you should look them in the eyes. This is for the reason that shoplifters usually look around to confirm whether they are being watched by someone or not.
Normally when something uneven is suspected by the loss prevention officer, he suddenly startles or jumps up. This common physical action should be avoided as you will not be able to achieve your particular purpose if you do so. Another important thing to take care of is tunnel vision. Often most of the shoplifters have accomplices with him who are carefully observing the activities of a loss prevention officer. A loss prevention officer should keep his eyes open for anyone that might be pursuing the role of an accomplice. The other type of an accomplice is decoy. Accomplices usually are a little more easy to spot as they try to draw the attention of the other people by creating some sort of disturbance in the store.
The other significant thing to care for is stereotypes. Imagine the shoplifter in your mind. You may see a teenager who might be performing a dare by stealing lipstick or a filthy homeless person in the store. Most of the shoplifters on an average are middle-aged and traditionally dressed white male. It does not matter whether more teenagers are stealing things from your store, the impact would surely be less as compared to the professional shoplifter. So while training your store loss prevention officers, you must ensure that they observe everyone in the same manner when carrying out surveillance.