Local merchants got together at the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce offices recently to find out what they could do to deal with criminal activity impacting their stores.
The activity they were concern about is shoplifting. Chamber members have long been vocal about the issue for years, an issue which has cost businesses thousands of dollars in lost merchandise.
Spearheading the setup of this meeting was Brett Payne of Canadian Tire and Janice Sander, chamber director and property manager of Frontier Centre. Both had reported their businesses and tenants have been hard-hit by a rash of shoplifting issues and they were looking for information.
“Theft is a big issue in this area,” said Payne.
At the chamber meeting Wednesday night, the audience heard from RCMP Sgt. Christopher Stephens about the enforcement aspect, from lawyer Eldon Lindgren about their stores’ legal rights, and by Harris Sutherland of Gold Eagle Casino about tips and tricks on how to deal with shoplifting.
Stephens noted the RCMP responds to active shoplifting while the other calls would be handled by the community safety officers.
He provided tips on how to assist the RCMP, including photos and videos, by considering the location and the angle of cameras when installing, by providing pictures of any scars or tattoos the suspects might have, and by gathering information on vehicles they leave with, including makes and models and directions on where the vehicle went.
Serial numbers were also a good thing to have to help police track items and notify pawnshops about them.
“To lay charges of theft is hard,” Stephens said. “You have to prove that somebody actually took that piece of merchandise and walked out of the store with it.”
He noted this was very hard to prove without serial numbers. With serial numbers “we have much more to go on,” he said.
Stephens also said it was a good idea for retailers to work together, in terms of sharing pictures and so on. He also provided some advice about the difference between a loss prevention officer versus a security guard. A security guard provides a uniformed presence to deter shoplifters, while a loss prevention officer would “blend-in” and be trained to catch shoplifters and detain them while waiting for police to arrive.
“One may be more appropriate for you than the other,” Stephens said.
Lindgren’s presentation focused on legal ramifications of what storeowners could and could not do. As some examples, they had the right to make a citizen’s arrest, and could arrest anyone who you find committing an offence. It also must be done at the time the offence is occurring.
But making a citizen’s arrest within the store poses problems, as Lindgren noted the individual could always claim they were intending to pay for the item.
“You have that right, but you want to wait until they leave the premises,” said Lindgren.
Lindgren also reminded merchants about the Human Rights Code, and to be careful of targeting people of any particular race, colour, religion, sexual orientation or other reasons.
Sutherland noted “thieves come in all shapes and sizes.” A lot of thieves would wear business attire because “they know that’s not what you guys are looking at”.
He particularly noted the problem of theft from employees. About “60 to 70 per cent of all theft is by your own employees,” said Sutherland.
For clothing thefts, he noted change rooms are a common area to put clothing on underneath their own clothes. He urged people to watch out for bags as well.
Another trick shoplifters use: the old baby-in-a-carriage trick, with the carriage being used to sneak merchandise out of the store.
“One of my cashiers went to look at the baby and there was no baby in there,” said Payne. “There was a DeWalt tool in there.”
