The Student Room Group

Shoplifters...

Well in the shop I work in we have non existent security and I'm often left on the huge shop floor by myself (No I won't mention where haha). We get quite a lot of shop lifters and I never know the laws as to what you can do/say especially if you see someone pocket an item.

Usually we ring a bell and the manager comes out and we give him a nod and he goes to them and asks them to empty their pockets etc. I thought this was illegal?

Have you ever caught a shoplifter? What did you do?

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If you catch them asked them to put back what they've taken and if they refused call the police. I can understand that it can be hard if you havn't got good security though!
Reply 2
Original post by Novis
If you catch them asked them to put back what they've taken and if they refused call the police. I can understand that it can be hard if you havn't got good security though!


Thing is though you can't say they have taken anything if they haven't left the shop and apparently your not allowed to search them so I never know what to do when I cant get my managers attention!
Reply 3
You have to see them leave without attempting to pay for it to be actual shoplifting. So if you just see someone pocket an item you can't call the police at that point - they could claim they just didn't have a basket etc.

It really depends on your store's policy what you can do. If you're going to ask them to empty their pockets etc then it is best if you have another person present too, and preferably a male if it's a male shoplifter. But sometimes that isn't possible. At my store we're not allowed to touch them (eg "frisk") or to empty their bag/pocket ourselves.

But really, prevention is better than catching them. We're taught to give good customer service - if someone is suspected we are trained to go up to them and ask if they need any help. By doing this you can prevent them doing anything, but as they have to leave the chances of you catching them at that point are small. You also need certain things to be observed or shown on CCTV for a successful conviction (ASCONE: Approach, Selection, Concealment, Observation (this one's a dodgy acronym - it means you need to watch em) non-payment and exit) so it's likely they might get let off on a technicality if they are caught.
Reply 4
me and my mate once got followed. we did loose them, but this was one of the most scariest points of my life, without fail. so i guess if you have the staff, follow them, they will freak out if their new........ lets put it this way, if never gone back in that store, and never ever done anything of that sort ever again!
The shop I worked in was exactly like this. There was a complete blind spot on one floor where no CCTV camera was pointed at, so almost every day I used to walk around there and find empty packages :rolleyes:

We didn't have many staff, and had one security guard that was forever on his phone/on lunch/chatting up the girls that worked there so he didn't do a thing and I think it became known that our shop was really easy to steal from. We had one guy that would always walk in, go straight to our multimedia section, take a Wii remote or whatever, then go straight to the lift to go downstairs...and then whenever we used to go in the lift (we had to use it to get to the staff bit) we'd see security tags stuck to the walls!

But yeah as Juno said, prevention is usually better than anything if you can do it. If you're on the shop floor and you spot someone looking a bit dodgy go up to them and ask if they need any assistance. Usually this is enough to scare them away because they know they've been spotted. If they say they don't need any help then just stay around - don't make it too obvious that you're following them though :p:

Edit: Sorry I don't know the actual laws on such things :ninja:
(edited 13 years ago)
i wouldnt have the balls to do it
Where I used to work, we couldn't chase them out the shop, but then you can't do much until they leave. What we were told to do was if we've seen them take something, say a few games, we go up to them and ask them if they need a basket for the games they've put in their bag, or if we can help them carry the games in their bag to the till so they can pay. If you make it obvious that you know what they're doing, although it doesn't stop them stealing in the future, it means they're more likely to give up what they've taken and leave the store, or pay. I worked in technology, so it was better to get the items off them instore rather than let them go out the door and lose the stock.
Original post by Juno


But really, prevention is better than catching them. We're taught to give good customer service - if someone is suspected we are trained to go up to them and ask if they need any help. By doing this you can prevent them doing anything, but as they have to leave the chances of you catching them at that point are small. You also need certain things to be observed or shown on CCTV for a successful conviction (ASCONE: Approach, Selection, Concealment, Observation (this one's a dodgy acronym - it means you need to watch em) non-payment and exit) so it's likely they might get let off on a technicality if they are caught.


We were told to do this in the place I used to work.

Whenever I go clothes shopping by myself I always get multiple people coming up to me in nearly every store asking 'If I'm okay?' or if I 'Need any help?'. I get quite paranoid now.

I must look dodgy :ninja:.
Reply 9
Original post by Ultimate_Geek

Original post by Ultimate_Geek
We were told to do this in the place I used to work.

Whenever I go clothes shopping by myself I always get multiple people coming up to me in nearly every store asking 'If I'm okay?' or if I 'Need any help?'. I get quite paranoid now.

I must look dodgy :ninja:.


Not necessarily. Some places do it to everyone, or even just those who look confused. I got asked in the bank today, and I wasn't about to rob them!
Original post by Juno
Not necessarily. Some places do it to everyone, or even just those who look confused. I got asked in the bank today, and I wasn't about to rob them!


Maybe I just look clueless then....
Original post by Ultimate_Geek
We were told to do this in the place I used to work.

Whenever I go clothes shopping by myself I always get multiple people coming up to me in nearly every store asking 'If I'm okay?' or if I 'Need any help?'. I get quite paranoid now.

I must look dodgy :ninja:.


Don't worry. Where I worked we didn't ask people we thought were stealing if they needed any help.. we'd make them have a conversation so they knew we were on to them (or if they weren't stealing, make them think we were friendly).
Original post by Ultimate_Geek
We were told to do this in the place I used to work.

Whenever I go clothes shopping by myself I always get multiple people coming up to me in nearly every store asking 'If I'm okay?' or if I 'Need any help?'. I get quite paranoid now.

I must look dodgy :ninja:.


It's ok, it's probably in their customer service training to do that to every customer. It certainly is in ours - when I'm actually on the rota to specifically focus on customer service, I'm not even allowed to let a customer walk past me without offering them help.
Reply 13
Once I was in a shop and just before leaving a shop assistant asked my friend to empty her pockets. She was gob smacked and very insulted. She had never stole anything, really wasn't the type, and tbh there was no obvious reason as to why they would accuse her. Needless to say it ended up in a big row with a final statement of " I'm never shopping her again".

Well I never went again either. They handled the situation so badly. So basically just be careful you don't falsely accuse anyone lol
Original post by Smophy
Once I was in a shop and just before leaving a shop assistant asked my friend to empty her pockets. She was gob smacked and very insulted. She had never stole anything, really wasn't the type, and tbh there was no obvious reason as to why they would accuse her. Needless to say it ended up in a big row with a final statement of " I'm never shopping her again".

Well I never went again either. They handled the situation so badly. So basically just be careful you don't falsely accuse anyone lol


Thats why quite a few retailers will watch people put an item in their pockets and then let them walk out the doors and have someone waiting the otherside to stop them. That way we have evidence that they had put something in their pocket, on CCTV or eyewitness, and through walking out they have shown that they had no intention of paying for it. Caught red handed.

One time at work, myself and the store detective were watching this man who was obviously stealing and putting DVD's up his coat. We stopped him at the doors and whilst walking back through the store, DVD's kept dropping out of his coat. Sufficed to say, he had little defence. That one was quite easy, other times though people get violent so you have to watch out.
Reply 15
Original post by davireland
Thats why quite a few retailers will watch people put an item in their pockets and then let them walk out the doors and have someone waiting the otherside to stop them. That way we have evidence that they had put something in their pocket, on CCTV or eyewitness, and through walking out they have shown that they had no intention of paying for it. Caught red handed.

One time at work, myself and the store detective were watching this man who was obviously stealing and putting DVD's up his coat. We stopped him at the doors and whilst walking back through the store, DVD's kept dropping out of his coat. Sufficed to say, he had little defence. That one was quite easy, other times though people get violent so you have to watch out.


I suppose it depends on how the store is laid out. If the tills are not near the exit then I suppose you have to let them walk out before you can prove anything. However, if you have to pass the tills to get out then surely then you can stop them before they get through the doors as they have all ready shown no intent not to pay?
Original post by davireland
Thats why quite a few retailers will watch people put an item in their pockets and then let them walk out the doors and have someone waiting the otherside to stop them. That way we have evidence that they had put something in their pocket, on CCTV or eyewitness, and through walking out they have shown that they had no intention of paying for it. Caught red handed.

One time at work, myself and the store detective were watching this man who was obviously stealing and putting DVD's up his coat. We stopped him at the doors and whilst walking back through the store, DVD's kept dropping out of his coat. Sufficed to say, he had little defence. That one was quite easy, other times though people get violent so you have to watch out.


This reminds me of a situation we had at one of our stores here. There was a woman on the meat aisle getting pre-packed meat and just putting it into her bag. Another customer saw her and informed security, turns out she's well known as a thief, has just got out of prison. Security picked her up, took her to one of the rooms we have in our stores, all the time she was shouting and swearing. She was threatening one of the security guards, being racist and threatening to stab him with her knife, so our security manager floored her (absolutely no reason to risk having a member of staff stabbed), and kept her pinned. When the police got there, they look in her bag, and she had a 10 inch carving knife in there. Bloody scary.
Original post by Smophy
I suppose it depends on how the store is laid out. If the tills are not near the exit then I suppose you have to let them walk out before you can prove anything. However, if you have to pass the tills to get out then surely then you can stop them before they get through the doors as they have all ready shown no intent not to pay?


They have to actually walk out the building, because otherwise they can just turn around and say "sorry, I couldnt find the till". If they walk out the door, they've done the deed.
Original post by FluffyLion
This reminds me of a situation we had at one of our stores here. There was a woman on the meat aisle getting pre-packed meat and just putting it into her bag. Another customer saw her and informed security, turns out she's well known as a thief, has just got out of prison. Security picked her up, took her to one of the rooms we have in our stores, all the time she was shouting and swearing. She was threatening one of the security guards, being racist and threatening to stab him with her knife, so our security manager floored her (absolutely no reason to risk having a member of staff stabbed), and kept her pinned. When the police got there, they look in her bag, and she had a 10 inch carving knife in there. Bloody scary.


Did she walk out of the door or was she just confronted in the aisle?
At least it's people pocketing things. I used to work in a large warehouse-like store with a garden centre (not naming type/name of store), and people would routinely take very expensive items and pass them over the garden centre fence into car boots.

Alternatively, staff would fill a flatbed trolley with high-value goods, leave it at the exit with a note saying, "Order for Mr. Whatever", mark it as paid, and his mate would come and collect it for free.

Finally, since staff knew where the dummy cameras were, there were a couple who would take goods under a counter, swap them around, and buy what appears to be a very cheap box of something with something worth a fortune inside.

But in terms of advice, it's mainly company policy. You can't assume anybody is shoplifting until they have left the shop, as they may actually be using their pockets to carry things round the shop. Likewise, you have no real right to frisk somebody.

You can however ask people to empty their pockets, and if they don't, then call the police. You can also place people under citizen arrest, but that depends how confident you are!

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