Recession weary retailers are making headway in a game of
one-upmanship with increasingly savvy shoplifters, but consumers still
are paying too high a price, according to recent studies.
Experts estimate the average family pays between $400 and $2,000 a year as a result of merchants and manufacturers increasing what they charge to offset their losses.
Those losses totaled $34.5 billion nationwide in 2011, according to the latest survey conducted by the University of Florida for the National Retail Federation.
But, that was down $2.6 billion from 2010.
Study author and UF criminology professor Dr. Richard Hollinger credits new anti-theft technologies and refocused law enforcement efforts for the reduction.
The U.S. Secret Service, FDLE and Broward Sheriff's Office are treating shoplifting more like racketeering and fraud, according to BSO Sgt. Rich Rossman.
"A lot of times law enforcement looks at this as an isolated incident, as just a [lone] shoplifter," Rossman said. "That's why we formed the Organized Retail Crime Unit to look at the bigger picture."
That's what led to the recent arrests of Michael Pollara, his mother Margaret and Travis Simpson in Broward.
Michael Pollara is accused of shoplifting $2 million worth of toys and other items from thousands of stores over a 10 year period.
"Without a doubt this is the most prolific booster, the term for a shoplifter, that we've ever come across," Rossman said.
New technologies allow retailers to get the upper hand too, according to Lee Pernice, director of retail and marketing for Boca Raton-based Tyco Integrated Security.
Organized retail crime usually involves one or more people who either distract salespeople or act as lookouts during the theft. It also can be a group of thieves targeting specific expensive items for resale on the Internet or on the street, Pernice said.
"We had a report about a gentleman who had a network of thieves, like 30 or 40 of them, and he would commission them to go out and steal certain products he was interested in and he would pay them," she said. "Over the Internet, you can pose as a legitimate reseller of merchandise and get 50 cents on the dollar."
Some thieves line shopping bags or baby carriages or clothing with several layers of aluminum foil. They hope to defeat doorway sensors that sound an alarm when merchandise with radio frequency identification tags passes through them.
However, newer sensors will sound a silent alarm the moment a metallic 'booster bag' enters a store, Pernice said.
"You can program those sensors to provide a unique signal to the store management so they understand it wasn't just a typical alarm for people leaving the store but rather a warning that potential shoplifters have entered the store," she said.
That alarm can be a beam or a beacon to alert guards in the security office. It can be sent to a mobile device. Those sensors at the doors can be linked to movable video cameras that can target the entrance and follow whoever triggered that 'booster bag' alert, Pernice said.
Shoplifters often defeat ceiling-mounted surveillance cameras and monitors by wearing a hat and sunglasses or by looking down at the floor.
But, cameras are so small now they can be embedded in door frames and counter tops to get digitally accurate images of a person's face and identify them through online databases, Pernice said.
Video monitors are being placed at eye level on store shelves near high theft items such as baby formula. The monitors display advertising until someone gets near enough to automatically activate a video recorder and when then they see their own face on the screen it acts as a shoplifting deterrent, Pernice said.
Retailers are starting to see shoplifters using 'jammers,' common in Europe, that mimic the signals door sensors emit and all the electronic interference shuts down the security system.
But, the newer systems also have the ability to detect those jamming devices and alert store personnel, according to Karen Bomber, director of softgoods solutions marketing for Tyco.
"You can [confront] the shoplifter before the theft even occurs," she said.
"It's always been amazing the lengths people will go to creatively steal, and some of them are pretty smart," Pernice said.
What really surprises Galindez is how shoplifters keep getting out of jail with little or no punishment.
"They just keep getting a slap on the hand and probation and they continue doing the same thing," she said. "What's going to stop them?"
Merchants are betting on anti-theft technology.
Experts estimate the average family pays between $400 and $2,000 a year as a result of merchants and manufacturers increasing what they charge to offset their losses.
Those losses totaled $34.5 billion nationwide in 2011, according to the latest survey conducted by the University of Florida for the National Retail Federation.
But, that was down $2.6 billion from 2010.
Study author and UF criminology professor Dr. Richard Hollinger credits new anti-theft technologies and refocused law enforcement efforts for the reduction.
The U.S. Secret Service, FDLE and Broward Sheriff's Office are treating shoplifting more like racketeering and fraud, according to BSO Sgt. Rich Rossman.
"A lot of times law enforcement looks at this as an isolated incident, as just a [lone] shoplifter," Rossman said. "That's why we formed the Organized Retail Crime Unit to look at the bigger picture."
That's what led to the recent arrests of Michael Pollara, his mother Margaret and Travis Simpson in Broward.
Michael Pollara is accused of shoplifting $2 million worth of toys and other items from thousands of stores over a 10 year period.
"Without a doubt this is the most prolific booster, the term for a shoplifter, that we've ever come across," Rossman said.
New technologies allow retailers to get the upper hand too, according to Lee Pernice, director of retail and marketing for Boca Raton-based Tyco Integrated Security.
Organized retail crime usually involves one or more people who either distract salespeople or act as lookouts during the theft. It also can be a group of thieves targeting specific expensive items for resale on the Internet or on the street, Pernice said.
"We had a report about a gentleman who had a network of thieves, like 30 or 40 of them, and he would commission them to go out and steal certain products he was interested in and he would pay them," she said. "Over the Internet, you can pose as a legitimate reseller of merchandise and get 50 cents on the dollar."
Some thieves line shopping bags or baby carriages or clothing with several layers of aluminum foil. They hope to defeat doorway sensors that sound an alarm when merchandise with radio frequency identification tags passes through them.
However, newer sensors will sound a silent alarm the moment a metallic 'booster bag' enters a store, Pernice said.
"You can program those sensors to provide a unique signal to the store management so they understand it wasn't just a typical alarm for people leaving the store but rather a warning that potential shoplifters have entered the store," she said.
That alarm can be a beam or a beacon to alert guards in the security office. It can be sent to a mobile device. Those sensors at the doors can be linked to movable video cameras that can target the entrance and follow whoever triggered that 'booster bag' alert, Pernice said.
Shoplifters often defeat ceiling-mounted surveillance cameras and monitors by wearing a hat and sunglasses or by looking down at the floor.
But, cameras are so small now they can be embedded in door frames and counter tops to get digitally accurate images of a person's face and identify them through online databases, Pernice said.
Video monitors are being placed at eye level on store shelves near high theft items such as baby formula. The monitors display advertising until someone gets near enough to automatically activate a video recorder and when then they see their own face on the screen it acts as a shoplifting deterrent, Pernice said.
Retailers are starting to see shoplifters using 'jammers,' common in Europe, that mimic the signals door sensors emit and all the electronic interference shuts down the security system.
But, the newer systems also have the ability to detect those jamming devices and alert store personnel, according to Karen Bomber, director of softgoods solutions marketing for Tyco.
"You can [confront] the shoplifter before the theft even occurs," she said.
"It's always been amazing the lengths people will go to creatively steal, and some of them are pretty smart," Pernice said.
What really surprises Galindez is how shoplifters keep getting out of jail with little or no punishment.
"They just keep getting a slap on the hand and probation and they continue doing the same thing," she said. "What's going to stop them?"
Merchants are betting on anti-theft technology.
