Anti-shoplifting-3 WC Blog 139
retail theft prevention-3
Retail Theft Prevention Efforts Spoil An Ice Cream Party
Retail theft prevention comes in all kinds of forms when you work in Assets Protection, sometimes the job is to stop shoplifting, on occasion it’s to prevent theft of time, in some situations the effort is to stop the theft of cash or company property. Every once in a while you see theft that is just odd and it makes you scratch your head wondering what in the world that person was thinking. I had just such a case when I worked as an Assets Protection Manager for a big box retail store.
One of the responsibilities of my position was to work an overnight shift once a month. Whether we had an active investigation or not, the idea was that we could monitor our overnight cleaning crew, our logistics team if we had an overnight or early morning unload or we could watch for opening and closing procedure compliance. Sometimes we would use the time to update retail theft prevention tactics such as moving cameras or inspecting anti-shoplifting devices and equipment such as Checkpoint deactivation pads and antennas. If you were having a good night you could potentially uncover a theft case and initiate a new investigation.
On one particular night I was able to sneak into the building prior to closing and get situated in the security office. The night began with an observation of the arrival of the cleaning crew and then the closing procedures of the store Leader On Duty and the team members. The employees finished recovering the store from a busy shopping day, closed out registers and then exited and secured the building, following the company best practices. In the meantime the cleaning crew began their preparations for vacuuming, sweeping floors, running the floor scrubber and emptying trash making the store ready for the next day.
My experience with cleaning crew cases was that after the store employees would leave for the night, the theft activity would begin. The key to catching theft during an observation was to try to focus on the person with opportunity to steal, watch areas that were known “hot spots” or to watch for behaviors that were indicative of someone intending to steal. Frequently food was a typical “hot spot” for cleaning crew theft. Check lane candy and snacks, soda coolers and in the case of our store, a food court area with a fast food type menu. This particular night I watched one of the cleaning crew members as he began sweeping and cleaning in our food service area. In anti-shoplifting efforts there are certain behaviors Loss Prevention personnel are trained to look for and this guy was displaying them.
The worker swept the floor and began collecting trash in the food court and after some time decided it was time for a break. Our food service sold ice cream by the scoop or in cones, so there was a freezer unit with tubs of ice cream in this area. Our hard working cleaning employee decided that he needed to re-energize with some sustenance and so, he opened the freezer, reached in and scooped out a refreshing ice cream desert. Did I mention a scoop? No, there was no scoop and this was my head scratching moment. The employee reached into the ice cream bin with his hand scooped out a handful of ice cream and ate it, not just once, but TWICE! YUCK! No anti-shoplifting device was going to stop THIS activity. After several more surveillances I did end up catching the employee stealing other small items and closed the case. And just in case anyone was curious, no, I did not leave the ice cream bin in place. I removed it and we took the loss on it, but I did stay away from the ice cream for quite some time afterwards.
Yes, retail theft prevention measures were possible in this situation. Keys for the ice cream display case were available but never used. I don’t think any of us ever thought someone would steal ice cream, let alone scoop it out like this character did. After the case was closed, displays were properly locked at the end of a shift.
Need more information on retail theft prevention? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Retail theft prevention comes in all kinds of forms when you work in Assets Protection, sometimes the job is to stop shoplifting, on occasion it’s to prevent theft of time, in some situations the effort is to stop the theft of cash or company property. Every once in a while you see theft that is just odd and it makes you scratch your head wondering what in the world that person was thinking. I had just such a case when I worked as an Assets Protection Manager for a big box retail store.
One of the responsibilities of my position was to work an overnight shift once a month. Whether we had an active investigation or not, the idea was that we could monitor our overnight cleaning crew, our logistics team if we had an overnight or early morning unload or we could watch for opening and closing procedure compliance. Sometimes we would use the time to update retail theft prevention tactics such as moving cameras or inspecting anti-shoplifting devices and equipment such as Checkpoint deactivation pads and antennas. If you were having a good night you could potentially uncover a theft case and initiate a new investigation.
On one particular night I was able to sneak into the building prior to closing and get situated in the security office. The night began with an observation of the arrival of the cleaning crew and then the closing procedures of the store Leader On Duty and the team members. The employees finished recovering the store from a busy shopping day, closed out registers and then exited and secured the building, following the company best practices. In the meantime the cleaning crew began their preparations for vacuuming, sweeping floors, running the floor scrubber and emptying trash making the store ready for the next day.
My experience with cleaning crew cases was that after the store employees would leave for the night, the theft activity would begin. The key to catching theft during an observation was to try to focus on the person with opportunity to steal, watch areas that were known “hot spots” or to watch for behaviors that were indicative of someone intending to steal. Frequently food was a typical “hot spot” for cleaning crew theft. Check lane candy and snacks, soda coolers and in the case of our store, a food court area with a fast food type menu. This particular night I watched one of the cleaning crew members as he began sweeping and cleaning in our food service area. In anti-shoplifting efforts there are certain behaviors Loss Prevention personnel are trained to look for and this guy was displaying them.
The worker swept the floor and began collecting trash in the food court and after some time decided it was time for a break. Our food service sold ice cream by the scoop or in cones, so there was a freezer unit with tubs of ice cream in this area. Our hard working cleaning employee decided that he needed to re-energize with some sustenance and so, he opened the freezer, reached in and scooped out a refreshing ice cream desert. Did I mention a scoop? No, there was no scoop and this was my head scratching moment. The employee reached into the ice cream bin with his hand scooped out a handful of ice cream and ate it, not just once, but TWICE! YUCK! No anti-shoplifting device was going to stop THIS activity. After several more surveillances I did end up catching the employee stealing other small items and closed the case. And just in case anyone was curious, no, I did not leave the ice cream bin in place. I removed it and we took the loss on it, but I did stay away from the ice cream for quite some time afterwards.
Yes, retail theft prevention measures were possible in this situation. Keys for the ice cream display case were available but never used. I don’t think any of us ever thought someone would steal ice cream, let alone scoop it out like this character did. After the case was closed, displays were properly locked at the end of a shift.
Need more information on retail theft prevention? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
