Sophisticated shop-lifters problem for malls

Press, 21 May 1987, Page 13

Sophisticated shop-lifters problem for malls

Sophisticated shoplifters are a problem at Merivale Mall, says the mall manager, Mr Neville Wakem. "We get all levels of thieving, but our greatest problem is with the sophisticated shop-lifter who spends a whole day here with a false chequebook or credit card,” he says. “They are always wellpresented, and the last people you’d expect to be doing a dirty on you.” Mr Wakem says the mall does not have a high rate of shop-lifting, how-

ever, and believes it is because of being in “an upmarket part of town.” The manager at Riccarton Mall, Mrs Sue Gunn, says the courts are not dealing properly with the problem of shop-lifting. “I’d like the judges and lawyers to come and wander round to see what’s happening in the world,” she says. “Women have been caught here, fined in court, and then they’re back out here in the afternoon shop-lifting again.” Mrs Gunn says shoplifting increases over the

school holidays — “a few kids are caught every day pinching lollies, or adult books from bookshops.” She says the biggest problem at Riccarton, however, is people working in groups. “We get groups of up to four people in their 20s working together, and they’ve got all the answers,” she says. Shop-lifting is not a great problem at the mall, however, says Mrs Gunn, because of efficient store security. Nor is it a great problem at Linwood City, says

the manager’s secretary, Mrs Mif Cox.

"We don’t have a great amount considering the foot traffic we , have' through here,” she says. “Our biggest problem is in the car-park where bikes and things go missing.”

Both Linwood City and Merivale Mall managers say there have been no recent cases of theft by employees. Mrs Gunn at Riccarton Mall says there are cases from time to time, and they are dealt with very smartly.