THE SHOPLIFTER

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 55, 7 March 1922, Page 2

THE SHOPLIFTER

LIFE NOT GROWING EASIER

WORK OF DETECTIVES

THE VANITY LURE.

Life for the shoplifter is not growing easier,' says a writer in the New York Times. At least, according, to Judges before whom cases of petty, larceny are being tried, and tales'told by soft-voiced store detectives who apprehend alike" pampered wives, spoiled daughters, and hardened professionals. From the schol-arly-looking gentleman who gathers valuable tomes into a well-worn pasteboard box carried under his right arm, to the sealskin-wrapped -rich lady from Jersey, whose elusive elevator habits have afforded several department stores rejuvenating games of hide-and-seek, the tribe of New York shoplifters is having a brisk run for its money. That the Jersey lady has a generous and longsuffering h-usband has helped her in the past. The future, it is said, will have to do with her and not with her husband.

"Ifc is. not the people from the lower east side or similar neighbourhoods we have to watch," said a veteran scholar of humanity, sometimes called a detective, who-for the last fifteen years has watched the human tide ebb and flow through one of New York's largest departmental stores, "but the stenographer, the' nurse, the clerk, and the rich woman. These are the people who today pick up everything- from, a .lipstick to a 200 dollar dress and walk off with it. Why do they steal? Don't ask me. Most of them have no more reason for stealing than one of the ■city's richest men. Vanity seems to lead to a good deal of it. Silk stockings, silk shirts, perfume, rouge, . lipsticks, are popular booty for the twentieth- century shoplifter. The old professional, of which there are comparatively few hereabout, nroes in for big stake?. The local professional steals to adorn -her person— Trot not to Rell."

Whether it is the so-called fast life of the ritv that, is Ipadinar youncr women to ste.il luxuries they cannot afford tr> bnv. or the dwire to wear *s soocl olofhes a,R the eirl at. the-rowt dee.Jc. tTi« fnft remains that, silk stop^ines and silk shirts are irrps'stiWe VauMes to thn yoiintrjsh shoplifter. The middle-aired wnTnaii who pWls n toy pho cannot afford to huv for <a loved child is, ncOfi»dip<r to statistics, very much in the minority.

THTC THKttE-H'VNTVRr) STTOPT-TFTKT?,

So far store detectives in New York City have not seen the three-handed shoplifter. This new species has been reported to be operating in the South and West. The artificial hand is put on in the usual place and the freed hand works through the front opening in the coat. . While the two hands rest naturally on the counter, this third hand works busily stowing things away in a big inside pocket. The long cape which has been so/ fashionable - is another irritant in the life of the tired detective, and the mechanically bottomed suitcase still sucks its fill of forbidden fruit.

" Past leniency toward well-sponsored thieves 'is no longer exercised," continued the veteran.. "Also, we axe apprehending fewer and arresting more. Daring 1921, 619 persons were apprehended in this store, and practically, „400 arrested.' ■My staff is slow'to make.'.an' arrest. When a member of it does, however, the case is followed through to the e;id. There can be no mistakes in this business. If we dropped on to an innocent person the store would be liable for the mistake.

" And give me a girl every time from behind the counter. Those are the girls I train for this detective work. They have watched human nature lor years, and there is no better place to study it than behind the counter of a department store. After a short lime, types to them are well known. They can immediately spot the ' person who" comes to buy,' the 'pill' and the 'comparison shopper.' The ' pill ' turns over everything On all the counters, has no intention of buying, and leaves the store without lifting her eyes. The ' comparison shopper' has an element of seriousness. She has been around to all the other stores, and is looking for tlie best bargain she can find in New York City. Besides these three types there is a fourth—the shoplifter. "To most of us in the profession she carries unmistakable signs. She never comes into the store with her eyes straight ahead of her. She looks, all around, and often goes up and down in an elevator a number of times before starting in. She may work slowly and carefully, or she may work quickly and furtively.

THE BEGINNER.

" The beginner usually breaks down and cries when confronted with her booty, or puts up a long story about walking out of !the store by mistake with a 50-dollar hat on her head, al* though she has taken good care to throw her old one into a corner or behind a counter. We're arresting ' all the hat cases now. Getting tired of the old ' I forgot' story. These forgetf il ladies now have their lagging memories checked up by the Court of Special Sessions. It lessens the chan6& of a second offence. The second offender has a harder time of it. ' "When a person is apprehended, whicE is always done outside the store, as there is a possibility of a mistaEe which- will be discovered on leaving, she is brought to my office and the case investigated. If it is a first offence and the girl is young, has a good job, and hor record is clear, she is not 'arrested. But if several articles are found on her, and thero is a suspicious slant to the case, she is arrested and the matter settled in Court.

" The newspapers can do a great deal by giving wide publicity to shoplifting cases. The weekly "publishing of offenders' names as some of the papers are doing at present is one of the best ways of lessening this evil. If this list was published every Friday it would make Saturday a much easier day for the store detective and frighten the beginner, who thinks there is a possibility of her getting away undetected." > A DETECTIVE'S DISGUISE. The woman detective in the large store j is not at all what' the layman would '■ expect a detective to be. One of them j recently met up with in all the glory of velvet gown, pearl necklace, and modish hat had so much the manner of a pros- j perous shopper from Upper Fifth Avenue or Sutton-place that the most astute shoplifter would have niched without hesitancy under the very eaves of her well-brushed eyebrows. The perfection of her toilet was as much in the slightly worn Spot on her velvet gown as in the correct length of her string of pearls. The outstanding feature was the note of restraint in the professional woman's costume. To overdress would be as fatal as wearing her policeman's star on tho brim of her hat.

" I always watch the shopper who crumples up an article and shoves it under her hand," said this woman recently. "It is customary in looking over material of any kind to hold it away and shake it out. But the shoplifter naturally crumples up the garment or the strip of material into a small bunch. She docs it involuntarily, apparently unconsciously.

" Women often go into the fitting

room and have several dresses brought to them which they try on, look over, but do not buy. Unless the clerk carefully counts the dresses she brings to them and those she takes away, she does not miss one until the customer has left the stores Dresses worth several hundred dollars are often stolen in this manner.

"The most original reason for shoplifting was given me by a young girl of the flapper type and of good family, who walked out of the millinery department with an expensive hat on her head. When I caught up with her on the sidewalk just outside the store and asked about the hat, she said she was getting material for.-'a story and wanted to have the actual experience she was writing about. Her family succeeded in having the case dismissed, although her old hat was found rolled up and thrown in a corner of the store.

" We try to believe some of the stories told us," continued the soft-voiced detective, " but it's pretty hard when they're so thin. We make allowances usually for youth and for thoughtlessness. No, not for the kleptomaniac. We detectives don't believe there is such an animal."

It is said that the shoplifting species is growing younger, fairer, and harder. Judges who have followed the Courts for many, years, who have tried these cases over a long period of time, and who have studied the matter carefully, find it hard to reconcile the innocentmannered 17-year-old of to-day with the crime of-which she is accused. VANITY AS CAUSE. "Vanity— most of it vanity," said one of the older Judges, discussing' recent cases of petty larceny which haye been tried before the Court of Special Sessions. "The majority of these girls are from 17 to 25.- Seventy of the cases we had up yesterday were from one department store, and the majority of the thefts were articles of adornment, perfume, small plunder. In many oases there is no reason for these girls stealing. They have good job 3. Have all the money they need. It isn't the woman or the man who is hungry, who is down and out, to-day, who is doing this petty thieving. Occasionally we get. drug addicts among older shoplifters, and when a man is caught- shoplifting he is-pretty apt to be a drug fiend. But these young girls are a problem.. We have to consider the case from all angles. There is always the chance that the youngster who makes, one mistake will not make another. We ai'e lenient where a good job is involved and the offender has not been apprehended before. The story which the store detective has to tell about the case has a good deal to do with the final judgment.

"Offenders for less than 50 dollars wo let off with a fine. The professional who has a bad record gets three years or, more. This type is pretty well cleared out of New York now. In 1919 there was a vicious circle of shoplifters operating in,all the large cities. Their bondsmen followed them around, knowing well they would always be reimbursed from, the stolen plunder.

"It is the be-rouged and be-furred young things that crowd the Court calendar now. The girl with a good home and a good job. The girl who does not need money or food. Her one vice is vanity, and vanity leads her to !do strange tilings. It is a phase of modern life which is, assuming serious proportions."

While the number of holiday Court cases does not *his yejir exceed those of last, the offenders are younger, braver, and vainer. ' Shoplifting appears to have attracted the young of the country en masse, and according to those in a position to know, it is. developing into something more^than a daring gesture (concludes the writer).