THE SHOPLIFTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14566, 31 December 1910, Page 8

THE SHOPLIFTER.

TASTE FOR FANCY GOODS.

METHODS OF OPERATION.

" Does much petty thieving take place I your premises?" was the question put to a number of shopkeepers, by a reporter yesterday. The replies varied, but they "tended to show that although the amount of shoplifting done in Auckland is not very large, a shopkeeper is always liable, especially at Christmas and sale times, to be visited by customers who require to be carefully watched. The shoplifter being a gregarious animal, always goes with the crowd.

As might be expected, the losses incurred by business people vary with the nature of the goods they cell. An upholsterer, for instance, is not likely to lose many sideboards or cheffohiers by theft. The greatest sufferer seems to be the fancy goods man, for the articles lie sells are usually small and light, and a considerable proportion of the stock has to be displayed on tables and show case:-. Another factor is that shops devoted solely to the sale of fancy goods are not usually very large, and the business they do immediately before Christmas is very extensive. When a shop is crammed with people, so that locomotion is difficult, and the assistants are harassed and overworked, the shoplifter reaps his, or her, harvest. In large drapery emporiums, most of which also stock fancy goods, there are many little nick-nacks, which might tempt the shoplifter, but hero the system of detection and prevention is generally better. Owing to the larger floor space the public are not quite 6o crowded together, and, in addition to the assistants, thore are the buyers for the departments, and the shopwalkers, whose special duty it is to detect theft. Apparently drapery emporiums do not lose so much through theft as fancy goods establishments, but they lose more than most other businesses.

The manager of Goodson's Fancy Goods Arcade, in Queen-street, informed a repeater that ho himself had detected five thefts in a very short space of time on Christmas Eve, and he estimated the annual loss of the firm from this cause at from £150 to £200. The thefts occurred during rush hours, and he found a considerable number wore committed by young men who appeared to be respectable. Ho had come to the conclusion that some of them thieved simply in a spirit of mischief, because they took articles that could not be of the slightest lite to them

The firm of Smith and Caughoy, drapers, in Queen-str.eet, stated filiat they only detected occasional cases of shop-lifting, and had no reason to suppose that they lost much through theft. There were a few persons who came to the shop at sale times who were known, and who were unostentatiously but carefully watched until they took their departure. The manager of Mr, John Court's shop in Karangaihape Road said much the same tiling. Ho could vouch for the absolute honesty of the majority of shoppers, although his faith in human nature received a rude shock on the Saturday evening preceding Christmas Eve, when ho detected four cases of thieving. Two of the culprits were girls, one a young woman, and the fourth an elderly woman, all respectably dressed. Inquiries at other establishments indicated that many shopkeepers lose little or nothing through theft. Fancy goods dealers seem to be the worst sufferers.

Your shop-lifter ie always well dressed, and, according to the drapers, nearly always a woman. The modus operandi is to get into a busy or obscure corner of the shop, and commence handling little articles, watching for a favourable opportunity to conceal it about the person, then get out of the shop without blushing or looking guilty. Some women slip their stolen goods into open baskets or kits very skilfully; others drop them into open umbrellas or parasols; and others conceal them in muffs or under cloaks, if such articles can. be worn without raising suspicion. The vogue just now is to carry a baby and conceal the stolen article in its clothes. This is very artful. Babies can be carried about all the year -round, and who would suspect- a woman carrying a baby of stealing anything?

It is lather a delicate matter sometimes trying to sheet "home a charge of theft against a person of ostentatious respectability. The shopkeeper has to bo suave, get searching in his conversation, make sure of his case before be advances his charge. Shop-lifting seermi to be the safest method of stealing, for prosecutions are rarely instituted for it. Some shopkeepers are content with recovering their goods and frightening the culprits; but one appears to make detected cases of theft pay for undetected. He allows the thief to keep the goods, but makes her pay several times their value cash down.

Some extraordinary cases are narrated by shopkeepers which can only be accounted for on the hypothesis of kleptomania. A well-dressed elderly lady, who had plenty of money and a kind, motherly face, was observed one day turning over some remnants in a drapery establishment where she had shopped for years. Presently, she was observed to twist a remnant up and slip it into a piece of brown paper and add it to a number of parcels sine carried under her arm. The manager, warned by an assistant, followed her upstairs, and entered into conversation with her. He soon found occasion to ask who wrapped up one of the parcels under her arm so badly. The lady did not remember. The manager asked to see the bill to' identify the assistant from his initials. The lady had mislaid the bill. He insisted on having the parcel to help him to discover who had wrapped it up so carelessly, but the lady could neither identify the assistant nor find the bill. Taken to the office and taxed with theft she admitted she had succumbed to a sudden and irresistible temptation to steal the remnant.