SHOPLIFTING IN SYDNEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21117, 26 February 1932, Page 6

SHOPLIFTING IN SYDNEY.

TRADERS' HEAVY LOSSES.

ABOUT £IOO,OOO A YEAR.; JEN ARRESTS EVERY WEEK. ' [from our own correspondent. 3 SYDNEY. Feb. 18. It is estimated that goods to the value of £IOO,OOO are stolen annually by shoplifters from the retail houses of Sydney. Despite increased vigilance on the part of the stores, there has not been the slightest decrease in the crime, and a steady average of ten arrests each week is being maintained. The actual shoplifting is bo well organised that it is only rarely that the depredations of the big gangs are checked through the arrest of one of their members. In most case? where an arrest is made the thief is an amateur working alone. Some years ago the huge ramifications of shoplifting in Sydney were exposed with the arrest of a woman, who divulged the information that the gang to which she was attached was in the habit of meeting at a city depot, where details of the raids that were planned for the day were given to members, and individual tasks allotted. It is stated that at least ten gangs are still working in Sydney. Depots for the stolen goods have been established in various parts of the city and suburbs, and it is claimed that retail clearances of the property taken are made on a huge and highly profitable scale in Sydney and Melbourne. Each gang has its separate pool, not only for stolen goods, but bail and fine funds as well. The member of a gang, therefore, never worries when he or she is captured. Someone is always ready to pay the fine. Strange to say, few magistrates seem willing to impose imprisonment without the option of a fine in the case of shoplifters. The shoplifters always have ready a tale of hardship, and they are usually allowed their freedom on payment of a fine —and tha fine is not always as severe as it might be. On Monday a man who stole a loaf of bread "because his children were hungry" was fined £5, with the alternative of a month in gaol. A woman who stole beads and a cake of soap was fined ss.

Most of the "regular" shoplifters are known to the shop detectives, but their methods are so cunning that they are seldom caught. They usually have "a confederate with and the stolen goods are rapidly passed on. The confederate quickly vanishes, and the arrest of the original thief is useless. As many as two or three assistants are employed in this manner by one artful shoplifter, and as many scouts are engaged in watching the house detectives in order to give early warnings to the illicit operators. Each week the resourceful thief changes his associates, and this adds to the difficulty of checking the thefts. It is said that Melbourne provides an excellent market for goods stolen in Sydney and vice versa. It is urged that the punishment for shoplifting should be imprisonment without the option of a fine. The Government is silent on the point.