SELECT CRIMINALS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17008, 15 April 1926, Page 8

SELECT CRIMINALS.

THE A RT OF SHOP-HITTING. HEAVY LOSSES IN GISBORNE. EXPERIENCES OF TRADESMEN. According Id I lie experience of retailors, particularly drapers, Gisborne embraces :i 1m i*f*'<* following of believers in the creed tliiit some special reward a wails those who help themselves. According 1o the same source. liowe\er, there is an unexpected reward awaiting some persons, notably of the feminine sex, who are caught helping themselves. Local retailers are of the one mind in the matter; they state that the annual loss as a resell of shop-lifting, in a variety of forms, is enormous, and that slops are to be tahen to put an end to the practice.

The shop-lifters, .it is stated, regard sale limes.as an open season, and the fact Iha I there have been a large number of sales recently has served to call attention to the seriousness of the matter. Perhaps the most serious aspect of the question is (hat a large number of people do not regard it, ns dishonest to relieve a shopkeeper of some of his stock, without advising him of the fact, or’offering to pay for it. In some quarters the practice would seem 1o be viewed as a kind of recrealion, offering not; a 151110 excitement and comparatively little risk. The absence of risk an the past has been largely due to a reluctance on the part of shopkeepers to prosecute, while the .satisfaction seems to be gained more by a knowledge of having obtained something for nothing rather than from the intrinsic value of the article or articles stolen. HOW SHOP-LIFTERS WORK. The modus operandi Of shop-lifters is as varied as the practice is common, ft is impossible to attach the blame to any particular class, and, strange though it may seem, the worst offenders are said to be those who can best afford to pay for the articles. Some of the offenders become known in lime, and, as a result, are carefully watched as soon as they enter a shop. As far as they are aware they are merely receiving very careful attention from an assistant, but the attention is prompted by a desire that the customer should be served and not servo herself. Perhaps tlio most common method ’ adopted by persons who enter a shop ! with the intention of securing goods ■ by dishonest methods is to take with , them a perambulator or a large sized bag or basket. The clothing in a ; perambulator affords good covering for pilfered goods, and a basket can I be made an equally suitable recepta- , ole.. A less obvious method .is for the | shop-lifter to carry a large coat, drop it casually over an article, and quietly lift the article with the coat. In ; many cases a small hand-bag, or oven 'a pocket is capacious enough to hide ; some purloined article of small size, j but the depredations of this class of ■people are by no means confined to 1 small objects.

j LARGE ARTICLES STOLEN, j Practically every shopkeeper in 1 Gisborne can toll of goods that have ■ been missed in this way. In many ! eases, of course, the loss is not ob- ! served. If a person removes one of a I dozen similar articles the theft is likely to remain undiscovered, but | when the article happens to be unique ; of its kind it is very soon missed. In j one case a sample dress length, of considerable value, disappeared, while another example quoted was that of a table cloth, valued at between £3 and £-1, which ' quietly disappeared. It i happened to be the only one of its j hind and the loss was discovered. Overcoats, sheets, boots, and many i equally bulky articles have disappeared from different shops without their j cash equivalent; passing over the counter.

Each successful theft !s an incentive |o some people to trv again, and so the habit is acquired. But, from nil accounts, there are a number of people in Ctisborne who arc not the successful shop-lifters that they fondly believe themselves to be. It is stated that a number of thieves of this description have been identified, and that they have not found themselves in the hands of the police is due more to the charitable disposition, and aversion to publicity of tin? shopkeepers. The “ help-yourself ” habits of Mrs 80-nnd-So, however, are soon circulated among tradespeople, and the result is that the attention bestowed upon her becomes so keen that her opportunities are minimised.

REDUCING REDUCED PRICES. Sales have always been the happy hunting ground of bargain-hunters, ■but for some people the bargains are not good enough. 'With the rush that frequently attends sales, opportunity for dishonesty is increased, the demands upon the time of assistants being so great that it is impossible for a watch, to be kept. Some customers liiid they cannot wait to,be served, and help themselves to whatever appeals to them, taking anything that happens to bo handy, apparently on the principle of “what costs nothing can't be dear."

Another section of this class of depredators is too “honest” to think of taking an article without paying for it, and they resort to what is known as the art of reducing reduced prices. An article is possibly offered for sale at the reduced price of jfis lid, and although it may be remarkably cheap at the price there is uo doubt but that it could still be cheaper. The customer carefully removes, a 5s fid ticket from another article, and places it upon the article she wants, takes it to the counter, and pays the self-affixed price for it. Very often the scheme succeeds, for every assistant cannot possibly memorise the price of all articles. Even this method, however, is liable to bo frustrated. Sometimes the articles are taken to the assistant who marked them, and the fraud is detected, and l even under the best of circuufislnneos, I the customer is running a risk that is not warranted by the petty saving in price and the possible consequences. WHO ARE THE GUT LTV ONES? To the average shop-lifter the penait v of having to pay for the stolen ./noils would .not be severe, whereas The knowledge that they had been found out would bo a substantial punishment. Many of those who vest secure in the belief that they have escaped del eel ion are liable to be disillusioned, for they are known. In practically every shop in Gisborne there are certain persons who are “known,” anil they are treated aeeordinglv. Some of those persons would be regarded ns moving in society •uni their dishonesty is certainly not Ihe result of the temptation of poverty. Poverty, in fact, does not appear to tutor into the question, be-

enure the articles most commonly stolon nro not tlioso of necessity to 1 lie average individual. , Ono ostiiblislnnenl in Oisborne has ono or two “customers" wlio aVo In tlio “known” (loss who nro tho subject of close scrutiny nil the limn they nro in llio shop. Any impair] pur-chases-nro enroi'idly noted, and duly charged up, rind nit mint olv paid. The laoeoimls, needless to snv, nro never queried, and tliis method has proved successful in reforming some of the select elnss of eriininnl. Various firms adopt different methods of reducing the losses by pilfering, but the habit, or disense, enmmt be entirely stumped out. An oeensional prosocnfioii lias little effect, anil, it is alleged flint those who are prosecuted are more often the “small fry" who are subjected to sudden temptation, rather Ilian 1 lie* experienced and more or less accomplished shop-lifter.