SHOPLIFTING MENACE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19315, 4 May 1937, Page 2

SHOPLIFTING MENACE

GRAVE EVIL IN SYDNEY PENALTIES CRITICISED "PROFESSIONAL THTEVES" SYDNEY, April 22. Shoplifting has become a serious evil in Sydney. In two stores alone more than 500* persons were arrested during the last three years and were convicted; and the practice is being carried on in 20 other large shops in Sydney and suburbs. lb was pointed out yesterday that a third of the shoplifters are people who could well afford to pay for the goods thev steal. Mr. Charles Lloyd Jones, of David Jones, Limited, stated that shoplifting had become a serious problem, and tho view of retail merchants was that only heavy penalties in the courts would check it.

"Generally speaking," said Mr. Jones, "thero seems to be no realisation that shoplifting is a crime just, as much as burglary. The result, has been that penalties inflicted by the courts have been so light that, instead of acting as a deterrent, they are, in essence, only an invitation to other criminally-minded people to go and do the same. "Frequently cases of deliberate and systematic thieving in the stores have been treated in the courts with such leniency as to make the penalty almost innocuous. I refer, of course, not, to tho individual who suddenly yields to Die temptation to steal a, coveted article, but lo the professional thief who enters a store With the deliberate intention of robbery. "It may be that, the community has taken'the view that the owner of the goods has recovered them, and that, therefore, there has been lio actual loss. That, argument loses sight of the fact that every case detected naturally means the recovery of the goods—for without the recovery of the stolen merchandise there could' be no arrest. At the same time nobody knows how many shoplifters escape the attention of the very large staffs of house detectives which every big store has to employ for its own protection, and as long as the courts do not constitute a practical deterrent we shall see a continuation of this class of crime."

Mr. Norman Pope, chairman of directors of Farmer and Company, Limited, stated: —"Judging by the number of men and women who are at present engaged in shoplifting, either as a sideline to augment their incomes, or as their sole means of sustenance, they must find it a paying proposition. "Fully 30 per cent of those people are in a position to pay for the things they steal. Some of them are in quite good circumstances. In these cases it seems that the only thing that makes them steal is the desire to get something for nothing. But apart, from this class there are large numbers of shoplifters who do nothing else, including many able-bodied men and youths. Almost every day some shop is invaded by these pests. They are very persistent, and have lieen known to return to the same store twice, and even three times, in a. day. "Only a small proportion of the women who engage in tin's business are in poor circumstances. The facility with which the professional shoplifters are able to dispose, of their plunder shows that there must be a number of receivers ready to take the goods from them without, asking questions. "When it is considered that not- more than one in five shoplifters are caught and brought to justice some idea can be formed of the heavy losses that Sydney retail houses are suffering yearly.

"Tho deputation which interviewed the Minister of Justice, Mr. Martin, on Tuesday was informed that steps were being taken to try to stem this rising lido of shoplifting.'"'