No longer the preserve of the petty criminal, shoplifting has become a sophisticated business, writes Shane Hegarty
When one of President Bush's top aides was recently accused of shoplifting, it highlighted the apparent sophistication of scams involved in this type of crime. In Claude Allen's case, the 45-year-old domestic policy adviser is alleged to have placed items in an empty shopping bag and tried to get a refund for them, using a receipt for identical items he purchased previously. In this case, he was stopped with €58 worth of goods, but he's alleged to have stolen more than €4,000 from various shops.
The public perception of shoplifting might be of thieves shoving goods up their jumpers or into a bag and walking swiftly from the shop, but it is not always so straightforward.
Scams can involve thieves using false pockets sewn into their clothes; swapping price tags around to pay a lower price; using a fitting room to put on new clothes under the clothes they walked in wearing; putting items inside umbrellas or even newspapers; or tucking items under a baby lying in its buggy. And with the disappearance of plastic bags from Irish shops, some shoplifters use false bottoms on their reusable shopping bags. There have even been instances in which goods have been put inside the coiled hair of a ponytail. One woman went on a Christmas stealing spree across Dublin by carrying an empty, gift-wrapped box with a hole cut in the side facing her. She put perfumes and underwear into the box, but because she was a respectable-looking, middle-aged woman, she was ignored by security guards.
Shoplifting is believed to cost retailers in the Republic more than €300 million a year, and despite the advent of CCTV and better communication between security guards it remains a growing problem.
What's more, shoplifters come in all types. They might be middle-aged and middle-class, school kids, or expert thieves. "You have the ones that lift and run, the ordinary 'dippers' who grab something and hope to get away with it," explains Brian McCarthy, general manager of security company Alpha 1. "And there are those who make a profession of it, who use some sophisticated scams and target certain merchandise. They'll often steal to order. If you want a leather jacket, they'll get it in the size and colour that you want."
The professionals will often shoplift in gangs, having first checked on the security in a shop, the position of the cameras and the attentiveness of the staff. In larger stores, they might even communicate by mobile phone, with one keeping watch while the other steals.
The Luas and Dart mean that, in Dublin at least, shoplifters have become increasingly mobile. "They'll target suburban areas, such as the big shopping centres. So Blanchardstown might get blasted for two days, and then Liffey Valley for two days, and then they mightn't go back for a few months. They'll go in a large group and stretch the security force in the centre."
Such gangs might not always restrict themselves to shoplifting, he warns. "In England now, they'll target a tube station or a train station at rush hour or before a big match, somewhere where there's a mass of people. They'll stand on the platform and take 10 wallets between them."
Shoplifting usually makes the news only when someone well known, such as Winona Ryder, is caught red-handed.
It's estimated that 5 per cent of people who steal from shops can be considered "kleptomaniacs", who have a compulsion to steal.
In general, shoplifters come from across the spectrum and what they take will depend on their motivation, says McCarthy. "If they're stealing to pay for drugs, they'll grab the first thing they can sell; they won't care what it is as long as it has some value. It will usually be small stuff that's easily carried. Professionals will go for quality goods, jewellery and designer labels."
However, CCTV has become a major deterrent, and security guards are increasingly better-trained. On the high street, security guards use the same radio frequency, regardless of what company they work for, and can keep tabs on well-known thieves as they move down a street.
"It's a cat and mouse thing," says McCarthy.