Modus Operandi by Mauro Corvasce (universal ebook reader txt) 📕

Some psychologists believe that teenage shoplifting is a hostile act of defiance of authority and is an attempt to get back at their parents for something. This behavior may also be apparent in a husband or wife, who wishes to punish a domineering spouse.

Some people steal because they received poor service in the store. Many people who have been caught shoplifting picked out an item and first waited in line twenty minutes or more. After a long wait, they put the item in their bag or under their arm and left, thinking to themselves, "Well, if they want to make me wait twenty minutes to give them my money, they can just try and get me to pay for it."

Many shoplifters are older persons who are forced to live on a fixed income; their pension may have been enough years ago, but with today's prices, the money just won't go far. Trapped in this hopeless situation, they may turn to shoplifting.

Another interesting character who shoplifts is the person who does not actually need the item, who has plenty of money to pay for it, but believe it or not, they feel like their life is so boring they want to spice it up. Stealing is a game to them. If they can make their way out of the store with the item, they've won. It's kind of like chess, only sometimes they're checkmated and get caught.

The people described above are average amateur shoplifters. When they steal, they are usually alone and won't take anything other than what they need or desire.

The Professional Shoplifter

It doesn't take a whole lot of common sense to realize why the professional shoplifter steals: It's his livelihood. He makes his living by getting something for nothing. One thing you must remember about the professional shoplifter is that he or she seldom steals anything for himself. Whatever he takes he will sell or fence on the street. Most of the time, the professional shoplifter works by order. A person wants something and sends out some feelers to friends; a certain friend may reply that he can get it for him "wholesale." Most of the time the person who originally requested the item has no idea that his friend actually stole it.

Professional shoplifters are much like professional burglars in that they know exactly where everything is in the stores that they hit: security personnel, cameras, entrances and exits. They may spend days or weeks learning the layout of their targets. The professional shoplifter is experienced at this business and gets the job done quickly and cleanly. He often has a police record and may have organized crime connections who supply bail and get him out of jail, when needed.

The professional shoplifter will usually confine his efforts to a store located in an urban area. Even though the professional may not live in that area, he will pay to travel, because his bounty is tremendous. The greater density of people living in urban areas makes it much easier to unload the merchandise.

The Ideal Target

The professional shoplifter looks for stores with ideal conditions for theft. First, they select a medium to large store heavily stocked with merchandise. They will not select a small store because those are more easily supervised by security cameras and personnel. Additionally, believe it or not, a shoplifter likes a crowded store because there are more people in the aisles and more diversions for security personnel or clerks.

The worst thing a shoplifter can do is enter at the very beginning or very end of the day, because that is when the store is usually the least crowded and most filled with salespeople. In the morning management is usually present and the salespeople are milling around drinking coffee and waiting for customers to come in. At the end of the day, there is usually a manager on hand to count the take for the day, lock the store, and set the alarm, while other personnel are hanging around waiting for the store to close.

So, our perfect store is one that is medium to large with lots of traffic and located located in an urban area. Let's say the store is a K mart located in a major city in northern New Jersey. A professional shoplifting team may operate in many different ways.

The Diverson Technique

In the diversion technique the professional shoplifter, who already has been in the store many times and knows exactly where the merchandise is, will target a particular piece of merchandise. Let's say, the new Flowbee hair cut-

ting systems, which are selling on television for $109.95. K. mart has them in stock and on sale at $89.95. To take this merchandise out of the store the shoplifting team must be prepared to: (1) be able to steal the merchandise, and (2) be able to take the merchandise out of the store without being detected. Let's go down the aisle now, in K mart, where the Flowbees are stacked and follow the team as they operate, shall we?

The shoplifting team enters the store, usually separately. They walk down the aisle several times before they actually decide to perform the shoplifting. Sometimes a shoplifting team will be unable to steal the item they came for because of a clerk stocking merchandise or taking inventory on that aisle. The shoplifters will not hang around in the store, but will return at another time. Remember, these are professionals who rely on particular merchandise to pay their bills for the week, so they will not settle. If they came in for the Flowbees, they will not settle for shoelaces just to make a quick buck. They will come back at another time for the desired merchandise.

Let's presume that shoplifters #1 and #2, a team, have entered the store separately and have cased the aisle and found that there is absolutely no reason why they cannot steal the Flowbees today. Here is how they work the aisle:

1. Shoplifter #1 will bring a bag or some other bulky item into the store