Retailers Use High Tech to Fight High Cost of Theft : Security: Sophisticated new video surveillance and alarm systems will aid stores tomorrow, one of the busiest shoplifting days of the year.
She thought she had beaten the system.
After all, there was no one in the vicinity when she bit the electronic anti-theft tag off the new leather jacket and headed for the exit of the Broadway store in Northridge.
But while the woman had the jacket, she also had the attention of security guards--who had watched the entire scene via a remote surveillance camera.
Security teams will be especially vigilant tomorrow, because the day after Christmas--one of the busiest shopping days of the year--is also one of busiest shoplifting days of the year. And retailers, on guard for employee theft as well as shoplifting, are turning to new technology as they step up efforts to fight crime.
“Theft usually increases in proportion to the increase in the number of shoppers,” said Gail Dorn, a spokeswoman for the Target chain. “The better job we do in prevention and apprehension, the lower the prices we can offer to consumers--because theft is costly.”
Theft accounted for the lion’s share of the $27 billion in inventory shrinkage reported by U.S. retailers in 1992--a sum equivalent to about 1.9% of sales, according to the National Retail Federation.
While some retailers are experiencing increases in larceny, the rate of theft at Target and Broadway--two chains with expanded security measures--has remained virtually flat, executives at those companies say.
For example, Los Angeles-based Carter Hawley Hale Stores, operator of the Broadway chain, is using an interactive video to train its security workers. The tape presents the viewer with a series of theft-related situations and options for action. And Target’s parent company, Minneapolis-based Dayton Hudson Corp., is installing electronic article surveillance systems--alarms triggered by magnetic product tags--in more Target stores.
Nationwide, retailers are making greater use of such doorway alarms and are also using hard tags--white plastic attachments that shriek at tampering attempts. There is also more use of video surveillance systems and alarm cables that secure expensive coats to racks.
These devices are guards against shoplifting, but employee theft is also a growing concern. Security officials surveyed by the National Retail Federation blamed employee theft for 40.7% of merchandise loss, up from 37.8% in 1991. The officials said shoplifting losses accounted for 33.7% of inventory shrinkage in 1992, down from the 38.4% recorded in 1991.
Dishonest employees can use modern cash registers to tap into stores’ account databanks, giving them the opportunity to fraudulently direct credits to an accomplice’s account or obtain unwarranted refunds.
Responding to such problems, retailers are using technology to thwart thieving employees. For example, computerized cash registers can be programmed to monitor unusual activity.
Many retailers are acquiring a software program sold by Sensormatic Electronics Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla. The program monitors transactions and links electronic cash registers to overhead video cameras. When such transactions as credits, returns or voids take place, the system records the event and a copy of the receipt on videotape.
The average employee pilferer costs an employer $4,500 to $6,000, said William Haddad, chief executive of the Chicago-based Employers Mutual Assn., a company that keeps records on retail thieves for merchants throughout most of the Midwest. That includes merchandise loss or fraudulent credits; the wages wasted on hiring and training the employee and the cost of probing the crime.
Haddad provides his clients with a special form for job applicants to complete. The security company uses the form and other information to ferret out convicted or admitted thieves.
“The pros--those with a record of insider jobs--always come back for retail jobs late in the year,” said Haddad, citing the case of a Chicago man who has applied for three such jobs since stealing $33,000 from a retailer in 1991.
“Shoplifters also come out of the woodwork late in the year, because there is an increase in shoppers and merchandise and it’s harder to monitor a situation,” he explained. “It’s the easiest time to steal.”
Target’s Gail Dorn said the best deterrent to shoplifting is good service. “A shoplifter,” she said, “doesn’t want a lot of attention from sales associates.”
