THE FIGHT AGAINST CRIME: NOTES FROM THE FRONT : Crawling the Malls to Catch Shoplifters

The mean streets of LAPD Officer Ken LeDuc’s beat are dotted with neon signs, Gap stores and elevators, and snake through food courts and Robinsons-May.

LeDuc is one of three officers assigned to the West Valley mall detail, which is stationed in Topanga Plaza and is also responsible for the Woodland Hills Promenade and Fallbrook Mall. While other officers are cruising the dark and dangerous districts of Los Angeles, the mall detail battles shoplifters.

With only 22 shopping days left until Christmas, that battle is expected to escalate, as malls fill up with the annual influx of both shoppers and petty crooks.

Despite what some might consider a boring berth, the officers on the mall detail say they’ve seen it all. “I’ve arrested pimps, prostitutes and a porn star,” says LeDuc, 39, who’s had two two-year tours on the mall detail. “I’ve arrested a CEO of a major entertainment industry company and a firefighter.”

All were nabbed on suspicion of shoplifting, the top mall crime.

The majority of the shoplifters that LeDuc busts are first-time offenders lifting petty items--the CEO, LeDuc says, was stuck in a long line and simply walked out rather than wait to pay.

Then there are the professionals, who are flown in from training “academies” in South America and put up at swank hotels by crime rings.

“They’re predators, with criminal histories going back to when they’re 12 years old. These people need to be in jail, and I get a lot of satisfaction out of putting them there,” LeDuc said. On the other hand, he also sees a lot of beginners, often children. “I honestly try to get them to see what they’ve done, to take responsibility for what they’ve done.”

Malls employ private security forces to keep the peace within their walls and inside their parking lots, but LAPD officers in substations like the one in Topanga Plaza get involved whenever an actual crime is committed, be it shoplifting, domestic violence or carjacking. Suspects are brought to the Topanga substation, which sports its own booking facility.

The mall detail usually makes 50 to 70 arrests a month, but holiday arrests balloon to around 120. Mall security officers are hard-pressed to keep things calm amid the influx of shoppers; last year they had to pry apart two middle-aged men duking it out over a coveted parking spot.

Things become even more challenging for store security trying to catch shoplifters and LAPD officers eager to arrest them. Traditionally, LeDuc said, on the busiest shopping day of the year--the Friday after Thanksgiving--no arrests are made. There are simply too many people in the stores to catch any thieves.

Professional shoplifters, however, rarely do business during the holidays. LeDuc said these crooks wait until stores have smaller staffs during the off-season. Then they strike, typically lifting $1,500 from a store, and hitting around three or four per day. LeDuc remembers one incident in September when officers were chasing a squad of professional shoplifters from Topanga Plaza. One of the crooks’ getaway cars wouldn’t start, so they left it behind. Inside that sedan, officers found $17,000 worth of merchandise.

Most shoplifters, though, don’t plan as well or take as much as the professionals, LeDuc said, but “everybody tries to get away with something sometime.” Adult shoplifters, he said, are frequently women, and generally steal because they are short of money for something they want, telling themselves “I deserve this” as they eye a blouse or pair of pants.

Although shoplifters are usually the only crooks to frequent malls, and Topanga Plaza is, according to its security director, statistically the safest mall in the city, that doesn’t mean it isn’t occasionally hit by violent crime. Last year a jewelry store was held up at gunpoint. Two years ago a woman was shot and killed in a parking lot carjacking.

All in all, though, the halls of the Topanga Plaza are a far cry from the gritty streets of the central city. Which suits LeDuc fine. He isn’t looking for a glamorous job in the line of fire.

“Nobody’s going to save the world,” he says. “All I can do is do my part.”