March 10th, 2009

Shoplifting Crimes Spike

posted in: news, retail theft, sales economy

With each new day bringing more evidence of the nation’s troubled economy, crime data collected by the Arlington County Police Department show a dramatic rise in shoplifting crimes. The spike is particularly evident over the last year, with 466 shoplifting crimes in 2007 compared to 730 in 2008. Arlington police say anecdotal evidence suggests that the crime spree shows no sign of abating as the national recession continues to deepen.

“You can’t argue with the data,” said Arlington Police Corporal Albert Kim. “We’ve seen shoplifting crimes go up almost 100 percent over the last year.”

Arlington police officials say incidents of shoplifting have happened all over the county, yet many of the crimes seem to be located at Ballston Common Mall and Pentagon City Mall.

Retailers say they have noticed a relationship between the rising number of shoplifting incidents as the economy has continued to decline, with many of the criminals committing multiple acts of theft in the same day.

“Shoplifting certainly seems to have become much more common, and a lot of these guys seem to know what they can get away with” said Julian Davis, sales representatives for a T-Mobile kiosk in Ballston Commons Mall. “We had a guy jump over our kiosk to steal a phone, and we later found out that he had been caught earlier that day shoplifting from FYE Music.”

To combat the trend, county police teamed up with retailers at the Pentagon City Mall over the Christmas shopping season to set up “enforcement teams.” On 16 different occasions in late 2008, plainclothes police worked with loss-prevention specialists at the mall to combat shoplifting. According to a police report documenting the undercover sting, the operation recovered $5,365 worth of stolen merchandise – netting 14 misdemeanor arrests and 12 felony arrests.

“Basically we were looking for people who were looking over their shoulder and trying to avoid contact with salespeople,” said Kim, who oversees policing at Pentagon City Mall. “Believe it or not, some people will simply stuff their bag full of stuff and expect to walk out the door with it.”

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