Rethinking Retail Theft Prevention Pays Off in Boise

Shoplifting was becoming a major problem in Boise, ID, as career criminals raked in as much as $20,000 a day by ripping off merchants. But the police department’s Crime Prevention Unit had a solution that worked.

By Curtis Crum, Guest Contributor

Curtis Crum is the supervisor of the Crime Prevention Unit, Boise Police Department, Boise, ID.

Sometimes there comes a time for those in the crime prevention community to rethink the traditional approach to a long-time problem.

That time came for the Boise, ID, Police Department’s Crime Prevention Unit when it became apparent that its traditional education and awareness program for merchants was effective in deterring the average retail shoplifter, but not impacting organized retail crime teams and career or habitual shoplifters as much as desired. In an effort to combat these more active and elusive career criminals, who could steal as much as $1,000 a day from retail stores, or organized retail crime teams who could steal in excess of $20,000 a day, the Crime Prevention Unit decided to seek a new approach.

As in other communities across the country, growing numbers of career criminals in Boise have turned to shoplifting from other, more risky criminal endeavors, such as robbery and burglary. Merchants are also the target of traveling organized retail crime teams. This shift to shoplifting is partly due to the perception that shoplifting can reap significant payoffs without substantial risk.

To accomplish its goal, the Crime Prevention Unit launched a cooperative effort with retail security personnel throughout the city. The primary objective was to unite all stakeholders with an interest in reducing retail theft.

The program relies on the timely sharing of information between participating entities and incorporates four procedures.

First, monthly meetings are held for retail security and law enforcement personnel to exchange information on known shoplifters and “suspicious refunders.” (Suspicious refunders return items to stores without receipts, commonly returning the same type of item over and over.) At these meetings, refund information is examined to develop a list of potential shoplift suspects. Retailers can use the information gained from other stores to place suspects on a “no refund” status, or provide intense “customer service” to retail fraud suspects, thus preventing a crime from happening at all.

Second, an email listing of local retail security personnel and law enforcement staff has been established and is used to make immediate notifications of suspects who are “making the rounds.” This has given retail security staff advance notice to either prevent thefts or apprehend suspects.

Third, police patrol officers are given pictures of suspects and vehicles to aid them in locating known suspects in retail store parking lots. This proactive, community-oriented policing practice has worked well.

Finally, retail security personnel contact the Crime Prevention Unit’s Organized Retail Crime Interdiction Team if known or wanted suspects appear in their stores. Merchants have the cell phone numbers of assigned police personnel, and their calls have resulted in some of the largest in-progress retail theft and fraud cases in the history of the Boise Police Department.

CCTV has been a cornerstone of the program, resulting in the capture of shoplifting suspects. It has also caught armed robbers, drug dealers, fraud suspects, car thieves, assault suspects, and sexual offenders.

This program has far exceeded its original expectations in shutting down many well-organized groups and in the arrest of hundreds of people engaged in extensive retail theft. It has unveiled the extent of shoplifting activities in Boise—a scope of activities that probably exists in any other mid-sized city. The program has brought accolades from merchants, who see this unified and proactive effort as directly affecting their losses. Retail security personnel have gained valuable information that they have used to tighten up their refund procedures, and have proven to be powerful allies in every aspect of the program. There is no doubt that with the proper guidelines and support mechanisms in place, this program can be implemented successfully anywhere in the country.