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Call them what you will: Loss Prevention, Assets Protection, Security, or Store Detectives. The larger your store, the more you need to protect your assets from shoplifting. Shoplifting costs businesses millions of dollars every year. Protection is important, but if your customers feel like they're being watched, they'll feel uncomfortable and shop elsewhere. While a visual deterrent will make dishonest shoppers think twice about stealing, if you're interested in catching thieves, your surveillance will need to be covert. While a great camera system and trained observers can be an excellent way to detect shoplifting, the expense of such a surveillance camera system can be cost prohibitive. So what is a business owner to do? You can have covert surveillance without an expensive camera system by hiring a store detective.
To be effective, a store detective must blend in with your customers. The first step is to match the dress of your typical customers. It could be casual or formal, or somewhere in between. Another technique to blend in is to actually shop. Looking at and carrying merchandise is important. However, shoplifters know what to look for. Store detectives often carry underwear or socks and small electronic merchandise. So store detectives should avoid carrying these types of merchandise. The most reliable way to spot a shoplifter is to look at their eyes. Shoplifters don't want to be noticed, so they will look around to see who's watching. But it is important not to make eye contact, because a shoplifter will feel like he's been noticed.
Once a detective notices a suspicious activity, a common reaction is to startle or jump. It's a common physical reaction, but it must be tempered in order to avoid detection. Another thing to avoid is tunnel vision. Inexperienced store detectives often lose sight of the bigger picture and focus only on what's right in front of them. Shoplifters often have accomplices that stay back in order to spot store detectives. A detective should always keep her eyes open for people who are watching what she is doing. Another type of accomplice is a decoy. Decoys will act overly suspicious, or create a disturbance, in order to draw the attention of store detectives while another person does the actual shoplifting. Some shoplifting rings have been known to send a decoy into a store to defecate on the floor in order to draw the attention of store associates, store detectives and customers...in other words, to draw everyone's attention.
Another thing that store detectives must avoid is stereotypes. Picture a shoplifter in your head. Do you see a teenager completing a dare by stealing lipstick? Maybe you see a dirty homeless person, or a minority. Did you know that the average professional shoplifter is a middle-aged, conservatively dressed white male? While there may be more teenagers stealing, the impact on your profits will be considerably less than a professional shoplifter. So make sure that you are training your store detectives to look at everyone in the same way when doing surveillance.
If you can't afford a state-of-the-art camera system, then hiring and training a quality store detective for surveillance is a cost effective solution. Make sure they blend in by dressing like your customers, avoiding eye contact and actually shopping. Avoiding the startle reaction and tunnel vision is important as well. Finally, avoiding stereotypes will round out your effective store surveillance detective.
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