Today is "Black Friday," the make or break day for most retailers. Good sales today mean staying "in the black;" that is, on the profit side of the balance sheet. Poor sales mean a ledger full of red ink and possible bankruptcy. Losses from light-fingered customers often tip the balance. Shoplifting cost U.S. retail stores $12 billion last year, and the poor economy is expected to entice even more people to shoplift or purchase stolen goods this year.
Shoplifting reports are up 12% over last year with thefts running nearly $35 million per day nationwide. The National Association for Shoplifting Prevention estimates that 1 in 11 people shoplift. In the past 5 years, more than 10 million people have been caught shoplifting from U.S. stores. While shoplifting occurs in all kinds of stores, crowded discount and "big box" stores like Wal-Mart are prime targets.
The staggering financial loss attributed to shoplifting has caused most stores, and particularly large national chains, to get tough on these petty thieves. Stores have beefed up in-house and undercover security forces for the holidays. They employ sophisticated security tags and intelligent cameras to catch thieves. They use state-of-the-art motion detectors to track carts that bypass checkout lanes as they exit the store. By e-mailing photos to each other, they work together to stop repeat offenders.
If they catch you, they come down hard. Gone are the days when stores quietly pulled shoplifters aside and gave them the opportunity to pay for or return what they had stolen. Today, retailers are cracking down on shoplifters and aggressively prosecute retail theft. If you're caught, the police are called, you're handcuffed, marched out of the store and into a police car, and driven to the station where you are booked, charged and can be jailed.
In California, shoplifting is charged as petty theft when the stolen property is valued between $50 and $400. On a first offense, it is usually charged as a misdemeanor, but subsequent offenses can be charged as felonies. Because shoplifting is documented by video and staff surveillance, defense is difficult. However, a skilled criminal defense lawyer may be able to have shoplifting charges reduced or dismissed.
