Shoplifting seems to be theme of the week.  Two articles in my local newspaper on the same day caught my eye.  The first was two guys that stuffed merchandise into backpacks while 60 police officers were in the store helping 155 children pick out clothes and school supplies for the annual “Shop With a Cop” event.   Evidently their theory was the officers would be too distracted to notice.  What they also counted on was the store security personnel also being distracted.  They weren’t.  Both went to jail charged with theft.

The second article was about a federal investigation launched over allegations that during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans police were told to “take the city back and shoot the looters.”  We all saw the looting on TV which was shoplifting “extreme”. 

To continue the theme, last week as I was entering the front door of my local grocer to pick up a few things for dinner, a woman, who I later learned was the store’s loss prevention agent, rushed by me followed by several managers and employees.  They were in pursuit of an alleged shoplifter.  I watched the scene unfold as they surrounded the suspect’s vehicle in the parking lot.  The suspect’s vehicle, an older white van, pulled out from the space and a non-employee, who was trying to help, was directly in front of the car backpedalling as fast as he could.  Not quite running backward fast enough, and about to be run over, the guy jumped on the front bumper and held onto the van’s windshield wipers.  The suspect driver floored the van across the parking lot with the guy hanging on for dear life.  The scene turned horrific when the driver slammed on the brakes and the citizen was propelled up and backward off the front of the van, landing on his back and head.  The shoplifter was apprehended a short time later by police and the citizen was suffering from a lot of pain and was taken from the scene by ambulance. 
Many years ago in my career, I apprehended a lot of shoplifters, and every one of them was a unique, and a lump in the throat experience.  Even with all the training and precautions, you never knew how the offender would react.

Scenes like this occur 16.8% more this year according to the 22nd Annual Retail Theft Survey conducted by Jack L. Hayes International.  The survey released this week reports that 25 major retailers surveyed apprehended 1,014,817 shoplifters in 2009, recovering more than $111 million in shoplifted merchandise.   

Now I know why the price of my bread and milk went up a few cents this week.