177 N. Church Ave
Suite 312
Tucson, AZ 85701
(480) 557-7800
(520) 624-7800
(espanol)

1839 S. Alma School Road
Suite 264
Mesa, Arizona 85210
(480) 557-7800
(520) 624-7800
(espanol)

Most Common Stores People Steal From And The Items They Steal

(The content below was transcribed from an interview done with Acacia Law. We think you’ll find it much easier
and more enjoyable to read this way.)

Interviewer: What are some of the stores that you see that people steal from the most, out of curiosity?

Acacia Law: What are the kind of items?

Interviewer: Well firstly, what stores do you see most often that people steal from?  Then what items are most commonly stolen?

Acacia Law: Well, usually, the profile is usually one of two things. One is that there is a common, almost universally now, stores utilize bar-codes, that’s simply where they swipe the bar-code across a computer screen which reads it and reflects on the computer screen makes the calculations. One common avenue that I’ve seen profiled is people who try to switch bar-codes.

They try to tear them off, throw away the small item, take the intact bar-code that they tore off and apply it to a more expensive item. In terms of where people go, normally what I’ve found is that the people who have done a shoplifting crime wherein they have been actually apprehended, ordinarily are going to a department store which they regularly attend.

Interviewer: Sure.

Acacia Law: The reason being is that they’re typically familiar with it, they may be familiar with the employees, they may be familiar with the habits of the employees and so they may observe or consider different opportunities while they are there. It’s much less common for me to run into people who’ve never been into a store. In fact, I can say that I have had people who have memberships at certain department store, for example Costco is one, I think Sam’s Club is another, where you actually have to have a membership.

Get your questions answered - call me for your free, 20 min phone consultation (480) 557-7800

Interviewer: Right.

Acacia Law: Well most people go to these same stores all the time and therefore they start, they feel comfortable in the store, comfortable enough-, and I almost think that some of them, because they are spending money there all the time, think that, “Well, given all the money I’ve spent, if I try to just maybe walk out with these cigarettes, they’ll cut me some slack, because obviously I’m an excellent customer, I can just say it was a mistake.” But, again, the problem that you run into is that the more frequently you go to a store, the more times they’ve got you on video camera. I have had clients who they can trace back for days and weeks, being at, for example, and I’m just using this as an example.

Interviewer: Okay.

Acacia Law: Someone who might go to Target and frequent Target. They understand how they operate, where everything is, and they might go to two to three different Target stores. Thinking that by doing so, for example, they will not in fact be targeted by one store and so they are spreading things out.  Unfortunately, since all these stores are tied together and in conjunction with that the police have a larger data base that they can tie everyone into. I’ve seen them track just even if it’s just the private security companies that work within the stores, track the same individual in two or three different, for example, Target Stores, across the Valley. They flag it immediately and send out a notification and other investigatory bodies in other stores that are affiliated will run a check immediately and try to see if they can track the person.

Interviewer: That’s really interesting. You’re telling me a bunch of things that it seems like a lot of shoplifting is highly premeditated then. The person is essentially casing the place in their mind, maybe just toying with the idea and then they actually do it. Or, like you said before, a lot of these will start as misdemeanors and go to felonies. I mean, you tell me, but maybe someone steals a little bit from here and a little bit from there and when you add it all up, it blows past the $250 mark pretty quick. Is that right in my thinking?

Acacia Law: Yeah and that actually creates a worse problem for them. If they’ve gone to several different stores, now what they’ve done is essentially they’ve created something that exceeds just a one-time shoplifting. Now they’ve created a series of shoplifting events which can be alleged as, I don’t want to make this sound super-serious, but it’s sort of a “racketeering” type allegation, is what they’ll put on there.

What it means is that the individual is engaging in a regular conduct which is employed time and again. Which falls into what’s another sub-category under theft which is “fraudulent schemes and artifices” which is in fact a felony and under all circumstances. Say, for example, as you pointed out, the person who goes to two or three different Target stores, and shoplifts from each one. Now they’ve set up sufficient evidence that a prosecutor, county prosecutor, ordinarily, can allege hat this person is engaged in a scheme, okay, and now they’ve graduated from that class one misdemeanor, up to a felony. Also, it just plain looks worse. Judges are more understanding if a person, again, on a lark or even if it’s pre-meditated, it’s a one time thing. They are more understanding. If you are doing this to the same store, sort of victimizing it regularly, then it’s treated differently. Again it’s one of those things that I think that most people don’t really think about until the hammer comes down.

Interviewer: Crazy.

Acacia Law: To get back to your original question about how the different people are profiled, again I think that oftentimes it’s through familiarity with the store that they might think on occasion, perhaps, maybe I could do this and get away with it. I think other people just on the spur of the moment, simply make the attempt, for whatever reason. The third class of people that I have that frequently do this are people that actually have a mental illness. You’ve probably heard of kleptomaniacs. This is not an accurate diagnosis.

Interviewer: Okay.

Get your questions answered - call me for your free, 20 min phone consultation (480) 557-7800