Shoplifting gangs on the prowl in supermarkets
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Channel NewsAsia - <abbr class="timedate" title="Tuesday, September 29">Tuesday, September 29</abbr></cite>
<cite class="caption">Shoplifting gangs on the prowl in supermarkets</cite>
SINGAPORE: As a security officer with a department store 10 years ago, he chanced upon a group of shoplifters trying to steal bottles of perfume. The women were using penknives to cut out the barcodes while the men kept watch. Five years later, the officer, then working at a supermarket, spotted a man whom he recognised from that episode. Realising he’d been noticed, his quarry made a quick phone call, walked to the exit where he was joined by another man, and both left. Only when Mr Ng checked the CCTV footage did he realise the man’s accomplice had been hiding tubes of facial cream under his shirt — and when alerted by his friend’s call, had dumped the items before making his escape.
Such coordinated cat—and—mouse tactics are why shoplifting syndicates are so difficult to nab. "They know how to work around the loopholes of the security systems," said Mr Ng. Police statistics show shoplifting in supermarkets is on the rise: In 2007, there were 4,832 cases and last year, 5,031. Syndicates are responsible for about 20 per cent of such cases, reckons Mr Al Chiang, a risk management and investigation director at Kestrel Investigation and Security. And security experts believe there are currently three to six shoplifting syndicates at work here, each with about six members. Their favourite targets: Expensive toiletries from brands such as Gillette and Olay, beer and milk powder. Such stolen goods are sold off on the street or in flea markets, where the syndicates can move freely and can’t be easily tracked. The gangs are especially active during the Great Singapore Sale and Chinese New Year, when the huge crowds work to their advantage, said Mr Chiang.
They patrol an area first "to see what to steal and who are the security officers on duty", said Mr Simon Suppiah, managing director of Simmon Security & Investigation Services. And they will even resort to violence. It is common for syndicate members to assault officers to prevent them from observing their activities or when confronted with stolen goods, said Mr Suppiah, formerly a police officer for 34 years. The narrow aisles and tall shelves that create natural blind spots make supermarkets a potential haven of opportunities for shoplifters, according to Mr Charles Lim, country manager of ADT Security Singapore. And for the many security measures that supermarket managers employ, the canny shoplifters strive to stay one step ahead. For instance, they will masquerade as pregnant women and hide stolen items in inflated bags strapped around their waists, or even in their children’s prams and clothing, said a Certis Cisco spokeswoman.
Retailers will on average spend about 1 per cent of their revenue on security systems, usually those that have appeared to work in the past. But what they do not realise, said Mr Patrick Lim, director of sales and marketing with security service provider Ademco (Far East), is that the syndicates will have been carefully studying these commonly—used systems’ weak spots. He estimates that retailers lose 1 to 2 per cent of their sales each year to theft. But the supermarkets that MediaCorp approached declined to say how big a problem they had with thieving gangs. A spokesman for Sheng Siong Supermarket said that its outlets "encounter shoplifting cases once in a while" and are usually cases of individual greed, not syndicate activity. Others think that better technology is the way to quash the problem. Mr Gerry Lee, NTUC FairPrice’s deputy managing director for group business, said: "We have installed electronic article surveillance panels at our hypermarkets and FairPrice Finest stores."
— TODAY/sc
Channel NewsAsia - <abbr class="timedate" title="Tuesday, September 29">Tuesday, September 29</abbr></cite>
SINGAPORE: As a security officer with a department store 10 years ago, he chanced upon a group of shoplifters trying to steal bottles of perfume. The women were using penknives to cut out the barcodes while the men kept watch. Five years later, the officer, then working at a supermarket, spotted a man whom he recognised from that episode. Realising he’d been noticed, his quarry made a quick phone call, walked to the exit where he was joined by another man, and both left. Only when Mr Ng checked the CCTV footage did he realise the man’s accomplice had been hiding tubes of facial cream under his shirt — and when alerted by his friend’s call, had dumped the items before making his escape.
Such coordinated cat—and—mouse tactics are why shoplifting syndicates are so difficult to nab. "They know how to work around the loopholes of the security systems," said Mr Ng. Police statistics show shoplifting in supermarkets is on the rise: In 2007, there were 4,832 cases and last year, 5,031. Syndicates are responsible for about 20 per cent of such cases, reckons Mr Al Chiang, a risk management and investigation director at Kestrel Investigation and Security. And security experts believe there are currently three to six shoplifting syndicates at work here, each with about six members. Their favourite targets: Expensive toiletries from brands such as Gillette and Olay, beer and milk powder. Such stolen goods are sold off on the street or in flea markets, where the syndicates can move freely and can’t be easily tracked. The gangs are especially active during the Great Singapore Sale and Chinese New Year, when the huge crowds work to their advantage, said Mr Chiang.
They patrol an area first "to see what to steal and who are the security officers on duty", said Mr Simon Suppiah, managing director of Simmon Security & Investigation Services. And they will even resort to violence. It is common for syndicate members to assault officers to prevent them from observing their activities or when confronted with stolen goods, said Mr Suppiah, formerly a police officer for 34 years. The narrow aisles and tall shelves that create natural blind spots make supermarkets a potential haven of opportunities for shoplifters, according to Mr Charles Lim, country manager of ADT Security Singapore. And for the many security measures that supermarket managers employ, the canny shoplifters strive to stay one step ahead. For instance, they will masquerade as pregnant women and hide stolen items in inflated bags strapped around their waists, or even in their children’s prams and clothing, said a Certis Cisco spokeswoman.
Retailers will on average spend about 1 per cent of their revenue on security systems, usually those that have appeared to work in the past. But what they do not realise, said Mr Patrick Lim, director of sales and marketing with security service provider Ademco (Far East), is that the syndicates will have been carefully studying these commonly—used systems’ weak spots. He estimates that retailers lose 1 to 2 per cent of their sales each year to theft. But the supermarkets that MediaCorp approached declined to say how big a problem they had with thieving gangs. A spokesman for Sheng Siong Supermarket said that its outlets "encounter shoplifting cases once in a while" and are usually cases of individual greed, not syndicate activity. Others think that better technology is the way to quash the problem. Mr Gerry Lee, NTUC FairPrice’s deputy managing director for group business, said: "We have installed electronic article surveillance panels at our hypermarkets and FairPrice Finest stores."
— TODAY/sc
