Living on the"Take" for Decades: The Unnoticed World of Compulsive Shoplifting
From the quiet town of Pirmasens comes a shocking tale - a woman, aged 58, had been shoplifting for years, unchallenged. Her unmasking occurred when she was found red-handed in a sports store located in Hauenstein, as announced by the police early on Sunday morning. Drawn into police custody on a Friday afternoon, she confessed to the theft, leading to the discovery of more stolen merchandise from another nearby store in her vehicle.
An extensive search of her Pirmasens apartment later, revealed a trove of over 400 pieces of apparel, cosmetics, kitchenware, along with other items, with an estimated value of around 20,000 euros. The woman reportedly had no intention of selling or using these stolen goods significantly, having confessed to stealing nearly daily over a staggering span of four and a half years.
An Unaddressed Challenge
Is this the unusual exception or a symptom of a far-reaching issue? Many individuals, predominantly women, struggle with kleptomania, an impulse control disorder that manifests as a compulsive urge to steal without any real benefit derived from the act. Among the general population, this disorder affects approximately six out of 1,000 individuals, with women being three times more prone to it than men[1].
Unfortunately, this disorder often remains undetected and untreated due to societal stigma and discomfort surrounding the topic. As a result, cases like the one from Pirmasens, where shoplifting goes unnoticed for years, are relatively common.
Prevention Tactics for Retailers
Retailers can take several proactive actions to minimize the risk of unnoticed long-term shoplifting. These include:
Employee Monitoring
- Regular supervision: Ensure employees, particularly during cash handling and inventory management, are subject to proper supervision to prevent internal theft and reduce the likelihood of kleptomania-linked shoplifting.
- Regular audits: Conduct frequent, unannounced audits to detect irregularities in financial and inventory records. This can uncover patterns of behavior that indicate kleptomania.
Employee Behavior Monitoring
- Red flags: Look out for changes in lifestyle, persistent borrowing, or indications of drug and alcohol abuse. These behaviors can be potential indicators of underlying issues like kleptomania.
- Anonymous reporting: Implement a confidential reporting system to encourage employees to identify suspicious behavior without disclosing their identity.
Transaction Monitoring
- Cashless transactions: Encourage cashless transactions to limit the opportunity for cash theft, making it challenging for individuals with kleptomania to steal without detection.
- Suspicious transaction reviews: Regularly review high-risk transactions, such as no-sale till openings, cash refunds, voids, and discounts above a specific amount, to detect any potential cases of shoplifting.
Employee Engagement and Trust
- Competitive wages: Offer employees with a solid reputation trusted positions and higher wages to reduce the risk of internal theft and keep a stable, trustworthy workforce.
- Employee support: Foster an interest in employees' well-being and build a supportive work environment to encourage employees to share any concerns related to shoplifting.
Smart Accounting and Security Measures
- Separation of job functions: Ensure that roles steeped in risk, such as purchasing, receiving, and bookkeeping, are not carried out by one individual to reduce the opportunity for internal theft and fraud.
- Regular security reviews: Periodically assess and upgrade security procedures to keep up with retail theft prevention best practices and maintain clean financial records.
Community and Law Enforcement Collaboration
- Law enforcement collaboration: Collaborate with law enforcement agencies to exchange information and learn from one another to comprehend patterns of activity indicative of kleptomania-related shoplifting and develop effective deterrents.
By implementing these strategies, retailers can create a safer, more secure shopping environment by reducing the likelihood of unnoticed long-term shoplifting due to kleptomania.
