LONDON SHOP-LIFTERS.

Shannon News, 7 February 1922, Page 4

LONDON SHOP-LIFTERS.

7»' of the detective staffs of tlie large London stores will meet in conference with the object of evolving a joint scheme to frustrate the raids of shop-lifters, which have shown a' marked tendency to increase, says a London paper, Eighty-four firms, with a total capital of approximately £40,000,000, are concerned in the proposal. On firm at a recent stocktaking discovered a deficiency of £20,000. It is suggested that instead, as at present, of a house maintaining its own detective staff, operating exclusively within the establishment, a common force should bo created, available for all the firms involved. This would ensure tho mobility which is essential to checking the depredations of thieves. According to Mr T. Ernest Jackson, secretary of the Retail Distributors ’ Association, the marauders may be divided into three classes: —Victims of a sudden temptation, kleptomaniacs, and professionals. “Professionals,’’ he said, “seem to be working more than ever in organised gangs. They are more active in the provinces, possibly because they fear they axe too well known in London. ‘•‘One such gang, consisting of four women, smartly dressed and of good appearance, is moving through the North of England, and from ten towns we have received complaints. ( ‘ Their last coup was the theft Of a fur coat valued at £4OO. Three of them kept the small .staff in the department coat in a box with the firm’s label on —which she had entered carrying—and calmly departed with it. They have evaded capture so far. “In London a method is being increasingly adopted of telephoning for articles to -be sent immediately to the address of a customer, and when these are despatched one of the gang calls on the customer, explains that the parcel has been left in mistake, and thus secures possession of it. “In only a small percentage of the suspected thefts is action taken,’’ added Mr Jackson, “but it has become imperative, in order to stamp out the evil, that more prosecutions should be instituted —in the interests of the public as well as of the stores. ’ ’ An obvious defect of the existing system is that shop-lifters and pick-pock-ets, if detected in one emporium can transfer their activities to another, where they will not be known to the detective staff. A central force would overcome this difficulty by keeping the detectives, most of whom are women, moving not only through the London stores, but through the provincial stores also. If this plan is approved and adopted by tho retailers, the organisation will probably issue to those concerned its own