SHOPLIFTERS’ BOOTY.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20275, 18 August 1937, Page 12

SHOPLIFTERS’ BOOTY.

THEFTS FROM STORES. AGGREGATE £1,000,000 ANNUALLY. (Times Air Mail Service i LONDON, July 18. Shoplifters take £1,000,000 out of the drapery trade every year, according to the Drapers’ Chamber of Trade, which is preparing evidence for the Home Office' on how women steal clothes,-comments the Sunday Referee. Underwear stealing - accounts for a large share of this. The. lingerie thief assuming modesty is left alone in a dress shop cubicle' to try on expensive underwear. When the woman dresses she walks out of the shop wearing pounds worth of under-clothes. The theft Is not noticed until the “rejected” lingerie is counted. Mr Albert Gowle, secretary of the Drapers' Chamber of Trade, said to the Sunday Referee: “Women shoplifters come from all classes. Many of them work in gangs. Their plans are based on the. customs ond methods of the shop. \\ - look upon shoplifting as common thieving, and if should be dealt with a* such Their Excuse. "Rut shopkeepers should not accuse customer of shoplifting until after the suspect has left the. store. Many shoplifters, caught inside a shop, claim th.it they were carrying a si ohm article from one, department to another. Women slip expensive, furs over the shoulders, or even put on fur coats, and walk out of the shop unchallenged “I am preparing c\idenee .for an exhaustive report which should be ready More than ln,ooo firms, members j of lb-' Chamber, arc, collecting evi-