Police provide training to stop local shoplifting

With Black Friday approaching, the Chapel Hill Police Department is trying to advertise its training and shoplifting prevention program for local businesses.

Lt. Chris Blue of the community services division of the department said he encourages any business concerned with shoplifting to set up an appointment for a Shoplifting Awareness and Prevention Training session.

"It's certainly a time of year that businesses have more traffic," he said.

"It's important to remind employees to keep their eyes open and know that any business is vulnerable."

Blue said the program alerts business owners and employees to potential shoplifting techniques and ways to prevent them.

"I think good customer service is the best deterrent of all," he said.

If employees greet customers and talk to everyone who comes into a store, potential shoplifters will be less likely to try to steal because of a fear of being identified later, Blue said.

Deborah Miller, director of marketing and communications for A Southern Season, is familiar with that technique.

She said store employees go through the training session each year before the holiday season and already have done so this year.

"We have lots of new seasonal employees every year, and we want them to know what to look for," Miller said.

She added that she thinks most retail stores see an increase in shoplifting around the holidays, and she pointed out that people will steal anything.

"It's weird," she said. "People will take such an insignificant item that it makes you wonder why they wouldn't just pay the five dollars for it in the first place."

Miller stressed that the store prosecutes shoplifters to the fullest extent of the law.

Autumn Spencer, manager at Time After Time Vintage Thrift Shop at 414 W. Franklin St., said her store is not particularly concerned with the threat of an increased number of shoplifters.

"I think we have it under control," she said.

"Generally, we just keep an eye on the store and watch the dressing rooms. If it gets really crowded, we'll make people leave their bags at the door."

She added that the store deals with about the same number of shoplifters regardless of the time of year.

Chapel Hill police spokeswoman Jane Cousins said that last year there were 151 reported shoplifting cases in the city.

Of those, she said, 14 reports were made in November and 19 were made in December.

"I think it's a pretty unreported crime," she said. "It's one of those things where after the season, shop owners will look at what they did and didn't sell and say 'oops.'"

To set up a shoplifting awareness training appointment, contact officer Danny Lloyd or Lt. Chris Blue at the CHPD's community services division at 932-2929.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.