Shoplifting problems persist at bookstore

By Max Orenstein
Senior Staff Writer
December 5, 2007

Four customers and three employees were going about their business in La Salle University’s campus store at noon Friday, Nov. 30. Without warning, a figure moved briskly along the north wall of the store toward the exit. It was a white man with brown hair. No more than six feet tall, he wore a yellow La Salle sweatshirt with the hood up. He held the bottom of his sweatshirt over a bulge.

Campus store supervisor Michelle Murray looked up from her cash register and noticed the odd behavior. She called, “Hey! Excuse me!,” causing the man to quicken his pace and exit the building. The campus store had apparently suffered yet another incident of shoplifting.

“[It] is a crime of opportunity,” Murray said. “We’re all busy.”

According to store manager Joyce Jefferson, the store has a very serious shoplifting problem.

Jefferson explained that when the store checks inventory, a “shrink percentage” is determined. Shrink consists of merchandise that is unaccounted for. A shrink percentage over 10 percent is considered high. The campus store has a shrink percentage of 12 percent, and Jefferson estimates that four to eight percent of the store’s shrink percentage results from shoplifting.

The store has taken several measures to thwart shoplifters.

“If we suspect someone of shoplifting, a description of the suspect will be given to La Salle security,” Jefferson said

That being said, Investigator and Safety Supervisor Dennis Nast said that security was not contacted about Friday’s incident.

According to Jefferson, an alarm system is in place at the exit but the alarm did not sound during the incident Nov. 30. The store has also instituted camera surveillance. When a particular item is being stolen more frequently than others, that merchandise is moved to the front of the store so that employees can keep an eye on it.

Textbooks are also now tagged to prevent fraudulent buy-backs and employees are being trained to make eye contact with all of their customers.

“Customer service is the best deterrent,” Jefferson said.

Murray says signs of shoplifting include bulgy clothes open bookbags and “a customer [that] is looking more at [the store employees] than the items.”

Officials from the campus store have identified shoplifting as a seasonal phenomenon. They say textbooks are the items of choice at the beginning of every semester and that recently there has been a spike in the number of stolen basketball shorts. This could be tied to the start of the basketball season, or just an extension of Christmas time theft. According to store employees, clothes are stolen more frequently than other merchandise around the holidays.

While Jefferson noted that shoplifting has not diminished during her tenure at the campus store, she described the store’s methods of security as “effective.”

“We do prosecute,” Jefferson said. “If we catch you shoplifting, you can be expelled.”

When someone is caught, the suspect is sent to Mark Badstubner, Associate Director of Community Development. Badstubner, along with the Judicial Board, determine the severity of the offense and an appropriate punishment.

Jefferson said that the Philadelphia Police have been called in the past, and students have been incarcerated at the local precinct. She added that several employees have been terminated for aiding in shoplifting.

orensteinm1@lasalle.edu@lasalle.edu