Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/122387
Stores fight back against smash-and-grab gangs As retail theft surges in parts of the world, some thieves have with vehicles. Others have installed metal shutters to prevent become more brazen — and more violent — in getting illicit after-hours smash-and-grabs. hold of large quantities of merchandise, and malls have not These sorts of thefts have shocked residents in other parts been immune. Last year several smash-and-grab burglaries were of the world too. Robbers in the Philippines targeted two jewelry perpetrated in the U.K., including the robbery in November of a stores at Manila's SM Megamall, which reportedly draws as many jewelry store at London's Brent Cross Shopping Centre by a bat- as 1 million visitors per day, during a busy evening in January. and-ax-wielding motorcycle gang. The robbers rode three roaring This gang pulled off the heist in just a few minutes, according to motorcycles into the shopping center one morning, smashed published reports, making off with about 175 pieces of jewelry. windows at a Fraser Hart store and sped off with a haul valued at The perpetrators reportedly sparked a panic by firing a gun into about $3.2 million, according to published reports. the air and then blended in with the frightened shoppers fleeing Interestingly, the number of robberies in the U.K. last year remained unchanged from the previous year, at 4.8 incidents per 100 stores, according to the British Retail Consortium. The the mall. Police in the Philippines have since ordered mall guards to carry guns, threatening to yank their licenses if they do not. Rising theft has put merchants in a difficult position, forc- average cost per incident, however, tripled in 2012 from the year ing them to strike a balance between dissuading criminals and before, to £3,005 (about $4,550), a likely indication of "more creating an inviting shopping environment, says Brian Hume, serious and organized offending," the group said in a report. managing director of retail consulting firm Martec International. Experts say most of the recent smash-and-grab robberies in the U.K. have occurred at street shops and strip malls. To the chagrin of local officials concerned with aesthetics, some mer- Metal shutters may help deter night crime, but they also make it difficult for evening strollers to window-shop, he notes. "If you make security too good, your losses go down, but your chants have responded by erecting concrete pillars outside their sales go down as well," said Hume. "It is a tricky balancing act shops to keep thieves from ramming through their storefronts to get right." tend to be the biggest culprits, customer theft was the most common type of retail crime in Britain, accounting for 83 percent of the incidents. Still, that also saw the biggest drop in reporting: Only 12 percent of these customer thefts were reported last year, down from 47 percent the year before, the survey says. "Systematic targeting of highervalue goods by organized criminals is pushing up the cost of retail crime, but the proportion of shoplifting incidents reported to the police has plummeted to just one in eight, highlighting just how much there is to do to build retailers' confidence in the way police forces respond," said Helen Dickinson, the British Retail Consortium's director general. The British Retail Consortium has worked closely with London's police commissioner on a strategy to fight retail crime. As a result, the Metropolitan Police Service has begun to analyze retail crime in greater detail and is collaborating with merchants to address 186 SCT / M a y 2 0 1 3 the problem, the consortium says. The police have also established a single point of contact for business crime in each London borough. Crime rings use the Internet and other technology to their advantage, but so do the police and the retailers, to catch them. Police in England are using a facial-recognition smartphone application called Facewatch ID, which In the U.S. closer collaboration between retailers, police and shopping center owners has led to the creation of a number of organized retailcrime assocations. — AR uploads closed-circuit TV footage of suspects onto a system accessible to the public. If citizens recognize an image, they can upload information for the police. In the U.S. closer collaboration between retailers, police agencies and shopping center owners has led to the creation of a number of organized retail crime associations — informally known as ORCAs — that share intelligence and loss-prevention practices. And ICSC has commissioned a daily national intelligence report on retail crime and other threats, distributed to industry subscribers and police. This report, prepared by London-based Sibylline Intelligence Solutions, contains information on recent crime incidents, planned flash mobs and protests, possible terrorist activity and similar situations. The report is supplemented with alerts and special-action bulletins. ICSC has also produced a training video to help mall security officers spot organized