Move to protect against shoplifting for Christmas season

As the Yuletide season approaches, some stores in The City are making their annual security preparations in an effort to safeguard against potential shoplifting.

Manager of Abeds store in Swan Street, Eddie Abed noted that their preparations have begun as they lead into the season with closed circuit cameras standing watch on all the stores while security guards are present from opening to close.

These measures, he said, have become necessary as concerns of crime and shoplifting are everpresent worries for both patrons and store owners especially in the city.

“We’ve been in business for over 60 years and I assure you, during that time we’ve seen all sorts of things being tried. We had an incident very recently where two shoplifters were in the store, and we know this because although the guard saw one of them picking up an item, when we replayed the CCTV, we saw that a friend was distracting the salesperson. They always work in teams, and he grabbed the item and ran out, and the guard ran behind the person, and the person dropped the item and continued running.

“I can tell you that throughout the world, shoplifting accounts for as much as 5 per cent of inventory loss at the end of the year. That’s because you just can’t get rid of it, you have to make it more and more difficult and try as best as you can to ensure that you put the necessary protocols and hurdles in place to make it more difficult,” he stressed.

Abed highlighted that the Abeds Bridgetown store maintains strong collaboration with police to have uniformed officers on the street offering reassurance to shoppers throughout the Yuletide season where stores are open later.

Woolworth in Prince William Henry Street is also making preparations to ramp up security and add to their existing measures which include more than 30 CCTV cameras at all entrances and exits.

“We normally have undercover security in the store, not only as a deterrent, but also to catch anybody for doing anything nonsense, all certified security personnel with a licence…and then also we have a very close relationship with the police, so if there’s any nonsense, we can easily call them and they’re usually quick to respond,” said managing director Martin Bryan.

In the event of an altercation many of the stores have strict protocols for employers.

As Pro Sales’ sales representative Shem Tudor explained, store clerks are discouraged from any attempted heroics or engaging with perpetrators.

“If anything arises, staff don’t approach. They will go to the security guard and inform the cashiers at the counter or any management nearby.

“In the past we’ve had just one or two people trying a thing but it doesn’t go for too long because we’re always checking. So if we realise that something seems out of the ordinary we can check and if we know that you purchased one set of items but you have more than what you purchased, we do a more in-depth check to see if you took out something and didn’t pay for it,” he added.

Best praised police cooperation and their reaction times whenever an issue arises.

As the Christmas season approaches the store is one of many which is also taking steps to ramp up security, with guards stationed around the store to clamp down on troublemakers. (JRN)

The post Move to protect against shoplifting for Christmas season appeared first on nationnews.com.