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Special squad of high-profile, low-maintenance policemen on the job
Shoplifters take
$100,000 a day
By PETER CLACK
Thieves are stealing
goods to the value of about
$100,000 a day from Can
berra's shops in the
lead-up to what is other
wise becoming a bumper
Christmas for retailers.
The figures are regarded as
conservative and are close to
the actual figures three years
ago, when the number of shop
lifters caught by police was
about a third fewer than now.
Another statistic that con
founds the experts is the dra
matic rise in the number of
female shoplifters, nov# out
numbering males three to two.
In the Australian Federal
Police Annual Report 1990-91,
614 female offenders were
charged compared with 454
males. Last year the ratio was
the reverse: 525 male and 332
female thieves charged.
Police joined leading retailer
K Mart yesterday to launch the
annual anti-shoplifting cam
paign, codenamed Shopwatch,
by providing the first of the
"cardboard cut-out cops" which
will remind shoppers to be hon
est.
The AFP's crime-prevention
officer, Sergeant Kathleen
Mowle, said the aim of Shop
watch was to raise awareness
about shop crime and to bring
home to shoppers that they ulti
mately paid the cost
She said offenders faced pen
alties including substantial
fines and imprisonment.
"Apart from suffering the
stigma associated with this of
fence, a conviction of this kind
could seriously affect the em
ployment prospects of anyone
caught," Sergeant Mowle said.
The ACT Retail Training
Council encourages charging
and summonsing first offenders
as a deterrent Its executive di
rector, Kerrin Hampstead, said
girls were the greatest offenders.
"You might think it is a first
time, but if they are cunning
enough to pinch, they are cun
ning enough to spin you a good
story," she said. "Mostly it is
not the first time."
The Shop Distributors and
Allied Employees Association's
ACT organiser, Athol Williams,
said earlier this year that lower
staff numbers was a factor in
increases in shoplifting. Staff
were being left alone to super
vise up to three departments at
a time.
However, he blamed the vast
majority of shoplifting on or
ganised gangs, many of which
visit Canberra specifically to
steal from shops.
The one with the expressive face, Sergeant Kathleen Mowle, of AFP Crime Prevention, reviews her troops, who will be on patrol in shops to deter shoplifting. Sergeant Mowle may well smile; she won't have to stand sternly still all day. Help
The one with the expressive face, Sergeant Kathleen Mowle, of AFP Crime Prevention, reviews her troops, who will be on patrol in shops to deter
shoplifting. Sergeant Mowle may well smile; she won't have to stand sternly still all day.
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