There is an interesting article over at the Eagle Tribune (click here) about calling the police and J.Crew's policies. ;)
Employees wait a day to report $3,500 theftBy Jarret Bencks
August 27, 2009
Salem— Employees at J.Crew witnessed two women steal more than $3,000 in merchandise on Monday, but didn't notify local authorities until a day later because they couldn't get corporate permission, police said.
Employees at the store, located in the Mall at Rockingham Park, watched two women enter the store and swipe approximately $3,500 worth of clothing off a table and walk out of the store.
The employees told police they did not immediately contact law enforcement because company policy requires permission from corporate headquarters before calling police, according to Salem police Capt. Shawn Patten. They were unable to get corporate permission until Tuesday afternoon, he said.
There are other stores in the area that have similar policies and local police are miffed by it, Patten said. "We continue to be disappointed and perplexed by some of the policies stores have regarding the notification of police," Patten said. Salem police took a theft report on Tuesday.
Calls to J.Crew corporate headquarters yesterday were not returned. According to the clothing company's Web site, J.Crew has 206 retail and 69 outlet stores across the country.
First, I hope those women who stole from J.Crew get caught. (Stealing only drives up the price on merchandise for everyone.) Second, I find the policy of employees having to call corporate headquarters before calling the police "interesting". (It's also interesting that several stores have that policy too!) I understand that in some (minor) situations, it is best to check with corporate first. However, in other cases like this one (where there is significant theft or emergencies,) it is probably better to call the police first— and quickly too.
What are your thoughts on the article? Do you agree or disagree with stores' (including J.Crew) policy when it comes to calling the police? Does your employer have a similar policy? :)
I find that very odd! Don't B&M stores in a sense, stand alone? Why would they need to call corporate before police, when a crime happened in their building? It's like me having to call my Mom first, if I get mugged in the street, just because she was the one to give birth to me. MAKES NO SENSE.
ReplyDeleteMaybe corporate aren't fans of government interference and don't respect the law enforcement?!
hmmm, I would be really wary of any eBay sellers in that area with a huge new inventory of crew :)
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I can think of is maybe it's corporate's way of managing the PR surrounding the event, similar to how campus police don't always report all the crimes that happen on university property. Those reports get out into the public and all the sudden it looks like the university is a haven for crime (which it may very well be, but they certainly don't want that kind of publicity!) I've veered off on a tangent..... I'm sure corporate has some reason they want to manage the situation - but you'd think maybe they'd have an emergency number or some way to get an immediate response - having to wait a whole day does seem quite odd.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they have to get corporate permission to call the fire department :)?
ReplyDeleteI guess I understand that nobody wants to be the store with police in it all the time. It *does* deter shoppers at some level if they start associating J.Crew with police standing around taking reports. But I think it's too bad they don't trust store employees, or even store managers, to make that call.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this is a corporate policy that hasn't really been thought through. It's one thing if people come in and just take stuff, but what if there was violence in the store or gunfire or armed robbery. Not calling the police right away really deters the effort to find the suspects and solve the crime.
ReplyDeleteThe policy would better serve employees, shoppers and the community if SAs were to call police ASAP and then call corporate, IMHO.
Now I am curious on what the employees did after they saw the theft and before they contacted the police. Did they catch the women and took back the merchandise? Were the thieves detained and beaten up at the back of the store? (just kidding) Did the employees just let the women leave with the loot while speed-dialing corporate?
ReplyDeleteUh, this is ridiculous. They are pretty much encouraging people to try to get away with stealing from them!
ReplyDeleteI would love to know why such a policy exists. Odd!
ReplyDeleteI used to work at BR at a very upscale mall. I don't remember if there was a policy about calling the police, but we did have to check with the mgr before notifying security. Moreoever, we could not intervene if we witnessed theft. I always assumed that was for our personal safety.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, I think it is really disgraceful that corportate didn't deem the situation worth of follow-up until the next day.
I am a retail store manager (not for J Crew) but a well known brand that you all shop. Our policy is the same. We cannot detain or apprehend any shoplifter or call mall security or police for help. We cannot ask or merchandise back or accuse anyone of shoplifting. As long as there is no associate safety concern then we cannot call. The company has found that more time and money is spent trying to prosecute these theives than the actual cost of the product loss. Most times these theives get probation or less. If we have a big hit in this case we would call our Loss Prevention and then they would determine whether or not to call police and make a report. If the goods are recovered then the company will prosecute in that case.
ReplyDeleteHow in the world are the suspects going to be caught if they've had a day to get out of the area? Really smart. I guess JCrew is more worried about their image (being in the news as a victim of theft) rather than recouping their losses.
ReplyDeleteThat corporate policy is bizarre and very unwise. Thieves probably know about it and are taking advantage of it.
ReplyDeleteSay what? Now they also have advertised the fact that you can do something like this and probably won't get caught! very bizarre?? None of my SA's could chase down a robber in their Juliets or capri sandals anyway! I totally understand not wanting associates to get involved for safety reasons, but this seems odd??
ReplyDeleteSerious criminals -- the ones that do it 24-7 for a living -- must know this and take advantage of it at many retailers. I agree that the employee safety should be first. It's just not worth it. As far as criminals, I could not believe the stories I heard when I worked in banking. It's really a career for some.
ReplyDeleteClaims for wrongful arrest may also be behind this policy. In my state the law gives a fair amount of protection to merchants against these claims, but I imagine that a lot of claims get settled for low amounts just to make the nuisance go away.
ReplyDeleteOrganized retail theft is a big problem, though. I have to imagine that thieves know about and are taking advantage of these policies.
Just want to clarify that this didn't happen in Salem, MA. The Mall at Rockingham Park is in Salem, NH.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Hexicon about thieves having background knowledge of the stores they target. I worked for a popular retailer right out of college, and while company policy permitted store managers to notify the police at their discretion, the professional thieves who would target our store were presumably already aware that our merchandise was NOT marked with sensors or security tags of any kind (the designer thought it was tacky to do so) and knew, before they even entered the store, which were the highest priced items nearest the entryway. The thieves were typically easy to spot - I'm not trying to generalize here but I would say they were all quite a few sizes larger than our store carried - but being able to spot them and being able to prevent them from running off with an entire bin in a millisecond is a totally different story. Were it not for our ability to contact mall police, I can't imagine there was anything stopping them from continuing their spree all throughout the mall...
ReplyDeleteBut at the same time, I see J.Crew's point. If, on top of losing $3500 of merchandise in one shot, they end up paying more in legal fees than the shoplifters' sentences are worth, I could see why they wouldn't want the hassle.
Losing $3500 to theft, and shutting down the Shop and Share to 22 people with money to burn...the bigger question is, are you in business to make money or not?
ReplyDeleteShareholders should be pissed with Mickey.
They probably pass the loss on to the consumer by raising prices while keeping their costs down.
ReplyDeleteForget about costs Jcrew passes to you due to theft. Variable costs of those clothes to jcrew are ridiculously low. A school-boy blazer is about $15.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe they are not permitted to call mall security (who of course operate both uniformed and plainclothes personnel). and to prosecute does not cost jcrew money since it is the district attorney who prosecutes. (yes there is some possibility an employee might have to testify but unlikely as these cases would plead out). i have personally seen thieves walk into a store and sweep the entire contents of a table at the front off the table into their arms and run away. this was at a chain store not located in a mall. they ended up closing that location as this was apparently a common occurrence. I find it ironic that if our bags beep when we leave the store, in-store security sends us back to the counter but if i just ran out with a bunch of stuff, i am home free.
ReplyDeleteAs weird as it sounds I can see why most retailers have a policy like this. They would pay far more in insurance costs if an employee or security guard were to get injured confronting a thief than their costs to insure against losses. If I were an SA I would not want to have to confront a suspected thief. Karma will get them in the end if justice doesn't.
ReplyDeleteReturning those stolen items to another jcrew store would make much more than selling them on ebay.
ReplyDeleteGreat lets give em some more ideas Anon LOL
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to put in my two cents:
ReplyDeleteThe majority of higher end retail stores are NOT allowed under any circumstance to contact the police without contacting corporate or their loss prevention representative.
The policys are in place to avoid wrongly accussing people of stealing, to protect employees of the store, and for many other reasons... However, those are the main two that you will learn if you ever work in a management position in retail.
At times these policies can be extremely annoying, especially as a manager when you know that someone is stealing from you.
However, lets say you report it and mall security arrests someone from stealing from your store... and then this person gets mad and decides they want to vandalize your store, hurt your employees, etc.
There are reasons for all of these silly policys. They are a pain, but they stop other issues from arising.