“Greet your customer.”
That’s the most important piece of advice Juneau police Officer Ken Colon wanted his audience to remember at the end of his presentation on Friday. He was meeting with nearly 20 people in the backroom of Alaskan Dames, a consignment shop in the Mendenhall Valley.
“Shoplifters, they do not like being greeted. It hinders their ability, it takes away the opportunity and it reduces the desire to commit the crime,” Colon said.
Juneau police have reported burglary and theft rates significantly higher last year than in previous years, and they’re stepping up efforts to help residents discourage thieves before a crime is committed.
Colon has been on the Juneau police force for almost 11 years. He’s experienced the increase in property crime firsthand. He said when he responds to a theft, he looks for holes in the victim’s security so he can explain ways they can prevent the same thing from happening again. Now he’s taking the next step.
“That’s why I’m called to do these things. If I point out some of the things they are not doing, a lot of these petty thefts, when it comes to shoplifting, could’ve been prevented.”
He wasn’t sure who his audience would be at first. If a majority of the people had been business owners, he would’ve spoken about physical changes they could make to their business to deter thieves.
“We had a lot of employees here so we started talking about loss prevention more than anything else,” Colon explained.
In other words, ways employees can make a difference. Some of those employees said they wanted to learn how to protect their stores and themselves from shoplifters.
Nathan Buendia and his coworkers often work alone at Lilette, an Alaskan Dames boutique. He said Colon’s talk was educational. He even took notes.
“Yeah, I learned a lot tonight. I think that the crime prevention triangle is really effective and I’m glad that I learned it today,” said Buendia.
He explained the concepts behind the crime prevention triangle.
“So it’s desire, ability and opportunity. These criminals, they have all these three things, and if you block one of those things they will most likely not steal, which is really, really cool to learn,” he said.
That’s where greeting the customer can go a long way.
“If you’re just an employee, make sure you say hello to your customer and the store will most likely be protected,” Buendia said.
Buendia has only worked at Lilette for a couple of months and said he hasn’t had to deal with shoplifters, but his coworkers have.
Madison Massey is a manager at Alaskan Dames who sometimes fills in at Lilette. She said shoplifting is a frequent occurrence.
“Weekly, I mean daily, we’re aware of when people are coming in specifically looking to hit us without paying whatsoever,” Massey said. “We’re looking at security footage weekly, so we’re aware of the regulars who are coming in and taking things without paying.”
Massey said theft is such a big problem that it might be a good idea for retailers to have talks on crime prevention on a regular basis.
Colon said there’s no doubt that if businesses adopted the tactics he recommends, Juneau would see fewer thefts.
