• Over 530,000 employees and shoplifters were apprehended
• 463,682 Shoplifters were caught- an increase of 11% over 2005
• 66, 507 Employees were caught- an increase of 6.6% over 2005
• Dishonest employees steal 6.6 times the amount stolen by shoplifters
• The average amount of merchandise recovered from a dishonest employee- $851.44
• The average amount of merchandise recovered from a shoplifter- $128.71

I want to take a look behind the scenes of how shoplifters are apprehended and why this is antiquated, costly and ineffective. 

Over 463,000 shoplifters were apprehended last year. This means that for every shoplifter apprehended there was at least one employee (usually security) involved who spent time watching, stopping, apprehending and possibly prosecuting each shoplifter. This process could take anywhere from 1 to 4 hours (or more). Why? To recover an average of a little more than $128.00 in merchandise? This hardly seems cost effective.

Why not spend more time on preventive techniques? This would save payroll, possible violence, injuries to both shoplifters and employees and potential litigation. I don't understand the need to always apprehend. Yes, I know it's exciting making apprehensions. Yes, I understand the lost civil restitution income. But do these things offset the other factors listed? I don't think so.

When possible, why not force the shoplifter to 'dump' the merchandise, write up a recovery and track how much was prevented from being stolen? My guess is that over time, recoveries and payroll dollars spent focusing on issues such as employee theft (over $800 average recovery) safety and training will save companies allot more money than catching shoplifters.

Don't misunderstand my position. Shoplifters do need to be apprehended and prosecuted. Just not ALL of them. Use prevention whenever possible and if that doesn't work, send them to jail.