Lawndale Tribune AND lAwNDAle News The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - November 23, 2017 Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................5 Classifieds............................3 Film.........................................4 Finance..................................3 Legals.......................... 2, 6-7 Looking Up...........................7 Pets........................................8 Police Reports.....................3 Seniors..................................4 Sports....................................5 Weekend Forecast Friday Sunny 75˚/62˚ Saturday Partly Cloudy 73˚/61˚ Sunday Sunny 72˚/61˚ Senator Holds Turkey Giveaway On November 20 at El Camino College, Senator Steven Bradford (D-35th District that includes most of Inglewood) gave away approximately 1,000 turkeys to area families who needed a bit of assistance this Thanksgiving. Joining the Senator at the event were El Camino officials and students, elected officials from various area cities, and representatives from several charities and businesses. Photo provided by El Camino College. Shoplifters Get a High, But Stores Paying the Price for the Crimes By Rob McCarthy equally divided between men and women. Many, If UCLA’s men’s basketball coach wanted like the UCLA basketball players, don’t steal his team to play good defense and get some out of need. It’s for the thrill of it. steals, three young members of the Bruin Shoplifters describe getting a rush or a “high” squad clearly misunderstood Steve Alford’s feeling every time they pilfer from a store and instructions. In what became an international leave without paying for merchandise, the NASP shoplifting incident, the younger brother of says on its website. “Many shoplifters will tell Lakers guard LaVar Ball got caught stealing you that this high is their true reward, rather from a store in China. than the merchandise itself,” the group says. The goodwill tour turned into a lesson in The great majority of retail thieves aren’t Chinese criminal justice for Bruin fans and professionals or shoplifting crews that have Americans. The three UCLA freshmen-- begun to plague the area, according to experts. LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley-- In fact, 97 percent of shoplifters steal because escaped possible prison sentences in China, of social pressure or for personal reasons. The which considers retail theft a disrespectful other three percent are professional criminals act by anyone (including tourists) toward that who sell stolen merchandise or trade it. host nation. Interestingly, non-professional thieves don’t Californians don’t share the Chinese commit other types of crimes other than stealing, government’s stern view toward stealing from the NASP says. They’re typically non-violent stores, and in 2014 passed a statewide initiative and sometimes they even make a purchase to downgrade shoplifting to a misdemeanor in the store where they’re shoplifting, theft when the value is $950 or less. The authors prevention experts report. of Prop. 47 said the voter-approved change The next time you’re in a department store, in the state’s penal code would lower adult look around for the nearest 10 people because prison populations, which it has done. one of them is stealing. That is based on industry An unintended consequence has been more estimates that one in 11 people who frequent shoplifting by individuals and criminal gangs, stores and malls shoplift. Employee theft is a the retail industry says, though stealing was problem for stores too, which is why stores on the rise before the 2014 passage of the are spending more on video surveillance and criminal-sentencing initiative. Still, shoplifting other technology to lower the dollar-value of by American adults is a crime that’s expensive pilfered merchandise. on a national scale and an embarrassment Organized retail criminal gangs, known as when it’s done overseas. ORCs, are harder to stop and more dangerous The next time you’re in a South Bay store or for store security team members, according at one of the malls, think about this statistic: to the National Retail Federation. Criminal One in 11 people will steal something from enterprises in Los Angeles County recently a retailer, and it’s not usually premeditated. have begun targeting cell phone stores, where Habitual shoplifters steal an average of 1.5 members grab as much as $60,000 in new times per week, according to the National phones before leaving. Association for Shoplifting Prevention. For “These are not ordinary thieves, opportunists many, it’s addictive. or people making bad choices,” Jerry Biggs, The U.S theft prevention group estimates Walgreens’ ORC division director, says. “We’re there are 27 million shoplifters in the country, talking about criminals engaged in human trafficking, drugs and terrorism. They’re committing retail crime to fund another illicit activity.” The national retail organization estimates that organized retail crime is a $30 billion nationwide activity. Gangs target specific products, such as baby formula, cosmetics, over-the-counter drugs, DVDs and expensive items. The Los Angeles Police Department formed a special unit in 2007 in response to these retail theft networks. These criminal networks send in “boosters” who use a variety of tricks to conceal stolen items, including belts worn under clothing or shopping bags with hidden compartments. Usually, a getaway driver is parked nearby often in a car with paper license plates, according to law enforcement. Thirty-four states have come down hard in recent years on ORCs, adding offenses to their penal codes for members of these retail theft crews. California is the only West Coast state not to have an ORC statute. Prop. 47 required that non-violent crimes that were felonies before 2015 require misdemeanor sentencing, including shoplifting and grand theft where the value of the stolen goods didn’t exceed $950. The same dollar threshold applies to receiving stolen property, forgery, fraud and passing a bad check. Experts and psychologists who’ve studied the behavior by shoplifters report that most adults who steal started as teenagers. Because shoplifters are hard to spot, stores train their employees to greet customers and ask if they need any help. A friendly offer of assistance is a deterrent to shoplifters, according to loss prevention experts. U.S. retailers lose $13 billion each year to theft, which includes employee theft. In California, the number of shoplifting arrests has increased five of the last six years, according to the state attorney general’s office. •
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