The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, September 28, 1978 THIRTEEN
Oregon businesses try
to slow rising tide
of shoplifting
Salem Scene
By Jack Zimmerman
An exclusive to Oregon's weekly newspapers
People concerned about cri
me that costs Oregonians $75
million each year gathered in
Portland recently to study the
situation.
The gathering was unique
because it involved victims of
this particular crime, police
charged with apprehending
perpetrators, prosecutors,
judges and those attempting
prevention through rehabilita
tion. The crime is shoplifting,
most often classified as petty
thievery. But there's nothing
petty about its magnitude.
Nationwide it costs mer
chants $6.5 billion and it's a
crime that has increased a
staggering 35 per cent in the
last five years. It has burgeon
ed to the point merchants now
figure one of every ten persons
entering their stores do so
with the intent to steal.
The recent Portland meet
ing was conceived and con
ducted by the Oregon Retail
Council and the office of the
Multnomah County District
Attorney. For fives years the
Retail Council has been sup
porting a statewide campaign
to slow the rising tide of
shoplifting through public ed
ucation. The on-going cam
paign is called STEM, an
acronym for Shoplifters Take
Everybody's Money.
The Portland meeting was a
frank attempt to enlist law
enforcement agencies involv
ed in arrest, prosecution,
sentencing and rehabiliting a
growing number of petty
thieves.
Attending the day-long af
fair were city and county
police officials, district and
circuit court judges, represen
tatives of juvenile court,
probation services and youth
community service centers.
They exchanged information
with the district attorney's
office and representatives of
large and small retail busi
nesses, detailing problems
each has in combatting what
is largely considered a legal
misdemeanor in Oregon.
Technically, most shoplift
ing consists of stealing mer
chandise valued at less than
$200. The law calls such
crimes theft-two, theft in the
second degree a class-A mis
demeanor punishable by fines
of up to $1,000 and imprison
ment for not longer than a
year.
From a practical stand
point, few shoplifters pay fines
or go to prison at least not
those convicted under the
theft-two statute. Seventy-five
percent are amateurs, half the
amateurs are teenagers and
65 per cent of all teenage
amateur shoplifters are fe
male. .
Of 447 shoplifting cases
convicted in Multnomah Cou
nty between Sept. 1977 and
March 1978 (a 95 per cent
conviction rate), 67 spent time
in jail, often with added
probation, restitution or fines.
Ninety per cent received
probation, frequently with
added conditions largely
community service.
Retailers at the meeting
expressed concern at the
relatively small number of
convicted shoplifters who rec
eive harsh sentences. Judges
explained their need to main
tain neutrality in search of
justice and, staggering case
loads that prevent a higher
level of personel attention.
Multnomah County district
court dockets involve as many
as 150 cases a day, for
instance, and one fourth
involve theft-two ninety per
cent dealing with shoplifting.
They discussed formation of a
shoplifting court, uniformity
of sentencing and diversion-
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,4.
ary sentencing involving resti
tution and community service,
ing involving restitution and
community service.
Police also pointed to case
load problems involving rising
numbers of all types of crime
and the necessity, of concen
trating on major offenses,
often at the expense of minor
crime activity. Portland pol
ice cited as many as 500,000
calls for help in a single year,
when the force is physically
geared to handle less than half
that number. They also urged
merchants to prosecute once
arrests are made, explaining
that arrests without action are
useless from their point of
view.
Prosecutors made a strong
case for greater Understand
ing of the law on the parts of
retail merchants and suggest
ed on-going education part
icularly among small business
people to increase the con
viction rate following arrests.
Representatives of larger
retail firms discussed the
expanding costs of doing
business in the process of
providing professional secur
ity personnel and equipment.
A major Portland department
store budgets in excess of a
million dollars annually for
security and another half-mil-lion
in related expenditures.
Smaller merchants deplored a
trend among their peers to
accept shoplifting losses be
grudgingly rather than spend
the time involved in active
prosecution.
Those employing only small
workforces said they simply
could not permit employees to
spend hours or days in court to
convict a thief accused of
stealing an item that sells for
less than the cost of prosecu
tion. After throughly airing their
individual problems, partici
pants came to some tentative
conclusions they are willing to
pursue in the future! Diver
sionary sentences, when fac
ilities are available, was one.
A shoplifting school, similar to
those conducted for persons
convicted for traffice offenses
and alcohol abuse, was ano
ther. One judge said he could
guarantee an ample student
body if such a school was
organized.
Generally, a better under
standing of problems con
fronting all participants evolv
ed and the group agreed to
continue its efforts to produce
a community approach in
combatting shoplifting.
Impetus for this activity
may be provided by shoplifing
victims who were only inci
dently represented at the
meeting. They are the million
or so wage-earning Oregon
ians, who pay up to $75 a year
more for the goods they buy
just to cover the costs of what
petty thieves steal.
BMCCband
tryouts will
start tonight
Rehearsals for the Blue
Mountain Community College
college-community band and
orchestra start Thursday,
Sept. 28 at 7 p.m.
John Weddle, instrumental
music director at BMCC.will
hold the first rehearsal in the
music building located in the
McCrae Activity Center.
The band and orchestra
groups are open to all wind,
string and percussion players
in Umatilla and Morrow
counties, both students and
adults. Weddle noted, "Every
body who plays an instrument
from junior high age to senior
citizen has participated in the
past."
The music groups meet once
a week and anyone may
appear and participate. There
is no fee charged and students
enrolled at the college get
credit for playing.
Dec. 3 has been set as the
first concert date of the
groups. For futher informa
tion, contact John Weddle at
the college 276-1260, ext 306 or
at home 276-8621.
)