PORT ANGELES — Shoplifting is on the rise in downtown Port Angeles and in Sequim, police and business leaders say.
But Port Townsend has seen no such increase, Port Townsend Police Sgt. Ed Green said.
The problem is “immense,” said Linda May, manager of Country-Aire Natural Foods at 117 E. First St., Port Angeles.
“We just finally bit the bullet and put in a $7,000 surveillance unit. It makes you feel terrible to do that,” she said.
Shoplifting
Shoplifters have long targeted Country-Aire’s corners, but the frequency has worsened in the past few months, May said.
In late October, a woman brought in a Country-Aire sack, filled it with about $120 worth of goods and took off without paying, she recalled, adding that the woman went to Wal-Mart and shoplifted more before she was caught.
May said Country-Aire’s surveillance cameras were installed a couple of weeks ago and have already recorded two more shoplifters who’ve yet to be apprehended.
All May could do was provide the videotape to the police.
Economic woes
The uptick in retail thievery is a trend that began well before the holiday shopping season, due to the region and nation’s economic woes, said Barbara Frederick, executive director of the Port Angeles Downtown Business Association.
Frederick added that Swain’s General Store in Port Angeles is one of the businesses that’s better at catching shoplifters — and manager Don Droz agreed that his staff has seen all too many thieves of late.
“We had been having some big problems through this last year,” Droz said, “with gas prices rising and unemployment up.”
All a retailer can do is stay vigilant, he said, though that’s tough when his big store’s aisles and checkout lines are jammed.
“We do our best to watch people as they come in,” he said.
Frederick said that just before Christmas, a man “hit several downtown businesses before he was caught.”
The shoplifter was arrested on Dec. 23 after taking gloves from Brown’s Outdoor, said Port Angeles Police Officer Duane Benedict.
Store manager Evan Brown said he chased the suspect through the icy downtown streets while talking to police on his cellular phone.
He said he’d seen the man come in twice that day.
Sequim
Sequim Police Lt. Sheri Crain said shoplifting has worsened in her city, too.
When chain stores such as Safeway bring in plainclothes security guards, “Bam, they’re catching them left and right,” Crain said.
“Marginal people are being hit hard by tough economic times,” she said. “Shoplifting is usually related to drug users or folks who are in a tough spot financially . . . they can’t afford the everyday stuff they need to live.”
Crain said she heard plenty of “shoplifter in custody” chatter on Sequim Police Department radios during December.
That slowed down in January, but Crain expects it’ll pick up again as soon as the chain stores bring their contract security guards back.
Port Townsend
In Port Townsend, Green agreed that the arrival of security teams — QFC and Safeway bring them in for days or weeks at a stretch — means a jump in arrests.
Green, however, said he didn’t see more reports of shoplifting among Port Townsend’s smaller retailers this fall and winter.
“Maybe our business folks aren’t as quick to give us a call,” he said. “We encourage them to call us.”
E-mail alerts
In response to the rise in shoplifting, Benedict and Frederick keep Port Angeles downtown merchants informed via e-mail of suspicious-looking visitors.
When Benedict, the downtown resource officer who sometimes patrols the streets in a Segway, gets a report of someone who appears to be pilfering merchandise, he phones or e-mails Frederick, who in turn sends an e-mail alert to downtown retailers.
“Last fall, I did that with a shoplifter,” Frederick said, “and he became known at several businesses.”
The thief used a coat to cover up merchandise he pulled off store shelves and then took it to the counter to “return” it for a refund, she said.
“That’s what I got out in the e-mail. A lot of people were right on it,” Frederick said, adding that later the same day she saw the e-mail printout posted in stores.
That apparently drove the shoplifter away, she said.
Talk to shoppers
Both Frederick and Benedict say merchants can deter shoplifters by making eye contact with and talking to everybody who comes into their stores.
“Don’t let people wander around uncontacted. Go up and greet them,” Benedict said.
If a visitor is up to no good, he or she may just decide to leave if the staff appears vigilant, he added.
A shoplifting conviction can lead to jail time and steep fines, depending on the value of what was stolen.
Steal goods worth up to $250, and you could be locked up for as long as one year or pay up to $5,000 in penalties for a gross misdemeanor, according to Benedict.
If what you took is valued at $250 to $750 or more, your offense is a felony punishable with over a year in jail, plus a fine. Sentences for shoplifters depend on their criminal history, Benedict said.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
