| Show r 0 c. c Students Asked to Help Fight Theft On Campus By Bryce Poole 1 t Contributing Writer f y Dave Husted Supply Manager for the Salt Lake Community College College College Col Col- lege Bookstore in an interview on r Tuesday warned students to protect protect protect pro themselves from theft J Shoplifting and theft are major concerns to most businesses and the campus bookstore is no 0 tion There is a certain population population population tion on every campus that will steal said Husted Certain people peo peo- pie are prone to theft Retailers on average lose 5 percent to shrinkage or or unaccounted unaccounted unac unac- 1 counted merchandise Shrinkage occurs in two ways external shrinkage shoplifting and internal internal internal inter inter- nal employee theft The Q- Q Bookstore is actually doing much better than the statistical average with an annual loss of roughly I percent due to shrinkage Husted reported that we know of no instances of employee theft The Bookstore staff are ahead of the game in preventing shoplifting shoplift shoplift- ing due to the strong stance they have taken to protect themselves Like most other bookstores they have many policies in place to prevent prevent prevent pre pre- vent theft Patrons are asked to leave their bags at a a table before entering and a claim stub is provided provided provided pro pro- vided to recover any personal items The staff also has a paid observer stationed at the entrance checking everyone that goes in or out During particularly busy weeks the staff will hire an under under- w cover observer to walk the floors and monitor the shelves Standard procedure when dealing with a suspected suspected suspected sus sus- shoplifter is to call a manager manager man man- ager and call campus security ty immediately The majority of those caught shoplifting are not students at this campus Husted said a lot of times well we'll catch junior high and elementary students stealing candy Occasionally there is a amore amore amore more serious problem Last year the bookstore was victimized many times by a group of shoplifters Professional shoplifters usually work in a pair Husted explained One distracts the workers by asking asking asking ask ask- ing questions asking where things are and the other thief pockets something and heads for the door Weve had a lot of software packages taken said Hust Husted d. d We now only keep empty boxes on display display- the software was taken off display because of a achain achain achain chain of professional shoplifters They were caught and surprisingly surprising surprising- ly enough they were not students at this campus Husted warned that another type of theft happens outside of the bookstore and with greate fre fre- fre- fre quency Students frequently leave their books out unattended and others steal them and then sell them back to the store The bookstore bookstore bookstore book book- store has a standard buy-back buy policy policy policy poli poli- cy in effect to purchase used books and they have no real way of knowing if the books are being sold by the legitimate owners or not This is especially a problem at the end of each semester when everyone tries to unload their used books all at once Husted recommended that students students students stu stu- stu- stu dents be very careful with their property A good idea is to m mark marka rk a certain page with your initials Husted said That way if your book disappears you have a chance of identifying it later The important important important tant thing is for students to protect their books If a student knows of a theft they should contact the bookstore The bookstore will then contact the 0 police and legal action will be taken |
