Police: Walmarts are home of the five-finger discount

Walmart markets itself as the home of low prices but Springfield police say the company's five Supercenter locations also are popular targets for those seeking a five-finger discount.

Shoplifting incidents reported at the five Walmart Supercenters in city limits accounted for more than half of the shoplifting calls police recorded in 2014. Department crime statistics also link a significant number of stealing and robbery calls to the five locations.

"They are havens for thefts," Police Chief Paul Williams said. "Bad guys know those are good places to go steal stuff."

Williams said the department has approached Walmart representatives a few times in recent years with ideas for curbing the thefts, which can take officers away from more serious work. So far, he said, "it's kind of fallen on deaf ears."

Although not as attention-grabbing as murder or assault, property crimes such as shoplifting are one of the primary drivers in Springfield's overall crime rate as tracked by the FBI's Uniform Crime Report program. And while the number of burglaries and some other thefts declined significantly in 2014, shoplifting has been on the rise.

Williams hopes to turn around that trend this year by working with the company to modify its crime prevention policies. Similar efforts have worked in the past — reports of drive-off thefts of gasoline dropped 32 percent in 2014 after police convinced Kum & Go to require customers to prepay at its convenience stores.

"The Walmart Supercenters, they are our top target" in 2015, said Williams. "We'll see if we can get them to get on board and try to prevent the crime from occurring in the first place. ... That could really drive down some numbers, eliminate some crime and save some money."

Aaron Mullins, a senior manager for Walmart media relations, said he had spoken with the market asset protection manager for the Springfield area, who was aware of the department's analysis and was in contact with Springfield police.

"At Walmart we are committed to providing our customers a safe and secure shopping environment," Mullins said in a statement to the News-Leader. "We are constantly evaluating our security measures on a store-by-store basis and are committed to being partners with both the local community and the Springfield police on crime prevention. While we can't share all of our security measures, security cameras, enhanced lighting, and even increased security personnel and off-duty police officers are just some of the ways we address these issues."

Analyzing the numbers

Maj. Kirk Manlove said a spike in commercial robberies in 2012 and 2013 was what first caused the department to take a close look at crime at local Walmart Supercenters.

On closer examination, the robberies — which also had been occurring at Kum & Go gas stations — turned out to be shoplifting or stealing incidents that turned violent when employees confronted the thieves.

"It wasn't the typical robbery people think of, with a masked man stealing from a liquor store," Manlove said. "It was shoplifting ... but when it gets physical, it goes from a misdemeanor to a felony at that point."

The initial analysis included 12 months of crime reports from 2012 and 2013. Taking another look at the numbers in 2014, the department expanded its review to include the Walmart Neighborhood Markets and more than a dozen large retailers such as Bass Pro Shops, Best Buy and Target. The results were striking.

Of the 1,441 calls for shoplifting police logged last year, 801 — almost 56 percent — originated at one of the five Walmart Supercenters. In addition, almost 18 percent of stealing calls in the city came from those five stores, as did about 13 percent of all calls for robbery.

Of the 25 commercial locations included in the department's review, only the Battlefield Mall had more shoplifting calls. Most others, including all of the Walmart markets, reported a dozen or fewer shoplifting incidents. Seven sites reported none.

Manlove said police gathered loss prevention policy information from the retailers, as well.

"There were some real policy differences in how employees confronted shoplifters," he said. "Some stores proactively go to someone who is concealing merchandise and say something like, 'Can I help you with that purchase?'"

At local Walmart Supercenters, loss prevention officers don't confront shoplifters until they have passed the last point of sale in the store, Manlove said.

"What Walmart is very good at is follow-up on prosecutions," he said. "They are willing to go to court … and that is always helpful. But preventing it in the first place would save some time and effort."

Some of the policy changes police have recommended include:

• Interacting with people proactively when they display suspicious behaviors that might signal a possible theft

• Contacting shoplifters as soon as they are seen concealing merchandise rather than waiting until they pass the checkout area

• Stationing greeters at store exits to check receipts for high-dollar, non-grocery items such as televisions and other electronics

• Consider using uniformed loss prevention officers as door greeters or receipt checkers

• Positioning video monitors at eye level near entrances and exits so shoppers can see themselves on video.

"Some of those are cost-neutral, some might cost a little more," Manlove said, noting that some of the practices, such as the use of greeters to check receipts, are in use at the Walmart-owned Sam's Clubs.

"I think (a greeter) makes a difference, particularly if they can put that person in uniform," he said. "You don't have hardly any shoplifting at a Sam's store."

Asked why the Battlefield Mall was not also a focus of the department's efforts, Manlove noted the difference in scale.

"It's 1.2 million square feet," he said, compared with about 180,000 square feet for an average Walmart Supercenter. "And you do have a variety of businesses, each perhaps with their own loss prevention policy."

Manlove said the mall "has a very good security detail" and has been "very open" to discussions with police. "We meet with them periodically throughout the year."

Long-time Springfield residents might remember that the department at one time staffed a substation at the Battlefield Mall. But Manlove said it doesn't make sense to permanently station officers at Walmart stores, despite the number of calls that originate there.

"It's just not an efficient use of tax money to have a substation on private property like that," he said, noting that the crime prevention practices the department recommends "can totally be done in-house."

Like Williams, he was optimistic that progress will be made this year.

"I think changing corporate policy is a slow process, is what we're learning," he said. "We'll keep trying."

Crime and commerce

The concentration of criminal activity at local retail centers is particularly noticeable when crime reports are plotted on a map. A "hotspot" map of Uniform Crime Report offenses police logged in 2014 shows red or yellow clusters at the site of each Walmart Supercenter, as well as the downtown area and the Battlefield Mall.