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WJLA ran a piece last night on a sudden spike in shoplifting in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, citing a 70 percent increase in just the last month. That's a pretty shocking number, and reporter Stephen Tschida lays the blame mostly on the same sort of large groups of teens who have been caught on tape recently at Logan area stores like Rue 14 and Universal Gear. Small retail operators have little defense against a large group of determined young thieves apart from installing seriously expensive theft-deterrent systems, something most small businesses likely can't afford.
Shoplifting Spike Reported in Dupont Area Stores
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This is just the usual back-to-school shoplifting spike. Happens every year: kids see all the cool clothes their friends have stolen and they don't want to be made fun of for wearing last year's steal-me-downs.
Don't forget the sales tax holidays that get enacted on the weekends leading up to the start of the fall semester. 5.75% may not sound like much, but it really adds up when you're stealing all those clothes.
hey, even the teen gangs need to look FABULOUS!
I'm disappointed in the lack of creativity in their "method." There's nothing here that's clever or subtle, no sleight of hand or tag-switching, just a strength-in-numbers, brute-force bum-rush for the door. Considering that the employees in the video are standing there watching and struggling futilely to keep the theives from walking out the door, I'm also not sure what good those fancy detection systems are going to do.
How about hiring the three guys who beat up the mugger on U St. for store security?
not usually a fan of this -- or sure of the legality of it -- but why not enforce the 7-11 rule of "no more than X number of unaccompanied minors" in the store at any one time? It's not like Universal Queer and Rue14 are stores that cater the teenybopper set in the first place...
I tend to agree with you on this... I mean look at who's playing victim here... a bunch of white Georgetown residents who are beside themselves on what to do?!
"Why me?! What did I do?! Stop picking on me!"
They ought to take a lesson from those guys on u-St... Fight back! Hire some security, have more than one person in your shop, start kicking out minors... it's simple and easy to spot a minor that's causing troubel... have your employees follow people who are acting suspiciously (you can do this in a subtle way by trying to start conversations, giving suggestions, asking questions, etc.) -- and if all else fails, stores are PRIVATE PROPERTY and I'm sure there are things store owners can do within the law to defend their safety, their employees' safety and the safety of their merchandise that are not overly elaborate or expensive.
When I was in high school there was a grocery store across the street that often found that the student would come over for lunch and basically eat a la produce aisle on a five-finger discount... so they hired a security guy to patrol the store for the 2 hours that students would come in and then they instituted a "no backpacks" policy and made anyone with a backpack or large bag place it at the servce counter up front... Right or not I'm sure it reduced the theft potential and no police officer is going to try and stop the store from doing what it needs to within reason.
But I do know this--going on the nightly news and whining about the naughty black kids who are robbing from you is not going to elicit a lot of sympathy from the majority of the cities residents, who are, let's face it, those kids' baby-momma's and absentee fathers. The black community already things that white DC residents whine and complain too much and this doesn't help...
Dupont needs a hero,
They're holding out for a hero ‘til the end of the night,
He’s gotta be Jim,
And he’s gotta be Graham,
And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight..
it is molly getting sweet revenge
well nothing in dupont is worth buying so i dont blame the kids. except for books at kramerbooks
stephen tschida seems to always show up at these places when there have been robberies.
i think there's a clear connection that no one is coming out and saying here.
stephen tschida—your dupont circle store robber.
don't act surprised when i'm proven right!
Minors could be banned from walking around the store, and in the spirit of the way VA ABC stores used to be, they would be required to select merchandise from a catalog in a closet and pay in advance. Problem solved, my bill's in the mail.