The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-07
PROTECTION FOR SHOPPERS
Detectives Necessary in the Large
Depart. rent Stores.
Customers From the Country Care
less About Their Purses-The Eas-
ter Season the Harvest Time for
Crooks-shopIifting as n Fine Art.

During the Faster shopping time the
managers of the big department stores
in the city take precautionary measures
for the protection of themselves and their
customers No time of the year Is SO
good for sneak thieves and pickpockets as
the season of spring openings. The
managers of great stores take pride in
the large crowds they manage to bring
into their shops by their advertisements,
but in the size of the crowds there lies
danger
The people who throng about the dis
plays of hats, laces, silks, and the like
are apt to he victimized by the light
fingered gentry, and the counters. too,
are likely to be depleted by the profess
sional shoplifters. During the spring
opening season the small crook and the
pickpocket work overtime in tine big
cities They come in from the little coun-
try towns to the centres of population,
and make hay while the sun shines
1t is because of this fact that the man
ager of great department store feels
called upon to take preventive steps. All
during the year the stores have detec-
tives of some sort employed, and have
also their regular policemen. But at this
| time the conditions demand an increase
| in the force. In the matter of male de-
| tectives that is easy enough. but it is
| the women detectives that are hard to
secure.
The woman detective in department
stores has become a recognized institu-
ton. She is valuable for many reasons.
She is less likely to be noticed during days
of bargain-counter rushes for one thing.
and hence is far more effective than a
man. She has the knowledge of the fe-
male mind and the intuition which en-
ables her to keep her faculties on the alert
at the proper time. She can more easily
address Il woman who has stolen some
thing and get her to surrender it, and
| she can lead her suspect to the Office with
| less disturbance than could a man.
The main duty of the woman detective
| is to protect shoppers from thieves. rhe
crush of a spring opening is by all odds
| the most advantageous field in which
pickpockets could work. The sharp eyes
| of the female detective save many a
womans pocket from being picked, and
| keen the store clear of the local crooks
who are known to belong to the profess
/ sion The interesting part of woman de-
tective's career comes in handling the
semi-professiona! and the amateur sneak
thieves.
ut is not at all pleasant business. / can
assure you" said an old woman with a
| big bag of an umbrella. brown misfitting
clothes. and an old-fashoned bonnet who
stood in the aisle of an uptown depart
| ment store yesterday afternoon. She was
| one of the Washington female detectives,
and looked gaping. surprised. and coun-
tritied enough in her. disguise to have
| fooled the most experienced crook.
sometimes a word is sufficient TO cor
rect the mistake as we usually call it.
which a shopper has made in carrying of
n small article but sometimes our sugses-
ZION that there is some thing wrong meets
with an indignant denial, and then there
| is a scene. Often we find that our suspect
| is a woman of position. perhaps KEEP
| tomaniac which makes it doubly difficult
| for us. The green women who are real
crooks as a rule hold out for a while. and
| then admit their guilt 1t is seldom that
people who steal or attempt TO steal here
do il from any but criminal impulse.
! No woman ever steals lace or soap be-