The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1903-10-09
SHOpLIFTING IN LONDON.
Invisible Detectives Employed in
Keeping Close Watch Upon
kleptOmaniacs.

Though there is every appearance in
all the great London shops that the
! public is to be trusted implicitly, an
elaborate and carefully organized sys-
tenn of espionage prevails to circumyent
the designs of the peripatetic thief and
the maurauding kleptomaniac, says the
Mail.
The invisible detective, whose Office is
some unsupported gallery in the ceiling,
whence from artfuily designed peep
holes in the molding he can survey the
whole establishment, is the most sue
cessful foil to the shoplifter. But there
are only a few shops so structurally
designed that surveillance of this kind
is possible. Some of the jewelers.
treasure palaces are guarded in this
manner, and, to make assurance doubly
sure, no attendant is without his satel-
lite, who keeps a wary eye on the cases
of gems exposed to the customers in
spection, standing at the salesman's
elbow while he is showing them.
At all periods a careful watch is kept
on those dress establishments that are
pervaded by women, but more especially
at sale time, for it is then that covet-
BUSINESS overwhelms morality most cas-
/ lily, and the crowded state of the shops
favors the picker-up of unconsidered
| trif1es. A manager of one of the largest
establishments in the metropolis says
it is in those departments that are not
spacious that pilfering principally goes
on, and that in them detective supervi-
sion is always most acute.
Every shopwalker and counter at
tendant is in effect a detective, but there
are some professionals who assume the
guise to hide their real position. 1t is
the duty of each attendant when he is
suspicious of customer to call the at
tention OF the detective to her, not bla-
family, but by prearranged sign. The
detective then keeps the suspect under
her immediate eye. In the large en-
poriums where women chiefly congre-
gate the most efficient, because least
conspicuous, detectives are women,
either employed as shopwalkers or as
customers.
When an attendant misses or thinks
hO IlioSSo SOhSJhlHS, vi nOllCGo us
turbing signs of thievery, he speaks to
the detective, who, as an elegantly
CARRIED customer, seats herself in a po-
sition commanding a good view of the
suspect and makes her purchases like
any other woman, all the while gather
ing data upon which to proceed. The
disguise assumed by the shop detective
differs day by day.
If there be one result less desired by
the shop proprietor than another it is
to convict a kleptomaniac. Prosecu-
tions Go not forward business. The
proprietor's policy is to prevent pilfer-
ing by every conceivable means. Hence
a blind eye is turned to what is theft
in embryo, and the wretched shoplifter
caught in the act Of purloining blouse
under cover of her waterproof is asked
whether the article may not be sent
home for her. To the bullying umbrella
or the gaping handbag the detective al
ludes with an apology, fearing that
madam has inadvertently incommoded
herself with something that fell from
the counter
First Offenders are often cured by mar
row escapes such as this from falling
into the abyss that leads to the deck,
and gladly pay for the experience in
coin Of the realm as if they had all the
while meant to purchase instead of to
purloin the goods. Should leniency of
such kind fail to lead the trespasser
back into the paths of rectitude, the
managers Office is made the scene of
more serious negotiations, on which it
is as we'll to draw the veil. But as rule
it does not
Considering the immense population
of London and the ease with which
beautiful objects can apparently be
taken in the great shops, the detectives
find their talents called but seldom into
play, probably because their system OF
surveillance is so capitally organized
and carried out.