The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-10-17
LoNDoN's sHoPLIFTERs.

Methods Employed by Some of the Stores to Avoid Making Arrests.
 Though there is every appearance in all the great London shops that the public is to be trusted implicitly, elabo- rate and carefully organized system ot espionage prevailes to circumvent the
 designs of the peripatetic thief and the
 marauding kieptomaniac.
 The invisible detective whose office in some unsuspected gallery in the ceiling whence from artfully designed peep l holes in the molding he can survey the whole establishment, is the most suc- cessful foil to the shoplifter. But there are only a few shops so structurally de- signed that surveillance of this kind is possible Some of the jewellers treasure palaces are guarded in this manner, and to make assurance doubly sure, no att tendant is without his satellite, who keep wary eye on the cases of gems exposed to the customers inspection, standing at the salesman's elbow while he is showing them.
 At all periods careful watch is kept
 on those dress blishments that are pervaded by women, but more especially
 at sale time, for it is then that cove | tousness overWhelms morality most easily and the crowded state of the shops favors the pickerup of unconsid- cred trifies. A manager of one of the largest establishments in the metropo- lis says it is in those departments that are not spacious that pilfering princi- pally goes on, and that in them detec- 1 tive supervision is always most acute. Every shopwalker and counter atend- ant is in effect detective, but there are some professionals who assume the guise to hide their real position. It is | the duty of each attendant when he is suspicious of a customer to call the at l tention of the detective to her, not blat- antly, but by prearranged sign. The detective then keeps the suspect under her immediate eye. In the large em- porlums, where women chiefly congre- gate, the most efficient, because least consDicious. detectives are women, either employed as shopwalkers or as customers.
 When an attendant misses or thinks he misses something, or notices dirturb- ing signs of thievery, he speaks to the detective, who, as an elegantly garbed customer, seats herself in a position commanding good view of the suspect and makes her purchases like any other woman, all the while gathering date up- on which to proceed. The disguise as sumed 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 do not forward business The pro- prietor's policy is to prevent pilfering
 by every conceivable means. Hence a
 blind eye Is turned to what is theft i'll embyro. and the wretched shoplifter caught in the act of purloining a blouse under cover of her waterproof is asked
 whether the article may not be sent
 home for her. To the bulging umbrella.
 or the gaping handbag the detective all
 ludes with an apology, fearing that
 madam has inadvertently incommoded
 herself with something that fell from
 the counter. ss
 First offenders are often cured by nar-
 row escapes such as this from falling
 into the abyss that leads to the dock,
 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 leriency 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 1t is as we'll to draw the veil. But as a rule it does not. Considering the immense population of London and the ease with which beautiful objects can apparently be talk
 en in the great shops, the detectives find their talents called but seldom into play, probably because their system of
 surveillance is so capita1ly organized and carried out.-From the London
 Daily Mail. ....,-,, ..