Holiday theft on rise in hard economic times

Holiday theft on rise in hard economic times

Holiday shopping is here, and so are the holiday shoplifters. Retail analysts expect the economy to push more people to shoplift and buy stolen goods this holiday season and shoplifting reports are up this year compared with the same period in 2007.

U.S. retail stores lost $12 billion to shoplifting last year, according to a study from the University of Florida.

"Some consumers are lowering their standards," said Joseph LaRocca, who studies crime for the National Retail Federation. "We typically see large-scale thefts take place immediately before the holidays."

The sagging economy can prompt even those with plenty of money to bypass the cashier, LaRocca said.

Thieves seldom run off with a holiday ham, but when they're trying to justify nicking a pair of jeans, they might be thinking about the impending bill for that ham as well as gifts for the kids.

Shoplifting tends to rise during holidays, LaRocca said, simply because more people face temptation.

Superstores flooded with crowds and top-selling products are the big targets, police say, but thieves try to sneak items out of dollar stores, too.

Each store has its own system for fighting back.

Wal-Mart and Target have dedicated in-house teams that monitor and catch shoplifters, but Walmart files police reports while Target chooses to pull shoplifters aside and tries to get them to pay without involving authorities.

Many large store chains hire extra guards for the holidays and also use "intelligent cameras" and sophisticated security tags.