Fighting retail theft: The use of appropriate security

The retail theft problem is a massive one — but, argues the writer, to attempt to fight it by total security is not the answer. Making the store into a fortress is not only expensive but quite unsuitable for modern retailing. Appropriate security is the answer, based on three requirements: information and a thorough understanding of the problem; accepting the world as it really is, and not as it ought to be; and cost‐effectiveness — security policies have to be justified by their results on retail profits. Such security may not necessarily require technology. But it has to be based on a thorough understanding of the retailer's security needs and expertise. And the retailer must face up to the distressing fact that the majority of theft is probably committed by staff.