INDUSTRY NEWS by Robert L. DiLonardo
Japanese Seniors Out-Steal Teens
F
or the first time in 2012, Tokyo’s elderly citizens were caught shoplifting at a higher rate than the city’s juveniles. According to a survey reported by The Diplomat, 24.5 percent of busts involved seniors over 65 years old, while juveniles accounted for 23.6 percent. Age demographics provide an interesting glimpse into the growth prospects for different societies. Countries with a healthy proportion of inhabitants under the age of thirty have birth rates that engender economic activity—India is a prominent example. Many of the world’s developed countries with low birth rates, like Japan, have fewer young people, and a high proportion of senior citizens. The population of Japan has actually fallen for the last three years. Coupled with at least a decade of stagnant economic growth, there are fewer workers supporting Japan’s burgeoning number of people relying on government subsidy. The article points out that by 2060, about 40 percent of Japan’s population will be over 65 years old. The end result is that seniors are resorting to the pilferage of consumable necessities. In fact, 70 percent of the elderly arrests fit that category. Is the U.S. heading in the same direction? The birth rate in the U.S. fell to its all-time low in 2011 (the last year of available statistics), as has the rate for teenagers. Our recent economic situation is far less than healthy, but as in Japan, there are fewer workers supporting welfare recipients, the disabled, and Medicare/Medicaid recipients. Are more senior citizens resorting to shoplifting necessities out of desperation? Statistics are scarce, but my random sampling indicates that the answer is “Yes.” Are New York City’s proportions anywhere near those of Tokyo? Doubtful, but senior shoplifting is likely to increase at a higher proportion than in the past.
The Passing of an Icon: John H. Christman By Charles A. Sennewald, CPP, CSC
On Friday, July 12, 2013, John Christman passed away, marking the sad loss of a true loss prevention icon. Christman stood tall in the security world generally and the retail industry specifically, as an innovator, educator, lecturer, author, respected executive, and in the final years of his long career, a sought-after consultant and expert witness. His office walls are covered
60
DiLonardo is a well-known authority on the electronic article surveillance business, the cost justification of security products and services, and retail accounting. He is the principal of Retail Consulting Partners, LLC (retailconsultingllc.com), a firm that provides strategic and tactical guidance in retail security equipment procurement. DiLonardo can be reached at 727-709-6961 or by email at rdilonar@tampabay.rr.com.
with an impressive array of awards, certifications, plaques, and news articles acknowledging extraordinary professional achievements, including his induction into the NRF’s loss prevention ring of excellence. Despite his many feats, Christman is probably best remembered in the loss prevention community for his 22 years of service as VP and director of security with Macy’s West, where he directed a staff of over 500, with major John H. Christman distribution centers and sixty stores. Prior to that appointment he worked with a major market chain based in Los Angeles, CA, where we met and became friends. Our relationship as a team of two in the early 1970s developed the now universally accepted “six steps” necessary for a shoplifting detention. He was the first president of the California Merchants Association’s retail security committee, which was instrumental in codifying the act of shoplifting and civil recovery in the state’s penal code, a pioneering task of national note. That new retail statutory law (and concept) served as a model for many states. As the years passed we coauthored three books, Shoplifting (1992), Shoplifting…Managing the Problem (2006), and Retail Crime, Security and Loss Prevention, An Encyclopedic Reference (2008). For a number of years he served as one of three moderators for the NRF’s LPinformation.com discussion forum with a large Internet following of mostly entry-level LP employees airing frustrations, comparing notes, seeking advice, as well as answers to their problems. Christman was deemed an “old salt” and was known as “Mr. C.” He was wise and solid as a rock. You could put your money on his opinions and suggestions. He was a Certified Protection Professional (CPP) and long-time member of ASIS International, and had the distinct privilege of serving as the ASIS chairman of the San Francisco/Bay Area chapter. John graduated from Muhlenberg College and attended the University of Pennsylvania’s Law School. During the Korean War, he served as a special agent for two federal investigative/intelligence agencies and is a retired commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve. It was during that time he met the girl who would be his life partner, Jane Stevens, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Their 60th wedding anniversary was the very day of his death. That perfectly matched couple brought forth a daughter, Lauri, and two sons, Robert and Mark.
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013
|
LPPORTAL.COM
