European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 15, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 6 the stars and stripes monday. May 15,1989 stores pushing new concept swipe n pay Boston a the father of an ii year old girl was furious when a drugstore Chain sent him a letter de manding he Fork Over $100 because his daughter allegedly swiped an 89-Ccnt lube of lip Balm. Me was successful in fighting the de Mand but retailers across the country arc increasingly dispatching similar missives to shoplifters and their parents newly armed with state Laws giving stores More Power to fight Sticky fingers. The reason it s popular it acts As a deterrent when the word gets out when you steal from the store you re going to pay for it Carol Sommer founder of civil demand associates in Sherman Oaks Calif., said. The 4-year old firm has clients nationwide and is Only one of several Law firms dedicated to this new weapon against shoplifting. The tactic of recouping shoplifting losses by sending demand letters to shoplifters or their parents is known in the business As civil recover " or civil it s a Boon for getting some Money Back said Jack Fraser operations chief for the new York based National retail merchants association which has 55,000 member stores. According to Fri figures gathered from police nationwide for l 87, the latest numbers available there were 1.1 million shoplifting offences averaging $96 per item. Since Nevada passed the country s first Law offering retailers a civil remedy in 1973, it has been joined by 34 others. The Law takes various forms but the message is the same shoplifters won t get away with just a red face they can be hounded until they pay up. Laws governing civil recovery vary widely from state to state. But in All of them adult shoplifters arc held liable for damages and penalties. In about half the states stores can go after minors by making parents responsible for restitution according to Delany Stin son senior investigations coordinator at Dayton Hudson department store co. In Minneapolis. Some Stales require that police be notified. Others like Massachusetts do not. Sonic states restrict repayment to the value of the item. Others allow the re Tailer to tote up the additional costs of crime prevention damage to displays or injuries that occurred when the shoplifter was nabbed and even the Cost of putting a new Price tag on the stolen merchandise Hiinson said. Sommer stressed that demand letters Are not intended to generate profile. This is not a Money making opera Tion she said. It s meant to be a do Lerr Cal. Thai s really the Bottom each time somebody gels in Iron blk at least 20 people know about it. The word docs gel Inlo the Community said Lewis scaly head of loss prevention at Marshall Field & co. Department stores. For five years the store has been demanding $300 from each shoplifter. Last year it recouped close to $100,000. That s paying the salary of at least six Security guards scaly said from his Chicago Headquarters which spends about $5 million a year on guards and anti theft devices. The Success Rale varies from 25 per cent recovery to up to 90 percent experts in loss prevention say. The better heeled the shoplifter the easier it is to collect restitution largely because Well to do shoplifters arc easier to crackdown than More transient lower in come ones. Stateside crashes on foggy Highway leave at least 31 injured Al Cajon Calif. Up a series of crashes occurred saturday on both sides of a fog shrouded interstate freeway injuring at Casl 31 people authorities said. The injured were taken to seven hospitals after the crashes in both the eastbound and westbound lanes of interstate 8 cast of Al Cajon Between 1 . And 3 49p.m., said California Highway patrol officer Dave Robertson. There were no deaths and Only one person was seriously Hurt officers said. The accidents included Al least four separate crashes involving about 50 vehicles in dense afternoon fog Robertson said. Unusual sentence imposed for perjury by 2 sex cops san Francisco a two former Oakland police officers can avoid going to prison for perjury following a judge s order to serve a 120-Day sentence of Home detention and publicly apologize for lying about their sick leave. Johnnie f. Clark and Theresa Jeff cry received the unusual sentence from . District judge John Vuka couple now married and fired from the Force in 1987. Were convicted of lying in a discrimination Law suit they filed with seven other Black officers in 1985. The lawsuit which accused the City of racial Bias in hiring and promotions was later dismissed for unrelated reasons. During inc lawsuit the two said they w arc harassed by other officers. The two were disciplined when they called in sick in 1983, a Day before they were to go on vacation. They told an opposing lawyer in the lawsuit thai the sick Call was truthful. But records showed the two called in sick from Iowa and had been stopped for speeding the previous Day in Nebraska. Dead woman s family sues police involved in Chase Shreveport la. A a widower and his 11 children have sued four police officers because the Man s wife collapsed and died of a heart attack when the officers chased a burglary suspect into the family s House. State rep. Willie Singleton has filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jeff Rev Taylor and his children. Taylor s wife 58-year-old Dorothy May Taylor died March 29, five Days after she collapsed from a heart attack during questioning about Dexter Samuels who had run into her House during a Chase. The officers armed with guns and Sticks went in after him without inc woman s permission inc suit City attorney s office said in a statement that mrs. Taylor Lold officers get him out of Here he docs not belong that gave the officers Permis Sion to enter the slate mint said. The lawsuit charges that the four officers had Bee asked to enter quietly because mrs. Taylor had heart problems but that they had ignored the warning and pushed mrs. Taylor aside As they dashed in. Thefts of rare Birds Spur zoos to tighten Security pull displays Albuquerque . A alarmed by a rash of rare Bird thefts zoos around the country have in creased Security and some have even pulled the valuable animals from exhibits. On May 2, a thief broke into the patrol Cage at Albuquerque s Rio Grande zoological Park and took an australian King Parrot a Sulphur crested cockatoo and a Dusky Lory. The Crimson and Green Parrot one of Only 12 such Birds in Captivity was found dead on the zoo grounds. The Lory a Short tailed Parrot flew Back to the zoo. The White cockatoo with a Pale yellow Crest is still missing. I m hopeful that whoever did it got chewed up sufficiently 7.00 director John Moore said. Export restrictions and the destruction of rain for ests the Birds natural habitat have driven up the value of rare Birds in turn encouraging thefts officials say. Zoos in los Angeles san Diego Elpaso. Texas Columbia . And elsewhere have been hit in recent arc people willing to pay. Just like Art collectors i suppose without asking questions said Mike Cunningham associate curator of Birds at the los an Geles zoo. If the Birds arc really rare it s hard to find out where they go. It s like somebody stealing a work of Art. They Don t take it to the Corner store and sell zoos arc prime targets because they often hold rare species that Aren t available to the Pel Irac he says. The lucrative Black Market also Al tracts smugglers. A lot of the same people thai smuggle narcotics Are smuggling Birds. The Clurn is just As great said John Cross an assistant regional director for the . Fish and wildlife service in Albuquerque. Zoos that have been hit by thieves have beefed up Security and some no longer exhibit their rarest Birds. The Birds that Are highly scalable like the rare cock Altos and rare parrots we Don t have on display said Cunningham of los Angeles. That s inc sad part of it Hitchin a the space shuttle Atlantis is ferried aboard u Nasa Boeing 747 from Edwards fab Calif., saturday on the first Les of a trip to Clurn the spaceship to Ken Nedy space Center in Florida. The jumbo Jet made an Mer night Stop at fort Bliss Texas and was to continue on to Florida on sunday. Atlantis landed last monday after a four Day flight in which it sent a probe toward Venus
