Park Security Against Shoplifting

[Railer]

This past Weekend I noticed that there are "Plain Clothed" Security in a couple of the Shop's. Big Wheel Deal's had them, and over at El Mercado as well. The two at Big Wheel Deal's looked over our Stroller to make sure nothing in there was from that Shop. They were probably inexperienced at Security, because they were obviously not Shoppers. And over at El Mercado there was a Guy and a Girl, looking over everyone, and what they were carrying. My Daughter has one of those new El Toro Plush Bull's that She always bring's with Her to the Park since we got it for Her, and I think they thought She might of grabbed it (she's 4) They watched us the whole time passing thru the Shop. Then my Wife took my other Daughter on El Toro so I figured I would watch them while me and my 4yr. old waited, and they hung out the whole time. They were very obviously Security for the Shop. With all the Shop's "Wide Open" the way they are, I guess it was only a matter of time, before Shoplifting would become an issue.

 

 

[GAcoaster]

The park has always had plain clothes Security officers watching for shoplifting.

[Railer]

I never noticed them before. I guess the ones this year just are not that good yet, I spotted them quick!!!

[sfga89]

i use to work in retail and we always had undercover security

they had big problems in disney with shoplifting when all the high school go there for senior trips

so it must have hit 6 flags

 

and no one wants to pay 25 bucks for a t-shirt too

 

 

[gafreak]

my wife worked in retail and said every day hundreds of dollars of stuff was robbed becase its so busy you cant watch everyone

 

[Great Adventurer]

I never knew that. What a great idea.

[The Master]

I don't know about amusement park shops but most of the shoplifting at retail stores are employee theft. I read about in Criminology, Business, and Accounting courses that I took.

[gafreak]

a guy on face book posted today that his car got broke into in the parking lot, and he was complaining how his wii and laptop were stolen from it, why in the heck would you bring a wii to Great Adventure!! are you that connected to video games that u must travel with it, the he claimed that Jackson Police belive that security is in on the thefts because there has been one a day latly, If this were even true the Asbury Park Press would have cought wind of this and been all over it, the report on if the power goes out!

[acq10uaz]

He could have had his Wii because they were on vacation and it was in a suitcase... They had to check out of they're hotel that day so they had to leave the bags in the car, or they just got there and couldn't check into the hotel. Think about it... Just putting that out there.

 

Edit: Never mind. This guy is clearly clueless. I take back what I said, I'm sorry.

Edited July 24, 2010 by acq10uaz

[The Master]

I had someone try to pop the lock on my car at SFA. At least they didn't get in since they botched the job but it still was exspensive and a pain to replace the damaged lock.

[mayor al]

The comments above were posted 4 or more years ago !. I am suprised that someone from Security, or with a knowledge of the Park Security Operations hasn't given some input to describe the work of that part of the department

.
Starting with the Second season...

The First year we posted uniformed guards as a detterent in each of the tents and the Teepee...

.....but in 1975 a squad of Security people, male and female, were recruited to do Plainclothes 'Store Detective' type of work, watching for shoplifting guests and employees who might be mis-handling cash or transactions. There was a third group of a few special officers who worked with Cash Control to insure the honesty of the transfer and accounting system within the Park. The third group got involved when Counterfeiters used the Park to spread their bad bills. The Secret Service has agents who come out with the State Police to work with the Park staff at tracking this sort of operation, and back in the 70's They actually caught some of these folks in the process of spreading the fake 'wealth' around in the Park.

The Shoplifting squad were kept pretty busy, especially on summer weekends when the crowds were large and the stores with A/C were places to seek relief from the heat. The usual process when a kid was caught with something he/she 'lifted' from a store (under $100 value), they we brought to Security, and an incident card was filled out with their I.D. and photo (b/w poloroid). This card of record of the incident was kept by the department., If the kid was not alone we sent his partner out to get an adult-parent or chaparone to come in and sign for him and remove him from the Park. If he was alone, He sat in our holding room until a parent came looking for their lost kid, and took him out. In adult cases they were recorded, then escorted out of the Park.
If the goods were valued over $100 (1975 prices) then Jackson P D would be notified...on weekends there might be a Jackson PD unit in Security waiting for that to happen... They would do an arrest report and/or issue a summons to appear in the city court for the shoplifting charge..meaning a second trip to Jackson for the guest from who-knows-where. The action the Jackson PD took depended heavily on the gravity of the charges against the offender. Many of the individuals resisted being detained, especially by an unarmed Security officer. Most of those who did found out that they were going to get into more serious trouble if they failed to cooperate and settled down once in the office...but not all chose that behavior and we had several outbursts by violent guests who had to be physically subdued and then handcuffed until Jackson PD could remove them.
One of the better examples of shoplifting that I observed was an elderly lady, overweight, with several grandchildren dragging her around, begging for shirts, in one of the tents, One of the Plainclothes crew was nearby watching these kids passing the shirts they wanted to their grandmother...who put it on..one at a time soon she had 5 tee shirts on and a sweatshirt over all of them ($20@ tee shirts= $100 and $35 for the Sweat Shirt) and out the door she goes with her family following.
The Plainclothes officer stopped her and asked for a receipt for her shirts, and she denied taking them, saying they belonged to her kids and she was just carrying the shirts for them. Lucky for us we had security video and two other witnesses to the whole scene, but thats the type of shoplifting that went on daily.

 

When Employees could eat in the regular food service areas in the Park many found ways to get their friends in Food Service to "Give Employees 100% Discounts" when they rang up a meal cost on the register. That would have been O K ,except there were no Employee 100% Discounts for Food... they were stealing for each other and the Plainclothes Officers monitored that as well.

All You all aware of how valuable some of the stuff was that was being sold in the TeePee..They had dozens of Rings and Bracelets that were priced over $3500.00 !! Now they were in glass cases, but a smash and grab was a real possibility any time during a busy day or evening...and Many nights when the Teepee shut down some little Merchendise girl would walk a cash bag full of those pieces up to Cash Control by herself.
Later on the pick-up jeep from CC would include that bag in it's run, but for a couple of years it was a pretty easy mark.

OK with modern technology and improved training the system must work better than it did...but That's the way it was 40 years ago. One of those original Officers is still in the Park . I don't know if he would like to comment here, or prefers to remain in the background, but I may ask him about those early days and see if he can add to my notes.

 

al

Edited November 4, 2014 by mayor al

[Railer]

I just read the last post. Nice story of the history of that side of thing's the early year's.

[Matt Kaiser]

To add to this, it's called Loss Prevention (LP). Most retail stores have plainclothes LP officers, and Great Adventure still does as well.

 

There's also a reward to employees who report theft (either by guests or even other employees). I think they are given a $100 giftcard per verified report.

[DANofNJ]

To add to this, it's called Loss Prevention (LP). Most retail stores have plainclothes LP officers, and Great Adventure still does as well.There's also a reward to employees who report theft (either by guests or even other employees). I think they are given a $100 giftcard per verified report.

So employees are paid to rat out other employees.