How to Protect Your Retail Business from Criminals
The winter is a very common time for criminals to strike. Why? There are many different reasons. One major one involves our clothing. What does this mean? It means that criminals use winter clothing, which often covers more of the body and is bulkier than clothing in other seasons, to make it easier to commit crimes.
How Winter Clothing Helps Shoplifters
Winter clothing makes shoplifting easier because it gives them more space to hide stolen merchandise without drawing attention to themselves. For example, during the summer months, you’d pay a lot of attention to someone who walked into your store with a large bag and who lingered around for a while. However, would you pay the same amount of attention to someone wearing a bulky coat in the winter? Likely not. Criminals know this. They are aware that no one will be suspicious if the are wearing a large coat with many pockets in the middle of January.
Winter clothing makes it easier to stash items inside pockets or underneath bulky clothing. This makes it easier to shoplift.
How Winter Clothing Stops Security Cameras
Winter clothing also makes it easier for someone to conceal their identity. In the summer months, you’d be very suspicious of someone walking into your store with their face covered. However, if someone walks into your retail store in February with a scarf covering their face and hat covering their head, you’d likely consider this to be quite common.
This isn’t just true for someone who enters your store. Criminals can also easily use winter clothing to help them fool security cameras. Criminals who want to commit smash and grab robberies will have an easier time hiding their true identities as well. They won’t look as suspicious if they’re hanging around your retail store at night with a scarf on their face, so passersby won’t question what they’re doing. This gives them more time to commit their crimes without being noticed.
What You Can Do
Physical security tools can help you protect your business. While criminals may find it easier to stash items in their clothing and hide their identities during the winter, security gates remain effective all-year-round.
For example, a retail store can have security gates or secure cabinets installed inside the store to protect small yet valuable items such as electronics, medication, and alcohol. Once these items are locked away, customers will need to ask store staff to access them. This cuts down on shoplifting and ensures that store staff are always aware of those customers who wish to get their hands on valuable items.
Security gates can also be used to protect doors and windows from smash and grab criminals. Gates place a physical barrier between a retail store and the outside world, making it incredibly difficult for a criminal to gain access. During business hours, these gates can easily be rolled or folded out of the way, but when your retail store is closed, they can be locked in place to secure your property and deter criminals.
