JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –
"You are being watched" is the message as Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph embarks on a campaign to curtail shoplifting at its Army and Air Force Exchange Service retail facilities.
Responding to a spike in shoplifting incidents at AAFES facilities in the first quarter of 2012 - primarily at the base exchange - the 902nd Security Forces Squadron is focusing on prevention in its efforts, including the placement of educational poster boards and life-sized cutouts in the BX to warn potential perpetrators they are being watched and will be caught and prosecuted.
Members of the 902nd SFS brought their campaign to Col. Scott Peel, 902nd Mission Support Group commander, for approval last week, informing him 16 shoplifters were apprehended in this year's first quarter, more than double the number in the first quarter of 2011.
Senior Airman Celina Reyes, 902nd SFS police services, said shoplifting incidents take security forces away from their primary missions.
"On average, our patrols are spending at least four hours when responding to a shoplifting, and this is from the initial call to finalizing paperwork," she said. "We feel this is totally unacceptable. This is one of the reasons we would like to emphasize the JBSA-Randolph shoplifting prevention plan."
Reyes said the plan calls for placing 2- by 3-foot poster boards on easels in the "high-risk areas where shopliftings are being committed.
"For instance, one would be placed in the power zone section, because that's where we have a high shoplifting rate," she said, referring to the area in the BX where video games and electronics are sold. "Additionally, another poster board would be placed in the cosmetics and jewelry sections."
The poster boards, dominated by the images of a pair of handcuffed hands and a perpetrator shoplifting and being arrested, reveal 46 shoplifters were apprehended in 2011 and 16 in the first quarter of 2012. The majority were between the ages of 16 and 21 and the shoplifters were equally included between males and females. The boards will be updated as shoplifting data changes.
"Our goal is to reduce and try to fully eliminate shoplifting," Reyes said. "We also feel this will help us portray our zero tolerance perspective against shoplifting."
Staff Sgt. Eric Simmons, 902nd SFS police services NCO in charge, said the security forces mission does not allow for a constant presence in high-risk shoplifting areas, but life-sized cutouts showing a male and a female being arrested will be placed in those locations as a deterrent.
"So, for example, we place one of a staged arrest of a young female in the cosmetics section since that's where a lot of our incidents take place ... along with a male in the power zone," he said.
Simmons said the crime prevention plan also includes videos and the circulation of fliers - letter-sized versions of the BX poster boards - through three organizations with a youth mission: housing, youth programs and the high school. He said officials of those entities will be briefed.
"We're going to create a video of the negative impact of shoplifting, also going through the process of a shoplifting incident that an offender would have to go through," he said. "This video will be posted on the installation's Facebook and web pages to be pushed out to primarily the 16- to 21-year-olds who are committing our shopliftings."
Simmons said fliers will also be posted outside the BX restrooms and dressing rooms, areas where shoplifters often hide the items they have stolen, and emailed to the base populace.
Peel, who said shoplifting consumes people's time all the way up the chain of command, approved the plan.
"I really like not only putting these in the high-risk areas, but tailoring the message more specifically to the people most likely to commit crime," he said.
Peel also noted many of the perpetrators are dependents of retirees not necessarily associated with JBSA-Randolph.
Richard Coon, 902nd SFS police services, said another prevention measure is to increase their D-runs, or directed walking patrols, at the BX, especially between 5 and 8 p.m., when most shoplifting incidents occur.
"Prevention is prevention, one way or another," he said. "If they see it, they know we're there. We can stop it before it happens."
Peel said the timing of the initiative is right.
"You're starting to step toward the summer months," he said. "That's where your youth will be more inclined to do it because they're not in school. They have more time on their hands. So getting out in front of that now is exactly when we want to do it."