By Kathryn Skelton,Staff Writer

It’s not just knowing that you’ve got to keep an eye on the bras and panties, it’s knowing when to watch them.

And JCPenney knows.

The Auburn Mall retailer busted three times the number of shoplifters in 2005 than the year before – a jump from 35 to 99 – by turning attention to specific departments and the prime times for theft, according to the store manager.

“I think we’ve gotten a lot better at honing in,” John Caringi said.

When the Twin Cities released annual crime statistics this week, Auburn showed a marked increase in the number of people picked up for shoplifting. Acting Police Chief Phillip Crowell Jr. credited stores like JCPenney with becoming more vigilant.

That one retailer accounted for most of the increase, up to 260 offenses. Auburn police responded to 88 theft calls at Wal-Mart and actually use that company’s office space to summons and process adult shoplifters. It saves the trip back to the station, he said.

Lewiston’s statistic held steady with 167. Numbers dropped from 200-plus a few years ago when Ames closed, Lt. Michael McGonagle said.

He put that city’s shoplifting problem on par with gas drive-offs.

“If we have an officer tied up for a couple of hours with a 17- and an 18-year-old who are stealing a $20 CD, that’s time away” from other police work, McGonagle said. “At the same time, that’s part of our job.”

He said Sears and Marden’s stood out in taking steps to counter theft.

Walt Huffman, loss prevention manager for Marden’s, said it’s about being proactive and quite willing to prosecute.

Signs in the discount store warn about close-circuit surveillance TV. Clerks make frequent contact with customers, asking can I help yous, to be helpful, Huffman said, but also because “people that you have even a short-time relationship with, you tend not to steal from them.”

Anything lifted, “in a roundabout way, somebody pays for it, whether it’s an employee by wages and benefits or whether it’s a customer with prices,” he added.

In 2005, retailers lost $12.2 billion nationwide to shoplifting, according to Joseph J. LaRocca, vice president for loss prevention at the National Retail Federation. (Another $17.8 billion was stolen by employees.)

About 2 cents is built into every retail price to pay for those sorts of losses, he said.

LaRocca categorizes shoplifters as either amateurs or boosters, the name for professionals. It’s from the rise in boosters that the average shoplifting case has gone from an average $265 in merchandise in 2003 to $854 in 2005.

“We see and have seen a huge increase in organized crime activity, professional shoplifting,” LaRocca said. With that: “We’ve seen an increased focus on loss prevention over the last few years.”

Stores use a combination of undercover staff, camera equipment, electronic tags and strategic placement, like putting tempting items in full view.

Every type of store has it’s most frequent targets – baby formula in grocery stores, razor blades and Tylenol in drug stores – and each has to decide at what point they call in the cops, he said.

For some, it’s any dollar amount. The New York Times ran a story last week, citing internal documents, that said Wal-Mart recently decided to not prosecute if goods were under $25 and the thief a first-timer.

“Big or small, do you want to spend three hours of payroll and attorneys fees for a 99-cent item or do you want to focus on your big items? Every retailer makes it own policies,” LaRocca said.

Wal-Mart’s local prevention control manager couldn’t be reached to comment on the policy.

Shoplifting is a misdemeanor, with a fine amount determined by the value stolen.

As Auburn prepares for even more retail growth, with Kohl’s and Best Buy on the way, Crowell said he anticipates more calls for help, more traffic accidents and more shoplifting complaints. He envisions building a substation in that retail area to have a police presence.

Caringi at JCPenney said it’s hard to profile would-be shoplifters. They’re often any age, either sex.

“I just think the problem has gotten more rampant in our society,” he said. Incidents increase during back-to-school shopping and holidays, “it brings more people into the shop, anything to create a distraction.”

“The last few years we’ve put a larger loss prevention team in place, installed more cameras,” Caringi added. And loss numbers have gone down to show it.

Four departments get more attention these days from security cameras and plainclothes employees posing as shoppers: bras and panties, young men’s, juniors and fashion jewelry.

He didn’t share the times of day they’re on higher alert. Have to keep the sticky fingers guessing.

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