Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
—Rev. 9:21
5985 Shoplifting Statistics
The U.S. Commerce Department has given some figures which are astounding. About four million people are caught shoplifting each year, but for every person caught, 35 go undetected, it is estimated. If the estimates are accurate it means that 140 million shoplifting incidents occur in a nation of 215 million people.
The result is that shoplifting tends to raise prices. Prices are forced up because of anti-shoplifting devices that merchants must buy, and it means increased overhead.
According to a study in Washington, few shoplifters steal out of need; 70 percent of shoplifters are in the middle-income bracket and 20 percent had high incomes. Only 10 percent were in the lower income range.
—Christian Victory
5986 Internal Thiefs
Thirty percent of all business failures each year are a direct result of internal theft, according to insurance statistics.
Fraud is a major factor in losses that led to the closing of 100 banks during a 20-year period.
Criminals from inside and outside of business stores are draining off $40 billion annually in lost cash and goods. This is 17% of total business income before taxes. Many stores lost 50% of their profits to unaccountable “inventory shrinkage,” generally believed to be theft.
Security officials estimate that 9% of all employees steal on a regular basis and 75% of all employees in retail establishments steal to some degree, taking three times as much as shoplifters.
5987 On Bank Robberies
From their unfortunate experiences with robberies, the large Bank of America compiled interesting statistics about crimes and criminals. They found an average bank robbery netted $1,900 and 85 percent of thieves were caught and convicted. Robbers received an average fifteen-year sentence in federal prison for their crimes, which meant they made only about $125 per year for the dangerous endeavor.
This figure is even further reduced with recovery of stolen money. It is easy to conclude that bank robbery is not a very profitable occupation, although there does not seem to be a shortage of personnel.
—Selected
5988 Hotel Losses
Thefts from hotels and motels reached 500 million dollars a year. Hotel managers count on 1 of every 3 guests stealing something. In a recent year, 4,600 Bibles were lifted from New York City hotel rooms. Professional thiefs frequently strip motel rooms of TV sets.
A magazine reports that during the first ten months’ operation of a New York hotel, these items were stolen: 38,000 spoons, 18,000 towels, 355 silver coffee pots, 1,500 silver finger bowls, and 100 Bibles.
5989 Book Thieves
Book thieves take from 200 to 500 books a year from the average library—a national loss of $25 million a year.
THIEVERY IN ACTION
5990 Stealing To Buy Science Books
In Clen Cove, New York, a nineteen-year-old genius, nationally acclaimed nine months ago for conceiving a working model of an atom smasher, was arrested and charged with stealing small sums of money from the desk of his high school principal. The youth claimed he needed the money to buy scientific books and magazines, but his father revealed that the boy had “about $400 in the bank” earned by caddying the previous summer season.
5991 Bad Name To Good Name
Mrs. Dorchas Eagle, 44, had been arrested so many times for stealing that she had a bad name. In order to get a good name again, Mrs. Eagle stole a woman’s handbag, flew off with the identity papers she found inside, and adopted the new name, Michele Gull.
“I like birds,” confessed Mrs. Eagle when she was arrested as Miss Gull for another robbery. Then Michele Gull sued in court for damages that Mrs. Eagle had given her a bad name, and won $700.
5992 Nagging At Bank Robbery
All the guy was trying to do was rob a bank. And all the little, old lady was trying to do was a good deed.
She saw this young man park his car in the lot of the Crocker- Citizens National Bank branch in Whittier, Calif., and noticed that he had left his keys in the ignition switch. So she grabbed the keys and trailed him into the bank, where she found him talking to a teller. “Young man,” she scolded, “somebody’s going to get his car stolen if he doesn’t stop leaving the keys.”
The young man, who had just told the teller he had a gun and wanted a lot of money, stared at her—and gave up. Snatching the keys, he dashed out of the bank, got in his car and drove away.
—UPI
5993 Hitchhiking In (Own) Car
Harry Olson of Chicago had his automobile stolen, and turned hitch-hiker to get a ride home. He was picked up by his own car, in which was the man who had stolen it.
5994 “Dear Thief”
“Dear Thief,” the letter in the San Diego Evening Tribune began. The writer, Ramona Smith, explained that she spotted a man stealing something heavy from her garage, but “we had so much stuff in the garage that we could not tell what it was that you took.” Mrs. Smith does not necessarily want the stolen things returned, but she wants to report the loss, and the police cannot make out a report until she knows what was stolen.
“Until we finally miss what it was you took, we can’t report it missing,” she wrote. “If we can’t report it stolen, we can’t claim our loss, and deduct it from our income taxes. Well, would you, just as a token of your appreciation, send us an itemized list of what you stole and its approximate value so we can turn it in to our tax man?”
5995 Back To Nikon’s “Hiding” Place
While stationed in Japan, my brother, an Army lieutenant, was impressed with the efficient maid service in his bachelor officers’ quarters. But, to remove temptation, he always hid his prized Nikon camera before leaving his room. One day he forgot and left the camera out on his bed. He was worried on his return to find it gone—until he discovered that the maid had put it back in its proper hiding place!
—Mrs. Lee R. Pepping
5996 Memorizing Ten Commandments Didn’t Help
In a certain Sunday school the superintendent of the Junior Department was suprised to find that the offering which was placed outside the door of the department room had not been reaching the treasurer. A little checking revealed that one member of the department had been slipping out of the door and pocketing the offerings.
The same boy just a few months before had won the award for learning the greatest number of Bible verses, including the Ten Commandments. When confronted with his wrongdoing, he saw no relationship between taking the offerings and the Commandments he had memorized. He had not really learned them.
—Moody Monthly
5997 Miss Universe Got “Pinched”
Queens should never lose the common touch but ought not to carry it too far. A beauty queen, “Miss Universe”—19-year-old Leda Maria Brutto Vargas—was recently pinched in Miami, as might happen anywhere to the lissom. But this pinch was for shoplifting. Charges against her and two companions were dropped when her regal identity and the cosmic scope of her domain became known.
When she won the title Miss Universe, she picked up—that is, won—some $7,500, a $10,000-personal appearance contract, and a lavish wardrobe that either wore out fast or was devoid of such practical garments as girdles and panties, which items the girls were seen stuffing into their bags.
Strange pockets of poverty appear in our economy, and the plight of impoverished beauty queens should be called to our attention. Better yet, since female beauty is not a commodity that lasts very long, absurd beauty queen contests should either be abolished or the winner should be given a two-year course in some trade school.
5998 Photocopied Choir Music
A Christian composer was pleased during his visit to a church in another city when the choir sang a song he had written. But his pleasure turned to mixed feelings of outrage and gloom when he discovered that only the organist had a published copy; the others all had photocopies produced by a machine on the premises. For every music publication sold, approximately seventy-five to 100 illegal copies are made either for personal group use or for bootleg sale, claims Peter Kladder, Jr., president of the Zondervan publishing firm in Grand Rapids.
—Christianity Today
5999 Coaster-Wagon Criminal
The twelve-year-old coaster-wagon criminal of Marion, Indiana, has become well-practiced in burglary during the past three years. The police found that in his little, red cart the boy had stolen such wholesale loot that it required three trucks to carry it away from his home and hide-outs. When caught he was discovered to have committed a dozen burglaries in the past month. The Police Chief said: “I had no idea that anything on such a large scale was going on. When you consider the boy is only twelve years old it seems fantastic, but it’s true.”
—Selected