Retail Theft Prevention & Understanding Violence in Spain

Retail Theft Prevention: A Case Study

Mirrors were placed in various locations in the store to improve visibility for the cashier. Of the three measures investigated, the redesign of the store gave the best results. Thefts were significantly reduced. The least effective was the recruitment of a security guard, as it was also the most costly of the three.

The prevention plan should also include training employees on what to do about suspicious customers and how to maintain control without annoying them. It is important to encourage employees to reduce theft, for example, by giving them a bonus if they manage to reduce losses of goods or by hiring more staff during hours and days when employees are overwhelmed by sales.

Is Spain a Violent Country?

Spain does not have a higher crime rate than the European average. However, it is a country where there are many crimes against property. Spain is not a violent country (either by the rate of homicides, injuries, and killings, or by the number of deaths and escapes from prison).

Aggressiveness in Spain is not typically shown through personal attacks, but through property crime. Crimes against property have remained constant since the late 1980s, having grown significantly against property faults, that is, minor offenses against property without harming staff (mainly theft as described in Article 623 of the penal code).

Violence is linked to culture in general. Having a relatively non-violent culture, a strategy to avoid deterioration in the future would be to remain on the defensive, particularly preventing Spanish culture from being displaced or replaced by other more violent ones. Thus, strict control of weapons, especially the market for smuggled weapons, and more conscious alcohol consumption among young people might be a good way to avoid the increase of such events.

However, we must also take into account that societies with a large social distance between rich and poor or between warring ethnic groups are more violent. Therefore, it would also be wise to invest in social policies to avoid marginalization of a large proportion of the population and avoid confrontations that culminate in violent acts.

Common Forms of Violence

Assault

Regarding the aggressor, the profile is that of a young, single male with little education and few economic resources. The preferred place of commission for this profile is the road during weekends, and the use of bladed weapons is common. Most offenders have no history. In all examined cases, alcohol consumption has a significant effect as a trigger for violence.

Homicides

These violent crimes are often directed primarily against the people closest to the perpetrator: their partner, parents, or close friends. Less frequently, the victims are neighbors or acquaintances, and rarely is the victim a stranger. Therefore, inexplicable violence from a stranger is very infrequent. An important situational factor is undoubtedly the availability of an instrument that can end a life: a knife, firearm, etc. Homicides tend to be motivated by jealousy or dispute resolution.

Assassinations

Assassinations can be classified into several categories:

• Political or religious causes, often called terrorist acts.
• Mass murder. These are actions with some internal logic whose aim is to take revenge on family, friends, or the workplace. This is often a very deliberate and premeditated action, in which several people are killed and usually ends with the suicide of the perpetrator.
• Spree killers are cases in which...