Theft Talk
Cop and Robbers Thinking
For a Theft Act
The Scan
1st step in the Cop & Robbers thinking game.
Someone is thinking about stealing, he looks for cameras,
mirrors, undercover security, clerks, and electronic tags. The
name of the challenging Cops and Robbers game is “If you are
going to steal, don’t get caught, get the goods.”
2nd Step in Cops & Robbers Thinking Game
 Concealment:
 Stash the item under
existing clothes.
 Slipping the item in a
baby carriage or hand
bag.
3rd Step is Timing
People steal from homes on weekdays when no one is at home. Or
they wait until night to steal a car. They know when their friend will be
the cashier and can charge less for the item.
4th Step is Escape…
Darin’s attempt to steal was the common act of the escape
part of the cop and robbers game. His partner in crime
distracted other shoppers. He made a feeble attempt to
conceal the item and tried to be inconspicuous and walked out
the door.
What is National Retail Federation
doing?

THE COST OF SHOPLIFTING: $10.23 BILLION PER YEAR
--NRF's Loss Prevention expert Dan Butler
available today for broadcast and print interviews-- WHAT:
NRF's Loss Prevention expert Dan Butler available today (11/7/02) for broadcast and print
interviews WHO: Dan Butler, Vice-President of Retail Operations for the National Retail
Federation WHEN: Broadcast interview availability times today between 11:30-3:00 p.m. and
after 4:00 p.m. EST HOW: To schedule a TV appearance, or to speak with Dan Butler, call
Ellen Tolley or Scott Krugman at (202) 783-7971
With the sizeable national interest of the
Winona Ryder shoplifting case, many are left to wonder how much shoplifting really plays a part in retailers'
losses and consumer's prices. The National Retail Federation estimates that shoplifting cost retailers $10.23
billion in 2001, up from 8.45 billion in 2000. Increased losses mean increased prices, from the smallest
retailers up to the nation's leading discounters. What does shoplifting mean for consumers? "When
shoplifting levels are high, consumers pay the price," said Dan Butler, Vice President of Retail Operations
for the National Retail Federation. "Stores must focus more on loss prevention and, in turn, less on
customer service. Also, prices inevitably will increase for consumers because retailers have to make up those
losses “What can the Winona Ryder case teach us about shoplifting today? "I think what the
Winona Ryder case illustrates is that retailers are really adopting a zero tolerance policy when it comes to
shoplifting," said Dan Butler, Vice President of Retail Operations for the National Retail Federation.
"Retailers want to get the message across that shoplifting-by anyone, at any time-will not be tolerated.
"How are retailers trying to prevent shoplifting?“ For information about NRF and prevention,
please visit www.nrf.com.
Who can stop you from stealing?
The bottom line is you are in control of your actions and your
thinking. The CHOICE to steal or not is YOURS.
PREVENT
 KEEP FROM DOING
OR HAPPENING.
STOP
 DISCONTINUE
DOING.
BOUNDARIES..
 Boundaries are like job descriptions.
 They define where you begin and end.
 BOUNDARIES HAVE A PURPOSE.
 THEY HELP DEFINE WHO WE ARE.
 People who steal do not have personal boundaries. They feel
entitlement that they own everything in their sight.
 Their personal items and their neighbor’s personal items belong to
them.
 Their mind-set perception is cloudy and without boundaries.
VALUES
 WHAT YOU
BELIEVE IN
 WHAT YOU
THINK IS
IMPORTANT
 HONESTY
PROVERBS 23:7
 “AS A MAN THINKETH IN HIS HEART SO IS HE.”
 James Allen, as quoted in is book
 “As a Man Thinketh.”
 Mind is the Master power that molds and makes,
 And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
 The tool of thought and shaping what he wills,
 Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills,
 He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass;
 Environment is but his looking glass.
First it is important to recognize that even if “everyone”
thinks of stealing, not everyone has the same reaction to
such a thought.
Mental Rehearsing your act of
stealing…
 Rehearsing is directly proportionate to the frequency with
which a person steals. The danger is not simply that mental
rehearsing occurs. The danger comes when a person allows
himself to think about how he is going to steal over and over
again.
Stealing may be one thing that you excel at. You may be
good at stealing.
Theft Offenders have an overdose of Terminal Uniqueness,
Egocentrism and Selfishness. They have an attraction to the
forbidden and the associated excitement, the adrenaline rush
and feelings of competence.
PREVENTION PLAN
 HOW DO YOU PLAN TO STOP




THESE THOUGHTS?
1. Have a thought log.
2. Write down your thought and
feeling about stealing the item.
3. Ask yourself why you feel you
are entitled to the item that
belongs to another person or
company.
4. Wear a rubber band around
your wrist and SNAP the rubber
band when you want to steal.
What is a thought?
 Ideas---opinions---your “world view” put into words---





groups of words.
“Bring all thoughts captive unto awareness, casting downVAIN
imaginations.”
Be aware of the fiery darts shot and how your illogical thoughts
work ……..
Recognize the wrong thought to steal.
Refuse the thought.
Replace the thought with STOP!
ISSUING A License FOR STEALING
 Licenses are thinking
errors, inaccurate
beliefs allowing
exception to the rule.
License is defined as
“the thoughts a person
has which gives him/her
permission to steal”.
Primary Catalyst…
 License is a primary catalyst that allows a person to pursue
the pleasure of a free item and yet feel no pain and no guilt,
regret or remorse.
Circular Thinking…
This is when you ask one question and pretend to answer it with another
question in order to validate it is okay to do what you want to do. You attempt
to answer question “B” by making reference to question “A”.
EXAMPLE OF CIRCULAR
THINKING…..
 8TH Commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.”
 Why shouldn’t I steal?
 Why don’t I make the money to get what I want?
8th Commandment
 “Thou Shalt Not Steal.”
 Burglars, car thieves, shoplifters, and bank robbers know that
stealing is immoral.
With the effects of cops and robbers thinking, mental rehearsing,
giving yourself a license and the absence of any reason for the 8th
commandment, it makes sense to steal. “I just found it. Finders
keepers; Losers weepers.”
Why choose not to steal?
 A person will either choose not to steal because of
 Obedience to the 8th commandment
 Obedience to society’s rule
 The realistic or paranoid belief that he/she will get caught
 As a byproduct of his/her own attitudes, values and beliefs.
3 injuries in a theft act….
 1. Physical
 2. Emotional
 3. Financial.
 FORMULA FOR UNDERSTANDING:
 WHO + HOW = HURT
 Who will be visible
 How, you can imagine
 Hurt = understanding the injuries in a theft act.
o Stealing is a selfish crime.
Empathy….
 Until empathy sets in, a persons thoughts, goals, aspirations
and their entire lives are centered on “self.”
 Our individual moral development comes with maturity and
developing empathy.
 Most of us copy what we saw growing up. The way our
caregiver acted toward others when we were children.
How can you learn to be more empathetic?
 Empathy is built through increased awareness of yourself.
 Learn your emotions.
 Learn why you have those emotions in certain situations.
 Learn the secondary emotion.
 Learn how to deal with the issue behind the secondary
emotion.
 You will find as you increase your empathy
ability that you will find it more and more
difficult to allow yourself to be bothered by
other actions or words. You will find yourself
less willing to violate others.
Dehumanization process…
 A human being just
becomes an object
between you and what
you want.
 It is necessary for you as an
offender to provide a face to
the WHO-manize for every
theft.
Stealing always hurts other people. People are involved at
Macys, FEMA, rent-a-car agencies, etc.
Hitler did this toward the Jews..
 His mind-set was that
the world would be a
better place without the
Jewish people. So he
dehumanized them by
the way he treated
them. He treated them
as if they were cattle and
not human.
 Who are you
dehumanizing to steal the
items that you want? Are
these items really making
your life better?
MONEY
Money is a man made contract for exchange for
services or goods. It does not intuitively lead you to a
human connection.
However, if you make $10.00 per hour and you buy a shirt for
$40.00, that shirt is four (4) hours of your life. So that represents
a chunk of your life.
When someone wins a million dollar lottery, the money that the
person wins represents a part of a million people’s life. It took
one million people investing a dollar into the lottery pool with the
hope of winning a million dollars.
Financial Hurt….
 Financial hurt does not represent the amount of
money; the word money needs to be replaced
with the word time or life.
 The dollar amount of the loss equals the amount
of time in a person’s life to acquire or make that
item or ship or sell that item.
 If it is a loss from FEMA, it represents each tax
payers’ tax dollar.
Caring is feeling interest for another.
 Knowing that stealing
hurts other people will
not stop you from
stealing unless you
CARE about others at
least enough not to be
hurting them.
The Hurt Line.
CARING FOR
OTHERS
HURT
The THEFT CYCLE
SELF
How does caring look?
 Self__________Hurt________Others
 Uncaring
Inconsiderate
Caring
 The question is “Do I Care?” must be followed by congruent actions.
Caring Questions
 1. What quality inside
of you will stop you
from stealing?
 2. What does it mean to
you to care?
Final Exam





1. What is
money?___________________________________
_________________
2. What is
dehumanize?______________________________
__________________
3. Who can stop you from
stealing?__________________________________
_________________
4. What are the 3 hurts in a theft
act?______________________________________
_________________
5. How can you stop yourself from
stealing?__________________________________
__________________







6. What is
Empathy?_________________________________
_________________
7. How can you be more
empathetic?_______________________________
________________
8. What are two reasons why people choose not
to
steal?_____________________________________
_________________
9. What is the formula for understanding a theft
loss?_____________________________________
__________________
10. What is meant by giving yourself the license
to
steal?_____________________________________
_____________________
11. What did you like or dislike about this
course?___________________________________
______________________________
12. Would you recommend it to
others?___________________________________
__________________________________________