Summer shoplifting incidents spark local business security

From her perch behind the cash register at a local clothing store, the manager warily watches three teenage boys milling around a display case.

They’ve done nothing overtly suspicious, but she remains on guard nonetheless.

“Shoplifting definitely went up this summer, no question about it,” said “Julia,” who has been managing the Morningside Heights store—a branch of a national chain—since December, and declined to give her real name because she didn’t have permission from corporate headquarters to speak to the press. “It always goes up in the summer, but this year stood out.”

Petty theft is nothing new to retail workers in New York. Private security guards or police are summoned and business proceeds as usual. But locals were shaken last month when a Harlem storeowner, Charles Augusto, shot four young men—two fatally—as they tried to rob his 125th Street restaurant supply shop.

Julia said officers from the New York Police Department’s 26th Precinct—which includes the Columbia campus and much of Morningside Heights—now pay more frequent visits to the store, a branch of a national chain. She said she was comforted by the added police presence, but was also prepared for the worst.

She hired more private security personnel weeks before the August shootout in Harlem, less than 20 blocks away. The store owns a “silent alarm,” a button behind the cash register that allows employees to notify the 26th Precinct if a robbery is in progress. Surveillance cameras are placed throughout the store and constantly monitored.

“We all feel pretty safe here,” Julia said. “But every one of us is conscious that something can happen at any time.”

The police take a similar attitude.

“Crime is down citywide, and I wouldn’t even say crime is high in Harlem,” said Detective Joe Cavitolo, a department spokesman. “We place additional officers wherever there is greater foot traffic and a greater record of problems. One incident [like August’s] will not really change much.”

Cavitolo said he did not suggest all storeowners purchase alarms. “It’s nice if a store has an alarm, but we don’t necessarily recommend that everyone buy one.”
And not all local managers and owners are rushing to enhance their security systems.

Mamun Rashid, manager of the Subway restaurant on Broadway and 109th Street, said there have been no thefts during his three months managing the restaurant.
“I haven’t really needed to take precautions,” Rashid said. “I didn’t hear about what happened in Harlem.”

Sap Singh, manager of the T-Mobile store at Broadway and 108th Street, says he feels “very safe” behind the counter.

“By the grace of God, we’ve had no problems and we don’t think we will,” Singh said. But the store still operates a few security cameras, and Singh noted with a laugh that there’s a baseball bat in the closet.