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What is the ASCONE procedure, and how does it help with loss prevention?
Shoplifting accounted for 71% (£500 million) of the £700 million in retail crime losses between April 2016 and March 2017. Since then UK has more than 1,000 incidences of shoplifting every day, which is more than any country in Europe.
Shoplifting is a common crime in the UK, yet it can be hard to eradicate. Businesses are turning to specialised theft detection methods like ASCONE, which provides loss prevention staff with a step-by-step guide to execute when somebody is ready to shoplift. ASCONE is a crucial component of risk management for store owners in the retail industry. ASCONE identifies shoplifters, assists in obtaining prosecutions, and ensures that actions are taken legally. Also, it assists in the prevention of unlawful arrest.
What is Shoplifting?
Shoplifting is the theft of items from an open retail outlet. Typically, the culprit leaves the store without paying after concealing a store item on their person, in their pockets, under their clothing, or in a bag.
Shoplifters commit their crimes publicly while pretending as loyal customers, making it challenging to detect them. When they realise you are targeting them, shoplifters need to place the product back on the shelf and leave the premises since they can be professionals at concealing the items they plan to steal in clear view and merging in.
Changing the price tags on discounted items, tampering with security tags or theft-prevention systems, and wearing items like clothing, as they depart the store are some examples of shoplifting.
The Rising Cost of Shoplifting
ASCONE has become an essential component of today’s retail industry. Retail theft has reached a high record in the United Kingdom, costing retailers millions of pounds each year. By a 2019 report, shoplifting accounted for £770 million of the total £1 billion in crime failures.
A Reliable Model that helps with Loss Prevention
ASCONE is a six-point procedure designed for security and loss prevention professionals to identify and apprehend shoplifters in the retail industry.
The abbreviation for ASCONE is:
- Approach
- Selection
- Conceal or Carry
- Observation
- Non-payment
- Exit
Also Read: How to Run a Secure Retail Business?
How does ASCONE operate and prevent loss?
ASCONE offers loss prevention professionals a guideline that assures they do not react until they are sure of their conduct.
While approaching a suspected shoplifter, officers must consciously undergo each stage of the ASCONE process to ensure that all of the prerequisites to recognize shoplifting are satisfied. Also, it assures that the individual they are addressing is a shoplifter and that a prosecution is more probable once in court.
ASCONE’s steps are as follows:
1. Approach
The procedure begins when security notices a person approaching a display case in your store mysteriously. For instance, we don’t witness the individual approach to a product, it can lead to false assumptions.
2. Select
A person examines the options available and chooses one. Security staff will not have any difficulty identifying people approaching and selecting products but imagine something accidentally falling from the rack into a trolley. It might seem inconceivable, but the point is that there is no selection in this case, so even if a customer walks out of the store attempting to push the trolley with the product in it, you wouldn’t cease them for theft.
3. Conceal or Carry
The intent to conceal an item is essential for proving that a person tried to conduct a crime. However, as stated previously, concealing can take several forms, done in clear sight, such as pretending to have paid for the product and departing with it. As a result, they may merely be carrying the object with them.
Also Read: 9 Ways to Improve Security for Events
4. Observation
According to the interpretation of ASCONE, this implies that you, as an officer, must have had the suspect under observation from the time the offence began in the Approach phase until you proceed towards them to act on the theft. Furthermore, it is important to keep the culprit under constant supervision since they may have abandoned the product somewhere in the store, which is not illegal.
5. Non-payment
Non-payment indicates that the suspected shoplifter did not pay for a product or tried to pay for it.
6. Exit
A shoplifting offence is committed when the culprit eventually leaves the company with the product in their possession, and your security officer may catch the person. To keep things watertight, only try to apprehend the culprit after he/she has left the store.
ASCONE reporting
- I noticed FEMALE 1 walk into the area containing alcohol products and approach a shelf.
- I watched FEMALE 1 select three products from the shelf.
- I noticed as FEMALE 1 tried to conceal them in her bag.
- I observed FEMALE 1 walking about the store for a few minutes with the item in his bag. During this time, I was hooked on FEMALE 1.
- FEMALE 1 did not pay for the products at any stage during the purchase.
- FEMALE 1 then exited the store through the main entrance.
Conclusion
Retail security officers must be trained in loss prevention schemes such as ASCONE to reduce the risk of shoplifting. You can get security training courses from Agile Security Training as we are an SIA-recognised training centre. We provide SIA licensed-linked qualifications to individuals who seek to work in the UK’s private security industry as Door Supervisors, Security Guards, and CCTV Operators.
Agile Guarding offers retail security services tailored to your specific requirements. SIA-licensed and trained security officers take care of everything at your shopping centre for smooth operations. We deploy a team of security guards, mobile patrols, and CCTV operators to establish maximum security for larger shopping centres, whereas smaller shopping malls may only recommend security guards or CCTV solutions.
Contact us to get assistance in any way or to discuss your security concerns.
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