Malls see spike in shoplifting.

[TheMightyFavog]

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/pi/46556727.html

Melissa Friedrich has her workers at Gap in Bayshore Town Center keeping a closer eye on customers these days so that merchandise doesn't sneak out the door without being paid for.

Next door at Banana Republic, workers make sure to keep fitting rooms locked, especially after being stung by the dirty boxers bandit - a man who tries on underwear, folds his old skivvies back into the packaging and walks out wearing the new ones.

Shoplifting has been around as long as there have been merchants. But local police are receiving more calls from local retailers who say they've been ripped off.

In the year ending in April, calls for service to police regarding retail theft increased by at least 19% over the previous 12 months at three of the Milwaukee area's four biggest malls, a Public Investigator analysis of police calls shows.