Stores may foster latest Shadyside trend -- crime
The ritzy Walnut Street shopping district in Shadyside has become Easy Street for thieves and drug addicts looking for upscale loot, say merchants and city police.
Some stores along the posh, three-block strip -- particularly the corporate-owned clothiers and fine-goods dealers -- forbid their employees from chasing shoplifters or from reporting the thefts to police, say local store owners and police.
Other merchants say the code of silence makes smaller, locally owned shops a target, too, because thieves think they will have an easy getaway from any store along the thoroughfare.
"The corporate stores have money behind them, so they can just take the loss, write it off instead of dealing with it," said longtime business owner and Shadyside resident Susan McGinty, a board member of Shadyside Chamber of Commerce.
"But it sets a bad precedent. We don't want people coming here to steal because they think it's an easy mark," she said. "And it looks like that's what's happening."
Employees at several large, upscale national retailers along Walnut Street -- including Banana Republic, Gap, Williams-Sonoma and Victoria's Secret -- said they are instructed by their corporate offices not to report nonviolent thefts.
Corporate spokespeople did not return calls seeking comment.
Police said they have worked with the chamber of commerce and store managers to encourage businesses to report thefts after some merchants complained that thieves were hitting smaller stores, too.
"Our understanding is that some of the corporate-owned businesses don't report retail thefts or prosecute -- and certainly that's a problem," said Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki of the Zone 4 station in Squirrel Hill. "If it's not reported and criminals keep getting away with it, they'll come back to the street for more."
He said police cannot address a rise in thefts if they don't know where the crimes are occurring.
"We're trying to communicate to the business owners the importance of reporting all of the thefts," Stangrecki said.
Crime statistics show a steady rise in theft reports in the Walnut Street district over the past year-and-a-half. Police took 43 theft reports along the three blocks of Walnut Street in 2003 -- up from the 30 reported in 2002. During the first seven months of this year, thefts have risen to 26 so far this year, up from 17 reports in 2003.
Police said the increase could be attributed to more stores reporting thefts that were not reported before.
The mix of nationally owned and privately run shops along Walnut Street makes the area unique from other businesses areas outside Downtown. Employees of corporate-owned stores said their counterparts at mall stores can work with security guards there to stop shoplifters. But some stores on Walnut are staffed by only a handful of workers, and they can't risk a street chase, they said.
Violent crime remains low in the Walnut Street district -- only two robberies and no assaults this year, statistics show. But store owners said losses from thefts are stacking up.
"It seems worse this year than last," said Ted Smith, of Aspinwall, who opened his tropical-themed clothing store Palm Place in February 2003. Smith said he has had eight pairs of shoes stolen this year, and his store was twice the victim of bad-check scams.
He said he reported the checks to police, but not the shoes.
"It's our fault if employees allow that to happen," he said.
Monique Steinhauer, manager of women's clothier e.b. pepper, said she no longer confronts thieves out of fear of being hurt; however, she does report thefts to police.
"We actually see fewer thefts than we did 10 years ago, I think, because the police are around more often," she said.
Last year, several stores were hit by a man and woman who used children to distract salespeople while they slipped items into bags or under their shirts. Police said the unidentified couple stopped preying on Walnut Street after officers seized their getaway car.
Stores are more commonly targeted by drug addicts working alone, trying to steal items to support their habits, say investigators and merchants.
McGinty, of the Shadyside Chamber of Commerce, has operated the gift shop Eureka, just off Walnut Street, for 10 years. She said she is trying to establish phone trees through the chamber of commerce so that business owners can compare notes on crimes and criminals.
"We've tried before, but haven't had much success," she said. "We should all be watching out for each other."
