A Voluntary Program Designed to Reduce Retail Theft and Illegal Purchase of Spray Paint and Markers
Produced in the public interest by the National Council to Prevent Delinquency
What is Responsible Retailing?
Implementing the Program - Prudent Display
A Message to Retailers
Graffiti vandalism has spread nationwide and Suffolk County is no exception. While County government is actively pursuing a comprehensive anti-graffiti policy, citizen and business cooperation is essential to our collective success.
Spray paint is a popular tool of graffiti vandals and, as a spray paint retailer, you can play a big part in the fight against graffiti vandalism.
Young vandals claim to get their spray paint supply chiefly from two sources. They either steal it or they buy it illegally, in violation of the County ban on sale to minors.
Only you can help cut off these sources of supply by using effective loss prevention techniques in your stores and by making sure that all of your employees understand and comply with the proof-of-age requirements for selling spray paint. In other words,by being responsible retailers.
What is Responsible Retailing?
In Suffolk County, Responsible Retailing means "zero tolerance" for spray paint theft and for sale to minors. While vandals may well obtain the products they misuse in other ways, the purpose of the program is to eliminate conventional retail stores as sources of spray paint for young "taggers."
How Does It Work?
To make that happen, retailers like yourself are asked to take two simple, but important, steps. First, make sure that your spray paint display or access to spray paint is under continuous surveillance or control, either by actual line-of-sight or by electronic, mechanical or other means.
Second, see that all sales floor and check-out personnel are alerted to the high potential for theft of spray paint and that each knows and applies the proof-of-age requirements for selling spray paint, accepting only federal, state or local government-issued identification.
"An Important Message to Our Staff" is included in this brochure to aid in educating employees, as are in-store signs to be used in alerting both store personnel and customers to the graffiti problem and to the law.
Implementing the Program - Prudent Display
While most retailers in the county are already employing prudent spray paint display techniques, now would be a good time to review your display practices.
To participate as a Responsible Retailer, you should either:For most retailers, the first option, line-of-sight display, will be sufficient to deter theft. For larger stores or those with fewer employees on the sales floor, surveillance equipment may be more cost-efficient. If your location, store layout or personnel picture indicate a high potential for small item theft, one of the other options might prove more effective.
- Place the spray paint display in such fashion as to be directly visible from an occupied work station (service counter, cash register, etc.);
- Arrange surveillance cameras, mirrors or other monitoring equipment so as to readily observe and/or record activity around the spray paint display;
- Control access to the spray paint display area;
- Employ an electronic article surveillance (EAS) system; or
- Place the spray paint products out of customer access (behind the counter, in cases, etc.).
The purpose of these criteria is not to dictate your store layout, but to assure that these small, easily concealed items are displayed and observed in a fashion that deters theft by vandals. You are the best judge of how that is achieved.
In addition to prudent display, you can also reduce the potential for theft by taking other basic measures. Among these are:Tagger crews will typically post one member as lookout, while another loads spray paint into baggy clothes or a backpack, and a third diverts the attention of store employees. By limiting the number of youths in the store at any one time and banning or requiring inspection of backpacks and other containers, you will make such tactics unworkable.
- Limiting the number of unaccompanied juveniles allowed in your store at any one time; and
- Prohibiting the carrying of or requiring inspection of backpacks, parcels or other containers carried into the store's display areas.
Finally, applying a little logic can greatly reduce the time and attention young potential thieves will require in the store. In Suffolk County, minors can't buy spray paint. It's against the law. Therefore, minors unaccompanied by adults have no legitimate business at the spray paint display and can be asked to leave.
Implementing the Program - No Sale to Minors
The less brazen tagger will not risk a shop-lifting charge for a few cans of paint. He will attempt to buy them. Employee awareness and cooperation is the key to blocking this source for juvenile vandals. "An Important Message to Our Staff" contains instructions on checking I.D. It should be posted prominently and given to every employee who might, at any time, serve at a cash register, check-out counter, or on the sales floor.
All youths or youthful-looking customers must be asked for and produce a government-issued proof-of-age (driver's license, draft card, etc.) before a spray paint sale is completed. No sales to persons under 18 years of age. No proof-of-age, no sale.
In-Store Aids
To assist you in implementing these safeguards, in-store signs are provided that address both graffiti vandalism and the ban on sale to minors. They have been designed to be easily read, but not overly large for in-store use.
Their suggested use is as follows:
Sign #1, to be placed at each customer payment point, in plain view of the cashier and the customer, states:
NO SPRAY PAINT SALE TO MINORS
Selling spray paint to persons under 18 years of age is against the law. When in doubt, ask for proof-of-age. Accept federal, state or local government-issued identification only.
It is intended to remind employees of the law and as a convenient reference, whenever a customer objects to an I.D. check.
Sign #2, to be placed near the spray paint display, states:
GRAFFITI IS A CRIME
Defacing public or private property or carrying spray paint into a public building or facility with intent to deface property are crimes prohibited under penalty of law and criminal prosecution.
Sign #3, also for the spray paint display area, states:
SORRY, NO SPRAY PAINT TO MINORS
The sale of spray paint to or purchase of spray paint by persons under 18 years of age is prohibited under penalty of law and criminal prosecution.
Sign #4, intended for each store entryway, carrying the universal ban symbol over the word "graffiti," states:
MEMBER, SUFFOLK COUNTY RESPONSIBLE RETAILER PROGRAM
We do not sell spray paint to minors. We prosecute shoplifters of all ages.
In combination, these signs help educate customers and employees to the law and help establish an environment clearly unfriendly to lawbreakers.
Why Participate?
Becoming a Responsible Retailer can be good for you and for your community. Participation in the program:A small effort on your part now could have a very positive effect on your business and your neighborhood in the future.
- Virtually eliminates loss-by-theft of items increasingly sought by shoplifters, thus improving your bottom line;
- Removes a convenient source of products misused by graffiti vandals to deface your store and other buildings in the vicinity;
- Sends a strong message to your neighbors and to your customers that you are an active participant in the fight against graffiti; and
- Reduces community pressure for further government-imposed retail display and sales restrictions which could seriously reduce your legitimate sales to adult customers.
Retailer Support Services
If you have questions, need more in-store signs or guides, or have suggestions on improving the program, please call Joseph C. Michaels, Chairperson, Suffolk County Anti-Graffiti Task Force, at (516)853-4027. Please convey the following information to your employees.
An Important Message to Our Staff
Our customers are our neighbors. It is their good will and patronage that make possible our business and our jobs. So it's very important for us to be good neighbors.
Right now, a serious problem facing the community is graffiti vandalism. Graffiti vandals, known as "taggers," are defacing property and causing our neighbors to feel violated and angry. These taggers claim that they steal or illegally purchase the products they use, often spray paint, from stores like ours.
We need your help to keep that from happening and we're asking for it in the following ways.While prevention is preferred, please be assured that, when you catch a shoplifter, he or she will get more than a slap on the wrist. This is serious business and we will take it seriously.
- Do not, under any circumstances, sell spray paint to a minor. It's the law. Check the I.D. of anyone who might be under 18 years of age attempting to buy spray paint. No government-issued proof-of-age, no sale.
- Stay alert for shoplifters at the spray paint shelves. As to minors, they cannot legally purchase this product and have no business in that area without an accompanying adult. Move them along.
- Taggers are proficient thieves and prefer to work in teams. One youth will distract you while the other steals paint. Persons wearing bulky, loose-fitting clothes or backpacks in the paint display area are clear signs of potential trouble.
Graffiti costs us all. Our taxes pay for the cleanup. We owe it to our neighbors to make sure that the products misused by these vandals do not come from our shelves. That can only happen with your help.