BUTLER TWP — “Welcome to my store. Can I help you find something?”

Simple acts of customer service can go a long way to make a genuine customer feel welcome and an unwanted shoplifter feel uneasy.

“Make eye contact with your customers and ask them if they need help ... more than once,” said Detective Dave Fish. “Feeling watched can be a huge deterrent to shoplifters.”

The advice was part of a seminar Butler Township Police hosted Wednesday morning at the municipal building for merchants on how to prevent retail theft.

The holidays are coming, said Chief John Hays, and with them comes an upswing of in-store thefts. After receiving a few questions from one retailer on the topic of loss prevention, the township decided to host the event which included explanation of the laws and tips on how to prevent and prosecute retail theft.

Representatives of five stores attended, also contributing ideas and concerns in a round-table format.

“Being an individual owner, it (loss) comes right out of my pocket,” said Amy Shepperd, owner of Scrapbook Superstation. “It’s food right off my children’s table. You might as well come into my house and steal right out of my house. It’s personal.”

Scrapbook Station mainly sees thefts for personal use: People pocket things they want to have, but don’t want to pay for.

The other retailers reported seeing thefts that ran the gamut from $1 items stuffed into a purse to a guy who tried to drive away with two lawn mowers. Twice.

In addition to the old five-finger discount, retail theft can include switching price tags, false returns and an employee who undervalues an item while ringing it up for sale. Thieves trade the items, keep the items and sell them at flea markets and on the Internet.

“We had one lady who was stealing items to give a landlord as rent,” a retailer said during the seminar.

Once out of the store, it’s difficult to recover stolen items, the police said. So theft prevention and immediate prosecution are retailers’ best avenues.

Tips on prevention included only accepting returns that have receipts. Although retailers noted that thieves are not above digging in garbage cans to retrieve receipts and then stealing the same items to return later.

Stores were advised to organize merchandise “like a convenience store” with aisles that are visible to employees and mirrors in blind spots. Put up signs that say, “We prosecute shoplifters” and video surveillance cameras.

“It doesn’t have to be elaborate,” said Detective Nathan Teslik, noting if you can only have one camera the door is the best choice to film because everyone must pass through.

While retailers are not permitted to make audio recordings in this state, Hays said, any video equipment can be useful in both deterring and prosecuting theft.

“We just got those last week,” said Mary Etzell, manager at David’s Hallmark in the Butler Commons.

Etzell said she attended the seminar in hopes of gaining ideas, and learned a couple of things. For example, she said, she learned from Hays that you may stop a shoplifter the minute he conceals an item.

Hays said retailers legally do not have to wait until a person passes a check out point, although many store policies require that act. Retailers were advised that they may detain shoplifters in a reasonable manner, but they should not risk their own safety.

Hays said over the last three years, township police have had 448 incidents reported and 334 arrests. That’s about nine a month, but he said, isn’t reflective of how many retail thefts occur unreported.

Calling the police and prosecuting thieves, Teslik said, is the top way to prevent thefts in your store and build a record against serial thieves. Although most, first retail thefts are summary offenses, the severity of the crime builds to a felony on a third conviction. And all people charged with retail theft ages 16 and up are fingerprinted, which sometimes assists in other investigations.

“We need you to help us. We need you to report retail thefts,” Teslik told the retailers. “If you just say, ‘give the stuff back’ and let the person go, chances are they are going to go to another store and do the same thing.”