Shop Tactics

Security usually isn’t a major worry during an afternoon’s shopping with the girls. Between chatting, drinking cappuccinos and trying on new outfits, it’s easy to be more concerned with a sexy new pair of leopard-print pumps than about the safety of your belongings. But watch your back – at the shops you can be an easy target. Plus, it’d be terrible to lose a new buy before you even got to wear it.

RETAIL JEOPARDY
According to Sanette Smit, COSMO’s self-defence expert, the most common attacks in shopping centres are handbag- and necklace-grabbing. Usually, the assailant grabs your throat or attacks you from behind, she says.

Dr Annelie Rabie-Rheeder, managing director of Business Against Crime in the Western Cape, says a typical target is a woman loaded with parcels and a huge handbag swaying behind her. ‘Pushing a loaded trolley with a swinging handbag is always an invitation for criminals, especially opportunistic youngsters,’ she says. A potential attacker could also get close to you by offering to help you off-load your shopping into your car, or a thief could snatch your handbag and parcels on a chair or on the floor while you’re having coffee.

Smit warns of the confidence style of attack. ‘For example, you find your car badly scratched,’ she says. Someone comes up to you saying the security guard has caught the offender. He then asks you to follow him to the security station where you can lay a charge. ‘You follow him and, once he has isolated you, he has his chance to attack you.’

SHOPPING LIST
Remember these pointers for safe shopping:
• According to Rabie-Rheeder; you’re most at risk of being robbed in the evening, for example if you stop at the mall on your way home from work. ‘Never shop alone after sunset,’ she says, ‘especially if you have to walk to your car in the dark or have to park in a poorly lit area.’ The safest time to shop, she says, is between 10am and 3pm on weekdays.
• Any dimly lit area is a potential danger zone. Be especially vigilant when going to toilets at the back of the shopping centre, and try not to use secluded smoking areas.
• Rabie-Rheeder suggests you carry a small handbag. Instead of walking around laden with parcels, off-load your bags into your car from time to time before continuing shopping.
• ‘Your keys must be in your hand before you reach your car,’ she says. ‘Avoid standing at your car while you scrabble in your handbag. You are distracted and therefore a tempting target.’ When you get to your car, lock your handbag in the front before unpacking your purchases into the boot.
• ‘Keep the number of the security office of your usual shopping centre saved on your cellphone,’ advises Rabie-Rheeder. Also save a family member’s number under ‘Ice’ (in case of emergency) on your cellphone. Should anything happen to you, emergency-services personnel will know to check for this number on your phone.

SOMEONE’S FOLLOWING ME...
• If you think you’re being followed, go into the first shop you see and ask the assistant to call security, says Smit. You could also try to signal to approaching people that someone is behind you.
• If someone does attack you, you should try to fight back, if you can, using your bag, a shoe or your fingernails, says Rabie-Rheeder. Shout for security staff. Try to remember details of the assailant’s face and clothes so you can give a description later.
• If you’ve been robbed, get to the security or information desk as soon as you can and ask them to call the police, says Rabie-Rheeder. Stop your cellphone and bank cards immediately.

Author: Lesleigh Kivedo