Since the beginning of the semester, the San Diego State Bookstore has encountered shoplifting situations where students have repeatedly attempted to steal textbooks. The SDSU Bookstore continues to implement various security strategies to prevent shoplifting.
The loss prevention system applied within the bookstore features security cameras located in several areas inside the bookstore.
Customer services Sales Lead Kath- erine Milljour said the security software is very up-to-date and catches all.
In addition, the bookstore has a secret loss prevention team ready to respond to any criminal activity. Security crew members do not wear staff shirts in order to conceal their identities, Milljour said.
“They’re the big guys. They don’t wear shirts that say ‘bookstore security’ on them,” Milljour added. The security crew blends in with ordinary students shopping at the SDSU Bookstore.
The security crew will monitor the bookstore searching for any suspicious activity that reads questionable, or perhaps looks suspicious, according to Milljour.
As for the textbooks, there is a team of employees, which that completes book inventory at the beginning of each semester. Once the distribution of books begins, information pertaining to each book is transferred to the bookstore’s computer system. This allows every book to be accounted for.
Sergio Gutierrez, a management information system senior at SDSU, judged the possibility of a theft occurring at the bookstore on a scale of one to 10, with one as incredibly likely and 10 as impossible for a crime to occur.
“Based on a scale of one to 10, I would say an eight,” Gutierrez said. “It would be hard to steal a book, but possible.”
Meanwhile, sales associate Neva Holmes compares stealing a text- book with less expensive items.
“I wouldn’t steal a pencil,” Holmes said.
She also said the security office contains several surveillance feeds from the security cameras.
“Students are that desperate to steal books, but don’t realize to look up at the ceiling and see all the cameras,” Holmes said.
Gutierrez believes students are experiencing financial troubles, which is why they have resorted to stealing textbooks. Holmes believes crimes have occurred because stu- dents are desperate.
