Not long ago a woman walked into an Oak Park Mall bath and body store carrying two shopping bags. She lingered for two hours, examining the scented candles. Then the phone of Detective Byron Pierce of the Overland Park Police Department buzzed. The caller was an employee of the store.  “Everything okay?” Pierce asked. No. The woman had left with two bags loaded with candles. Pierce, in plainclothes, soon apprehended her. “Those bags must have weighed 40 pounds apiece,” Pierce said. The term for the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season, which begins today, originated in the early 1960s when Philadelphia police termed the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” to describe the chaos of suburbanites spilling into the city looking for gifts. Retailers popularized the Black Friday term nationwide in the 1980s to rekindle the myth this was the day their ledgers went from being in the red to the black. Yet the recorded history of unsavory characters looking to make off with goods without paying goes back much further in Kansas City, to at least 1864, when the Kansas City Journal detailed how such theft was “a great nuisance to the merchants.”  The modern techniques and sheer gall of shoplifters continue to be matched by the tenacity brought to bear against them. What the Journal described as an annoyance for frontier shopkeepers has grown methodical, emphasizing volume, speed, and efficiency. Today what authorities call a swelling in “organized retail crime” has prompted a proportionate response across the Kansas City area. An increased number of Overland Park officers, both plainclothes and otherwise, will be patrolling Oak Park Mall in the coming weeks. They will be watching for what Pierce called the “traditional shoplifters” — those who steal the occasional wallet or purse — as well as the more organized criminals who have, Pierce said, shown up with large bags or backpacks and helped themselves to the finery on display, or tried to. ‘Light-Fingered Sisters‘ The first shoplifters were “roving bands of men” who plagued the soap boilers and linen weavers of late 16th century London, according to Rachel Shteir, author of “The Steal: A Cultural History of Shoplifting.” But their numbers soon began to include women, at least according to British playwright and pamphleteer Robert Greene, who wrote that female “lifts” were “more subtile” than men. In mid-19th century Paris, Shteir wrote, architects of large stores, in their attempts to attract more female customers, designed rooms that mimicked the stage sets of popular operas and also featured large mirrors, all of which served to showcase the merchandise within easy reach. By 1864 editors of the Kansas City Journal, quite likely men, insisted that shoplifters were “mostly female,” adding “the thing has become so great an evil that examples will have to be made of these light-fingered sisters.” By 1874 shoppers were patronizing Bullene, Moores, Emery & Co., considered Kansas City’s first department store. That year Thomas B. Bullene opened a large store at Seventh and Main streets and scheduled a special event to celebrate. “The ribbon sale yesterday was a great success,” Bullene wrote in his diary one day that May. A Pictorial History of Kansas City Shoplifting In 1874 Thomas Bullene, an early Kansas City retailer, opened a larger version of the Bullene, Moores & Emery department store at Seventh and Main streets. The store would prove popular among customers both honest and otherwise. (Courtesy | newspapers.com)What by 1890 was known as the Emery, Bird, Thayer opened its largest store at 11th Street snd Grand Avenue. It attracted shoplifters, some of whom worked in tandem with accomplices behind the store counters. (Courtesy | Missouri Valley Special Collections)Law enforcement authorities often associated women with shoplifting in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. The Jackson County Historical Society, which owns and operates the 1859 Jail Museum in Independence, Missouri, holds “mug shots” of various individuals incarcerated over the years. The only photo of a woman in the collection depicts Rose Jenkins, but society staff members have found no documentation of why or even if she was incarcerated. (Courtesy | Jackson County Historical Society)An 1895 ledger from the 1859 Jail Museum lists many arrests for “PT” or petty theft. Some of those incarcerated for that offense were women. Here, Erin Gray, Jackson County Historical Society director of archives and education, points out one likely example: Mattie Collins, who served 10 days in the jail. (Brian Burnes | Flatland)In 1908 Jackson County opened the McCune Home six miles northeast of Independence. The facility sought to present a better environment for boys and young men convicted of various crimes, petty theft among them. (Courtesy | Missouri Valley Special Collections)Jackson County officials named the McCune Home for Kansas City lawyer Henry McCune, an early judge of the county juvenile court who believed all wayward adolescents needn’t be incarcerated with older, sometimes career criminals; they instead could receive instruction in various trades. (“Kansas City in Caricature,” 1912)Beginning in 1897 Kansas City authorities assigned those found guilty of various offenses, petty theft among them, to the Kansas City Workhouse Castle at 2001 Vine St. As at the 1859 Jail in Independence, inmates served in work gangs toiling on public works projects, such as building roads. (Courtesy | Missouri Valley Special Collections)Editors employed by the Kansas City Post, a newspaper known for sensational stories, often perpetuated the stereotype of women having an apparent proclivity for shoplifting. When Kansas City police officers in 1912 busted a “ring” of female shoplifters working with other women employed by department stores to pilfer jewelry and apparel, the Post placed its account on the front page. (Courtesy | newspapers.com)In 1946 the Kansas City Star described the challenges faced by Jackson County juvenile court authorities in dealing with youthful offenders charged with various offenses, shoplifting among them. Judges required parents to attend court sessions; one also included the condition, when considering granting probation or parole, of regular church attendance. (Courtesy | The Kansas City Star)Kansas City author and historian Patrick Fasl served part-time in the Security and Loss Prevention units at the Sears store at Overland Park’s Metcalf South shopping center from 1984 through 1993. (Courtesy | Patrick Fasl)As in past years, the Overland Park Police Department will increase the number of plainclothes and uniformed officers at Oak Park Mall during the holiday shopping season. (Brian Burnes | Flatland) Fashionable Kansas City customers would pay for such accessories — except when they didn’t. In 1885 police apprehended a woman they identified as a “notorious shoplifter” from whom they recovered “a fine hat, some valuable feathers and a quantity of ribbon and bric-a-brac.”  The suspect admitted she’d taken the merchandise from Bullene’s. Jail Ledgers Today ledgers from the 1859 Jail Museum in Independence, Missouri, list women charged with various offenses in the late 19th century, petty theft among them. Kaija Laney, visitor center coordinator for the Jackson County Historical Society, which owns and operates the jail, believes the incarceration of women was considered shocking by some. “Maybe the first instances of women arrested for shoplifting were considered sensational,” she said. That, in turn, may have influenced retailers to assume any lady who entered their stores without an accompanying gentleman deserved scrutiny, added Erin Gray, the society’s director of archives and education. “I wonder if women then were considered more incapable of caring for themselves,” she said. Shoplifters would continue to steal from Bullene’s, which by the late 19th century had moved to 11th Street and Grand Avenue, operating as Emery, Bird and Thayer Co. In 1912 the Kansas City Post accorded front page coverage to a “ring” of several young women who’d been shoplifting through accomplices employed by several stores, Emery, Bird, Thayer among them. Authorities decided “three small-town girls” within the ring — from Buckner and Bonner Springs — had been led astray by the big city. A judge fined each $100 and assigned officers to escort them to the Union Depot where, the Post reported, they were to be placed on trains “to carry them back to their honest, even if monotonous, home towns.” Boys As Well There were other shoplifters. Those were the boys, the artful dodgers of early 20th century Kansas City, who faced charges of petty theft in Jackson County’s new juvenile court. Henry McCune, an early juvenile court judge, urged the county to acquire 100 acres northeast of Independence. The McCune Home opened there in 1908. Many of the home’s first residents were orphans, said Amber Rumpel, a former faculty member at the facility, which closed in 2012. “But there also were so many wayward boys,” Rumpel added. In the beginning the home’s instructors included tradesmen, such as cobblers and others trained in manual and mechanical skills. “Judge McCune’s vision was to give these kids an opportunity to learn what they were not learning at home and give them an opportunity to be successful in life,” she said. To The Pews By the 1940s juvenile court judges considering cases of repeat theft offenders were suspending some sentences and sending the young men to the McCune Home. One judge insisted that any parole or probation would include the condition of weekly church attendance. But some offenders may have moved on to organized crime. A 1959 Federal Bureau of Investigation report documented a Kansas City fencing ring dealing in stolen jewelry and furs. The same report described an informant who witnessed the processing of $16,000 in clothing stolen from an Overland Park store.  The individual shoplifter, meanwhile, was still stealing the occasional wallet or purse. Crime-Fighting Invention In 1966 engineer Arthur Minasy patented the electronic article surveillance (EAS) tag. The tag could be clipped onto a shirt or skirt. If a customer attempted to leave the store without it being removed, a sensor mounted within a pedestal near the store’s entrance would emit a loud audible alert. But not all retailers used the tags. By the 1980s some had invested in closed-circuit television. If a camera operator focused in on shoplifters heading for an exit, a security employee waiting outside would receive a heads up by walkie-talkie. ‘Cops and Robbers’ Patrick Fasl would often be that employee. A Kansas City author and historian, he began serving in 1984 as a part-time security employee at the Metcalf South shopping center Sears store,  This was during what Fasl describes as the “cops and robbers” era of shoplifting deterrence. “Apprehending folks who did ‘grab-and-runs’ was very exciting to me because the total dollar amount recovered could result in a felony charge as opposed to a city municipal offense,” Fast said recently. “Very few thieves were able to outrun me.” But Sears executives soon grew concerned about liability issues.  Those who once were “security” employees soon worked in “loss prevention,” Fast said.  It wasn’t the same, he added. “For guys who had been there a while, it was difficult to just count women’s dresses or men’s sports jackets to see if they were all still there,” he said. Fighting ‘Shrink’ The National Retail Federation in 2022 estimated that “shrink,” or loss of inventory, during the previous year cost retailers about $94.5 billion. Overland Park police opened an Oak Park Mall substation in 2023. Detectives had begun to see organized thieves working together. Recently Pierce helped apprehend two men who had entered a mall clothing store and, oddly, asked for two of its shopping bags.  They soon left without purchasing anything, prompting an employee to notify Pierce. With a colleague Pierce followed the two men as they entered a department store, grabbed handfuls of merchandise, and then dashed into fitting rooms to stuff their bags full. They didn’t get away. “Our goal is to reduce retail crime and hold those who decide to participate in it accountable,” Pierce said.  This holiday shopping season the Overland Park police authorities are continuing their practice of past years, increasing the number of officers, both plainclothes and uniformed, at Oak Park Mall. The increased presence will help, Pierce said, although scheduling is always always a challenge. “Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays are always busy for us,” he said. “We don’t know why. It’s a mystery.” Flatland contributor Brian Burnes is a Kansas City area writer and author.  The post A Black Friday Romp Through the Metro’s Shoplifting History first appeared on Flatland.