Posted By Karen Todd Hello Peter, The police would be better able to advise, but it is my own belief that there are not as many of these type of attacks as there used to be, and they seem to always happen around Christmas. Also, as you rightly say, the devices always seem to be timed to go off during the middle of the night - I can't recall any in recent years that went off when shops were full of people. I think the key is staff training, to look for suspicious activity, along with clearly defined actions for various situations and rehearsal of such situations. This will also help you catch your shoplifters. For example, could you search racks of clothes where there has been suspicious activity immediately rather than just doing checks at certain times? The police should be able to help you with information for training staff, e.g. what the devices look like, what to do if you find them, what not to do, etc. The police and/or your security staff should also be able to provide you with information on the mode of operation of these people, e.g. single person, or person planting devices plus lookout, team of 3 or whatever. When I worked in a shop as a student, during our security training we were shown a video of a known group of shoplifters but told not to approach them as they would be armed with knives and were known to be violent, and to report them to security immediately. This group were known to a number of shops, so when they went into one, that shop would call other shops and alert them. Could you operate a similar system, i.e. share any intelligence you have? I also recall during the security training being told that the pockets in garments were sewn up to stop people putting things into them. When I buy suits, coats, trousers, etc in many of them the pockets are sewn up. However, others say it is so that the clothes hold their shape better. Regards, Karen