Retail loss investigations · Investigative loss prevention
The camera records that the goods have gone. The investigator works out how.
Plain-clothes investigators from Demetra Investigazioni e Sicurezza, a licensed private investigation agency (Italian licence under art. 134 TULPS), work in stores across Italy to reconstruct where, how and at whose hands your stock discrepancies arise. And they help you decide what to do about it, including in criminal proceedings.
What it is
Not stopping the thief: reconstructing the facts.
Stock discrepancies are not caused by shoplifters alone: behind them lie flawed procedures, silent complicity and organisational gaps. A retail loss investigation looks at all of them. It documents methods, times and high-risk areas, recognises repeat behaviour, and separates how much of the loss comes from customers, how much from staff and how much from organisational disorder. It is investigative work and requires a Prefecture licence (art. 134 TULPS and Ministerial Decree 269/2010): anyone offering it without a licence exposes you to penalties.
Plain-clothes observation
Investigators in high-risk departments, at high-risk times of day, on shifts planned around your data rather than at random.
Data analysis
Stock counts, returns, till voids, alerts from EAS gates and RFID systems: the technology records, we read the reasons why.
Reports and recommendations
Documented incidents, repeat patterns, complicity and procedural gaps, with the actions to reduce them: so that your next stock count shows fewer losses.
In store, who does what
The armed officer protects, the investigator establishes, the concierge officer keeps watch.
| Role | What they do | What they cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Licensed armed security officer (guardia giurata, employed by vigilanza privata companies) | Loss prevention patrolling in the strict sense: watches over departments, prevents theft and protects assets. | Does not search people and cannot make an arrest for theft. |
| Investigator | Investigates the causes of losses and stock discrepancies, documents conduct and repeat patterns. | Does not replace patrolling in the aisles and has no police powers. |
| Concierge and access-control officer | Provides a passive presence: welcomes customers, controls entrances, observes, reports and calls 112 (the emergency number). | Does not chase, detain, open bags or walk the departments in plain clothes. |
Demetra provides the two highlighted roles: the investigator, through its licensed investigation agency, and the concierge and access-control officer, through Servizi Ausiliari Integrati. Demetra is not a licensed armed security company (vigilanza privata): if your store needs one, we will tell you during the site visit.
The rules of engagement
What really happens when a theft occurs.
Since the Cartabia reform, shoplifting in Italy no longer triggers criminal proceedings automatically. These are the rules we apply, and they are worth knowing before an incident, not after.
1 · Facing the thief
- We observe, document and call 112.
- Theft, even aggravated theft, no longer allows a citizen’s arrest: it lacks the ex officio prosecution required by art. 383 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
- Holding someone until the police arrive exposes you to charges of false imprisonment (sequestro di persona) or private violence.
2 · What we never do
- Search a person or open their bag against their will.
- Detain, chase or forcibly escort anyone to an office.
- Use force, except in the case described on card 3.
3 · If they push, strike or threaten
- The theft becomes “improper robbery” (rapina impropria): it is prosecuted ex officio and arrest in the act is mandatory.
- In that case only, a private person may also intervene, immediately handing over the person and the goods to the judicial police.
4 · The criminal complaint
- Theft and attempted theft of goods on display are, with some exceptions, prosecuted only following a criminal complaint (querela).
- The store manager files it, and can do so orally to the officers who attend.
- Without a complaint, simple theft does not even allow the police to make an arrest.
5 · The risk few people know about
- Whoever signs the complaint must appear in court if summoned as a witness.
- If they fail to appear without a valid reason, the offence is extinguished, even with crystal-clear footage.
- In large-scale retail, store managers move between sites: decide in advance who files complaints, or keep track of where to reach them.
6 · When a complaint is worth filing
- For repeat offending and for cases that genuinely affect your figures.
- Low-value incidents may be dismissed as particularly minor offences (art. 131-bis of the Criminal Code).
- We help you build a company policy and a solid body of evidence.
7 · The evidence
- Dated reports that separate observed facts from inferences.
- Images and data acquired with a documented chain of custody.
- The investigator is available to testify about what they have established.
8 · Employees and footage
- We investigate staff only where there is a well-founded suspicion of wrongdoing, never their productivity.
- Your company remains the controller of the footage from your cameras and appoints us as data processor.
9 · The assignment
- A written mandate, stating the right to be protected, the scope and the duration.
- A quotation before we start and regular reports throughout the assignment.
- If the investigation is not producing results, we tell you.
A plain-language summary of the Italian rules in force (arts. 380 and 383 of the Code of Criminal Procedure; art. 624 of the Criminal Code as amended by Legislative Decree 150/2022; arts. 131-bis and 152 of the Criminal Code; art. 628(2) of the Criminal Code). Covered in more depth in the chapter on investigative loss prevention in the book «Prova effimera», Fascicolo N. 1 of the «Controluce» series (in Italian). It is not a substitute for legal advice on your case.
Cases from the field
Three cases, thirty years, the same method.
News reports describe police operations. They rarely mention who, in the weeks before, observed, took notes and reconstructed the pattern. These are three cases of that work, which by its nature stays in the shadows. Clients and locations have been made unidentifiable.
The two-stage theft
Alessandro Cascio, then a loss prevention operative for a Turin investigation agency, before he founded Demetra.
The context
A large consumer electronics store in the Turin metropolitan area, in a difficult neighbourhood. These were the years of the first PlayStation, the Nintendo 64 and the first multimedia PCs: small, expensive items that were easy to resell.
The problem
Stock discrepancies on video games rise within a few weeks. The gates do not sound, staff see nothing, yet the goods disappear.
The method
Several days of discreet observation in the department, looking at what usually gets overlooked: empty packaging, misplaced goods, items turning up in unrelated departments. This is how the pattern emerged:
- Stage one. A young boy opens a package and hides the game, now without its box or security tag, in some other department. He leaves empty-handed.
- Stage two. Often the next day, a second minor who knows where to look retrieves the goods and takes them out.
- Behind them. Adults who organised the operation and used minors precisely because they were hard to prosecute.
Splitting the theft into two stages removed the risk for whoever acted first: the one hiding the goods was not yet stealing, and the one retrieving them set nothing off.
The outcome
Once the pattern had been reconstructed, the documented evidence was handed to the client and enabled the police to intervene.
What it teaches us today
Opened packaging and goods found in the wrong department are not just untidiness: they are the first sign of organised theft. A good presence on the shop floor records them as data. The pattern still exists, with other items: headphones, smartphones, perfumes, razor blades.
The perfect receipt
Demetra, in a store served on behalf of a national security services network.
The context
A large electronics store in a shopping centre on the outskirts of Turin. For bulky items the procedure has three steps: the sales assistant fills in a document, the customer pays at the till, then collects the goods from the warehouse.
The problem
Televisions are disappearing. They cannot have gone through the tills unnoticed: they are far too big. Yet the stock count does not add up.
The method
We start from the stock discrepancies, item by item, and cross-check them against sales documents, till transactions and warehouse collections. The weak point emerges: the warehouse checked the receipt, not the payment.
An organised gang had the sales document prepared for a television held only in the warehouse, skipped the till and turned up at collection with a fake receipt, identical to the original in format and data. The warehouse operative saw a valid-looking document and handed the goods over.
The outcome
Once the technique had been meticulously reconstructed, the documented evidence was handed to the client and enabled the police to intervene.
What it teaches us today
Wherever the person or place taking payment differs from the one handing over the goods, a fake document is as good as cash. Today the same pattern hits click-and-collect orders, returns and storage points, with screenshots and digital receipts instead of paper. The remedy is a cross-check: goods are released only if the payment shows in the system, not because the document looks right.
The fitting room as a hiding place
A Demetra operative, during a retail loss investigation in a large electronics store in Northern Italy, served on behalf of a national network.
The signs
Over several days the operative notices a sales assistant handing high-value items without security tags to supposed customers, and acquaintances regularly dropping by to see him in the store.
The pattern
During his shift the assistant hides goods in a fitting room. At the end of the shift, already changed and with his rucksack on his shoulder, he goes back to collect them and heads for the exit. It is the two-stage theft of Case 1, carried out from the inside.
The method
The operative locates the hidden goods and, in agreement with the store manager, leaves them where they are, so as to document the whole sequence rather than interrupting it at the first clue. As he passes through the gates, in the presence of the manager, the goods are recovered and the police are called.
The outcome
Around €7,000 of goods recovered on the spot: high-end smartphones, a smartwatch and a handheld console. Subsequent police checks led to the discovery of further goods, with an estimated value of several tens of thousands of euros.
What it teaches us
No gate stops someone who knows the procedures from the inside. What stops them is someone who watches behaviour, not just receipts. And a method that worked thirty years ago still works, as long as the right person is watching.
How much are stock discrepancies costing you?
We start from your data, and the site visit is free. Write to consulenze@demetragroup.it or call +39 329 1093485.
Demetra Investigazioni e Sicurezza — Demetra Security Consulting S.r.l., VAT no. 12932260016, Prefecture licence under art. 134 T.U.L.P.S. valid throughout Italy, ref. no. 5482 of 10/02/2025.