History
In the United States, laws were enacted in the 1970s allowing merchants to recover penalties from those who removed merchandise without paying which allowed the development of departments that focused on retail loss prevention.
The development of electronic article surveillance (a magnetic device attached to the merchandise that would trigger an alarm if removed removed from the store, also called EAS) led to an increase in arrests; however, many cases have been dismissed due to lack of observation of the crime. A later effort, called "benefit denial" by Read Hayes, was intended to reduce the incentives for people to take the items by destroying the usefulness of items that were improperly removed from stores through the use of measures such as exploding dye packs.
Read more about this topic: Retail Loss Prevention
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