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Steamboat Springs — Like any store owner, Sue Krall might have been pleased at first to notice that several high-quality, gift-wrapped bars of soap were gone from their display.

Then she checked the register.

"And we hadn't sold any - they literally were disappearing before our eyes," Krall said Thursday. She's a co-owner of Off the Beaten Path Bookstore & Coffee Shop on Ninth Street in downtown Steamboat Springs. She said that a couple of months ago the store displayed the $15 bars of soap as a gift item to supplement book sales. The soap left the store, she said, but without a stop at the cash register.

"I think we sold two of them out of 18," Krall said. "The rest were stolen."

Soap might seem like a small item, but Krall said the discovery led her to notice other missing gift items - and significantly raised her concerns about shoplifting in Steamboat.

Detective Jerry Stabile, of the Steamboat Springs Police Department, said the number of reported shoplifting cases is slowly increasing in the city, from 22 in 2007 to 32 in 2008 and 31 so far this year, with the holidays and winter season ahead. And large items have gone missing, too - Steve Kennedy, owner of The Homesteader at 817 Lincoln Ave., said his store lost about $1,000 worth of goods to theft during Labor Day weekend. Jan Lomas, owner of the Artisans Market at 626 Lincoln Ave., said stolen items cost her as much as $6,000 a year. Del Lockhart, co-owner of F.M. Light & Sons, declined to give specifics but said he, too, has noticed items missing from his store.

"I know what my (inventory) shrinkage is, and it's significant," Lockhart said, adding that the store has lost some high-dollar items. "I have certain departments that are worse (hit) than others."

Lockhart, Lomas and Krall were three of about 15 local merchants who attended a Thursday morning shoplifting prevention seminar at Centennial Hall, hosted by Mainstreet Steamboat Springs and led by Stabile and Detective Dave Kleiber, of the police department.

Lomas said in her experience, the recession has given rise to increased shoplifting at a time when business owners already are struggling to make ends meet. Krall said theft affects her personally.

"When things are taken, it really does make a difference to the shop owners," Krall wrote in a Thursday e-mail. "It is personal when we see items that we carefully selected to sell in our stores disappear. The cost of doing business in town is already high, and none of the merchants can afford to factor in loss."

At Thursday's seminar, Stabile and Kleiber ran through basic facts about shoplifting: it crosses all gender, age and socioeconomic lines; it can be reduced by keeping a store neat, locking up expensive or easily concealable items and increasing personal contact with customers; and often, shoplifting is committed by people paid to be in the store.

"The majority of theft you are experiencing is from your own employees - that's a fact," Kleiber told merchants. "Steamboat is not this little frickin' snow globe that is different from the rest of America. Employee theft happens, and it happens all the time."

But as the discussion evolved, the focus of Thursday morning's seminar became what to do and what merchants can or cannot do when they suspect shoplifting - often a confrontational experience for which not all employees are prepared.

What to do

Stabile said a shoplifter's mannerisms often mimic those of a child about to do something wrong - furtiveness, looking over the shoulder and lingering in a certain area, for example.

When approaching a suspected shoplifter, Stabile and Kleiber said to be aware that you never know who, or what circumstances, you are dealing with.

"The No. 1 thing, paramount, is your safety," Kleiber said. "If you're going to confront somebody, you need to do it in a calm, respectful manner - but an authoritative manner."

Little things can make a difference. Stabile said asking someone to open a purse or bag, rather than asking for and opening it yourself, often is a better approach.

Kleiber said Colorado law allows a store representative to search a bag, purse or other personal item, if the representative has probable cause and is acting in good faith. Kleiber cautioned that those terms are not absolutes.

"There's nothing black and white," he said. "It boils down to the reasonableness of your actions."

Kleiber and Stabile said it's best to call police before confronting a suspected shoplifter. That allows a store representative to say that police already have been called and reduces the amount of time a representative could be alone with a suspect.

Section 18-4-407 of the Colorado Revised Statutes allows store representatives, acting in good faith and with probable cause of shoplifting, to "detain and question such person, in a reasonable manner for the purpose of ascertaining whether the person is guilty of theft."

Kleiber said detaining a suspect - asking the person to wait on the premises, for example - can be a delicate situation.

"You could detain them, but I would not always recommend that," Kleiber said. "I would recommend going to Plan B, which is being a good witness."

Getting details such as the suspect's license plate number and physical description can be invaluable to police, Stabile said, adding that merchants should not hesitate to report shoplifting cases.

"We highly advise that you prosecute," Stabile said. "We have a lot of cases we solve where we don't even have a photo of the person."

Stabile said Colorado law allows business owners to file civil cases against shoplifters that assess a penalty of $250, on top of criminal charges. Theft of less than $500 is a Class 2 misdemeanor, Stabile said, with a minimum penalty of three months in jail and/or a $250 fine, and a maximum penalty of 12 months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine. Penalties increase with the severity of the theft, prior criminal history and other factors.

Lockhart said it was gratifying to hear how Colorado enforces shoplifting and what rights store representatives hold.

"Re-emphasizing that we've been empowered by the state," Lockhart said, referring to the most valuable lesson he learned Thursday morning. "We don't need to be intimidated by a shoplifter. That's a huge psychological impact."