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The National Association For Shoplifting Prevention (NASP)
is a private nonprofit tax-exempt [501(c)(3)] organization
whose mission is to raise public awareness about the harmful
effects of shoplifting on youth, families and communities,
unite public opinion toward constructive solutions, deliver
needed programs and services and engage community action in
prevention efforts to improve the lives of those affected
and reduce the number of people who become involved.
The National Association For Shoplifting Prevention conducts
research and offers communities technical assistance, training,
education, prevention and rehabilitation programs with self-help
and support services.
- Educate the public about the harmful effects of shoplifting
in order to reverse the perception that shoplifting is “no
big deal” or a "victimless" crime.
- Empower communities with the knowledge and the tools
to take an active role in prevention efforts.
- Engage schools and community organizations in shoplifting
prevention efforts for youth.
- Encourage individuals caught up in the problem to seek
help.
- Encourage the criminal and juvenile justice communities
to include secondary prevention programs as an additional
sanction for offenders.
- Support a National Shoplifting Prevention Coalition and
act as the catalyst for community action, nationwide.
- Shoplifting is not a “victimless” crime. It
raises costs to consumers, takes tax revenue away from communities,
forces companies to go out of business, burdens law enforcement
and the courts and hurts the lives of individuals and families.
- The temptation to shoplift or “get something for
nothing” does not discriminate; it is prevalent in
all neighborhoods among all ages, races, religions and social
classes.
- A person’s ability to resist the temptation to
shoplift is enhanced or diminished by the attitude of their
community-at-large.
- At any age, shoplifting can be habit-forming or addictive
and needs to be addressed like other addictive behaviors
with appropriate programs and support.
- Community apathy about shoplifting sends a message to
the public that "crime pays."
- Addressing the issue of shoplifting and its prevention
fosters and builds honesty, integrity and character in our
youth.
- The most important factor in determining if a person will
shoplift again, is their experience the time before.
- Shoplifting prevention must be more than locks, security
cameras, sensors and guards. Effective prevention must include
community awareness, education and action.
A nation in which communities embrace shoplifting prevention
as an important social issue and work together in taking action
to significantly reduce its occurrence.
Specifically, NASP's vision is to achieve a society where
. . . parents talk to their children about it; schools address
it; kids say no to it; consumers resist temptation to do it;
retailers actively pursue it; law enforcement willingly responds
to it; courts effectively sentence it; mental health professionals
understand it and people engaged in it, seek help to stop.
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The National Association For Shoplifting
Prevention (NASP) was originally founded as Shoplifters
Alternative (a division of Shoplifters Anonymous, Inc.)
by Peter Berlin. He founded Shoplifters
Alternative out of his belief that by understanding
and addressing the “root causes” of shoplifting,
millions of individual lives and families could be improved
and a significant reduction in shoplifting could be
achieved.
Early in his career as a director
of retail security and loss prevention for department
and specialty stores, Peter was responsible for apprehending,
interviewing, and prosecuting individuals who shoplifted.
Through his many interviews he realized that the majority
of the people he apprehended were not career criminals
but otherwise law-abiding citizens… juveniles,
mothers, fathers, grandparents, business and professional
people. Most of them had the money in their pockets
to pay for the items they had stolen, were humiliated
and remorseful when caught and had no idea why they
shoplifted. He saw, over and over, how the apprehensions
devastated them. The fear, shame, embarrassment and
guilt were often too much for them to bear. |
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Peter Berlin
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Peter questioned why people would engage in such self-destructive
behavior when it was clearly out of their normal character.
After conducting further research he concluded that for the
non-professional shoplifter, shoplifting was rarely about
greed, poverty or values but rather about individuals struggling
with their own personal conflicts and needs, their feelings
of entitlement and other underlying issues in their life.
Realizing that there was little public understanding of
the shoplifting problem and nowhere for these people to turn,
Peter decided to establish and fund a nonprofit organization
which would conduct ongoing research, provide educational
rehabilitation programs, facilitate self-help groups and become
the first national organization dedicated to helping these
people turn their lives around and ultimately reduce a serious
and costly retail industry problem.
To date, NASP has conducted research with and provided rehabilitation
programs to over 200,000 adult and juvenile shoplifting offenders.
Peter Berlin retired in 2005. The extensive shoplifter research
and court-sanctioned rehabilitation programs developed by
Peter laid the foundation for NASP’s work today.
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Upon Peter Berlin’s retirement, the Board of
Directors of NASP appointed Caroline Kochman
Executive Director. Her tenure with the organization
began in 1993 as Director of Court Services where she
played an integral role in the development as well as
the distribution of NASP’s court-ordered prevention
programs. During her tenure, the organization achieved
annual increases in the number of criminal and juvenile
justice agencies utilizing the rehabilitation programs
which lead to her appointment as Deputy Executive Director
in 1998. Under her direction the organization provided
its services to more than 1,200 courts and agencies,
with over 150,000 individuals participating in its programs,
nationwide.
With the foundation for the organization already laid
with the research and rehabilitation programs, Caroline’s
vision was now on the “bigger picture”.
She saw a fundamental need to shift the organizations
focus to addressing shoplifting as a community issue
– both social and economic. As such, Caroline
initiated and guided NASP to the achievement of a fundamental
redesign and refocus of NASP’s mission, programs
and services from solely research and rehabilitation
to include public education, prevention initiatives
and paths for community action; with the new organization
to be known as the National Association For Shoplifting
Prevention or NASP. |
Caroline Kochman
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Under her leadership, NASP has launched the National
Shoplifting Prevention Coalition and has partnered
with the National Crime Prevention Council
and their icon McGruff the Crime Dog, to launch the Honest
to Goodness Shoplifting Prevention Campaign. Caroline
and her team actively collaborate with retailers, justice
and law enforcement agencies, crime prevention agencies and
community-based organizations to translate research into programs,
policies and practices for each sector of the community in
order to effectively work together to reduce the harmful effects
of shoplifting locally and across the country.
Caroline Kochman graduated from the State University of New
York at Stony Brook in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts degree
in Sociology.
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Robert C. Lane, Ph.D., ABPP
President of the Board
Clinical Psychologist and Professor,
Nova Southeastern University, Fl.
Dr. Lane received his doctorate degree in Psychology from
New York University, became a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology
and Psychoanalysis, has published five books and approximately
175 articles in his field, sustained a private practice, held
22 teaching positions and has been the President and Director
on several Boards including the American Psychological Association.
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James Lewis, Jr., Ph.D.
Secretary of the Board
Founder and former Executive Director of The Educational
Center for Prostate Cancer Patients and the National Center
To Save our Schools, NY
Dr. Lewis received his doctorate degree in Education from
Union Graduate University, became Superintendent of schools,
was awarded the prestigious Alfred North Whitehead fellowship
from Harvard University and has written 29 books on education
and school administration. He is a survivor of colon and
prostate cancer, has written six books on the subject
and has been an advisor to approximately 65,000 prostate
cancer patients while leading the national non-profit
organization he founded. |
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Peter A. Rust
Director on the Board
President & CEO,
Con Edison Communications, NY Mr. Rust received
his MBA degree in Finance from Adelphi University, pursued
a 17 year varied career at NYNEX/Bell Atlantic in IT,
Operations, Finance, Marketing, Science and Technology
culminating in the position of Vice President of Operations
for Bell Atlantic Internet Working and Multimedia Solutions.
He joined Con Edison Communications, Inc. as President
and CEO, developing the initial business strategy and
building a diverse fiber optic network business to propel
Con Edison, Inc. into the telecommunications market
in the New York City metropolitan area.
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Robert S. Levy, ACSW
Director on the Board
President, Corporate Counseling Associates, NY
Mr. Levy received his degree and training in social work
from New York University and the National Psychological Association
for Psychoanalysis Training Institute. His career began as
a Narcotics Parole Officer, proceeded to New York State Drug
Abuse Counselor, Director of the Adolescent Day Hospital of
New York Hospital – Cornell Medical Center, Employee
Assistance Program (EAP) consultant and counselor at Managed
Health Network and ultimately became the founder and president
of Corporate Counseling Associates, Inc., a national EAP Work/Life
Training and Consulting firm which has served many of our
nations leading corporations over the past twenty (20) years.
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Peter D. Berlin
Director on the Board
Founder, Shoplifters Anonymous, NY
Mr. Berlin received his BA degree in Psychology from
Long Island University, pursued a ten year career in
retail security, became an international consultant
on retail theft, Director of Shrinkage Control Services
for Price Waterhouse and has published monthly newsletters
on retail “Shrinkage Control” for the past
23 years. He founded and became Executive Director of
Shoplifters Anonymous, Inc., in 1989, a national non-profit
organization dedicated to the rehabilitation of people
with a shoplifting problem. NASP originated from Shoplifters
Anonymous, Inc. |
Caroline Kochman, Executive Director
Renee Sirianni, Director of Court Services
Ginamarie Montoro, Court Services Manager
Barbara Staib, Director of Development and Communications
Gina Hoelderlin, Manager of Operations
Alyssa Tarin, Program Administrator
Donna Vogt, Educational Materials Coordinator
Carol Greenhill, Research Coordinator
Sue Ednie, Accounting Director
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To view the NASP Guidestar Profile, visit www.guidestar.org
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- Increase membership in the National
Shoplifting Prevention Coalition which is made up of
individuals, agencies, courts, retailers, professional associations
and corporations committed to taking action to prevent shoplifting.
- Provide schools and community youth organizations with
primary
shoplifting prevention programs for use in conjunction
with character-education programs aimed at youth in grades
K-12.
- Distribute an overarching “Community Action Plan”
for communities seeking to actively work at the prevention
of shoplifting.
- Enhance the web-based National
Self-Help and Support Center for individuals seeking
help. Enhancements will include support services for people
with a shoplifting problem in the form of self-assessments,
online self-help groups, telephone coaching, telephone buddies,
referrals to psychotherapists and referrals to addiction
recovery programs which address related issues.
- Centralize shoplifting prevention education through a
web-based National Learning
and Resource Center which provides education and statistics
for the public.
- Increase delivery of secondary prevention programs to
criminal and juvenile justice communities throughout the
nation.
- Conduct and publish ongoing research to achieve a better
understanding of the shoplifting problem and its solutions.
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