Tide Theft on the Rise Nationwide
There is a disturbing trend that is on the rise nationwide that involves stealing the popular detergent Tide, and many claim it is not all for dirty clothes.
Stealing the popular cleaner in some parts of the country has become so widespread that some communities are putting together special task forces and retailers are introducing special security measures to curtail the thefts.
One of the more notable Tide thefts happened in West St. Paul, Minn., when a man stole $25,000 worth of Tide during a 15 month period before he was arrested.
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"That was unique that he stole so much soap. The name brand is [all] Tide. Amazing, huh," said West St. Paul Police Chief Bud Shaver.
With the high price of Tide, as compared to other generic cleaners, it has been used as an alternate form of payment for illegal drugs. The retail price of a bottle of Tide can be $10 to $20.
Authorities claim that thieves resell their Tide on the black market, leaving retailers with few options.
"There's no serial numbers and it's impossible to track," according to Detective Larry Patterson of the Somerset, Ky., Police Department.
George Cohen, spokesman for Philadelphia-based Checkpoint Systems, which produces alarms being tested on Tide in CVS stores, said: "Name brands are easier to resell."
"These are criminals coming into the store to steal thousands of dollars of merchandise," said Detective Harrison Sprague of the Prince George's County, Md., police Department.
And police in Gresham, Ore., explain that one reason for this increase in Tide theft is that drug addicts steal the detergent to buy drugs.
"They'll do it right in front of a cop car- buying heroin or methamphetamine with Tide," said Detective Rick Blake of the Gresham Police Department.
"We would see people walking down the road with six, seven bottles of Tide. They were so blatant about it," said Blake.
