The rate of increase in the incidence of shoplifting throughout the Nation increases with mounting acceleration year after year, and results in an ever rising number of millions of dollars of losses to merchants. Virginia merchants experience this problem in equal intensity to the merchants of the other states. Aware of the fact that this is a matter rapidly getting out of control, the General Assembly of Virginia at its 1968 Regular Session adopted House Joint Resolution No. 56 directing the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council to study this problem and to recommend appropriate legislation.

The Council selected Arthur H. Richardson o:f Dinwiddie, a member of the House of Delegates and a member of the Council, as Chairman of a Committee to make the initial study and report to it. Selected to serve with Mr. Richardson were the following: E. B. Pendleton, Jr., Treasurer, Southern State Cooperative, Inc., and a member of the House of Delegates, Richmond; Stanley G. Bryan, Attorney at Law and a member of the House of Delegates, Chesapeake; Russell M. Carneal, Attorney at Law and member of the House of Delegates and of the Council, Williamsburg; John H. Clements, Merchant, Carson; Tom Frost, Automobile Dealer and a member of the House of Delegates and of the Council, Warrenton; James B. Fugate, Newspaper Publisher, Livestock Dealer and Farmer, and a member of the House of Delegates, Gate City; Anthony C. Gaudio, Chief Probation and Parole Officer of Virginia Parole District No. 10, Arlington; Eugene L. Holland, Secretary and Comptroller, Southern Department Stores, Inc., Petersburg; Leslie E. Kittredge, of the William J. Burns International Detective Agency, Richmond; Earl H. McClenny, President, St. Paul's College, Lawrenceville; Miss Anne Dobie Peebles, a member of the State Board of Education, Carson; William S. Peebles, Jr., Vice-President, W. S. Peebles & Company, a Chain of Department Stores, Lawrenceville; Sumpter T. Priddy, Jr., Executive Vice-President of the Virginia Retail Merchants Association, Richmond; Janipher W. Robinson, a retired School Principal, Ashland; Edward E. Willey, Pharmacist and Proprietor of a Drug Store, and a member of the Senate of Virginia and of the Council, Richmond; and C. W. Woodson, Jr., formerly Superintendent of the Virginia State Police and now Corporate Security Officer for Miller & Rhoads Department Stores, Richmond.

The Committee met and organized. Mr. Pendleton was elected Vice-Chairman. The Division of Statutory Research and Drafting, represented by Wildman S. Kincheloe, Jr., served as staff for the Committee.