I don't get up to the big city much.
But when I do , my big city, head on a swivel, spidy since kicks in.

I see stuff, three times in the last month I have seen people stealing stuff from stores.

All three times I did and said nothing to anyone.

All the stuff was under $20.00.

At my age with my energy level, I've decided that until I get to decide the punishment, it's totally up to the retailer.

I was in retail sales and service for 30 years so I know full well the detrimental effects thieves have on stuff.


Pinching petty thieves ain't going to solve anything.

What would your action be?

It certainly wouldn’t be appropriate to attempt a “citizen’s” arrest, even if it were legal for the crimes you seem to be describing, and that’s probably unlikely.

If I believed it might be appreciated, I might contact the management to tell them, “Do you know that people are stealing from you?” If they acted concerned and appreciative because, perhaps, they really didn’t know any details of what was happening, then it would have been worth your time and effort to be a good citizen who wants to help with the problem. On the other hand, if—as I would actually expect—it was, “Yeah, there’s really nothing we can do to stop it,” then I’d stop worrying about it myself.

These days you'd be the problem Not the petty criminal.

Our local Safeway remodeled so there's a "More Secure" area in the center of the store with limited access and dedicated cash registers.

It's a national problem and a shame.

I believe that many stores have corporate policies not to get involved. They don’t want liability.

Never confront a shop lifter. People have been murdered and brutally attacked for that and they often work in teams. At best inform a supervisor with the specifics.

The crap I see in the self check lines are incredible. 12 items or less, yet people with big carts full of expensive stuff and I am positive they are not checking out a lot of it as they are constantly shifting bags around. I look around and none of the employees I see are paying attention but security might be watching on cameras. More recently they have at least some people watching the self checkout areas. "Shrink" caused by the theft problems is a big part of the reason we still seeing big price increases still at local retailers.

My buddy is in his late 60s, has some health issues, and carries concealed. He witnessed a teen shoplifting in CVS, chased the turd into the parking lot, tackled him, and held them until the police arrived. Of course, this was rural Texas (i.e. not one of Texas' 5 retarded counties) so the police were supportive, so was the store, and so was the district attorney.

I still think he should not have gotten involved as the turd could've had a knife or gun. On top of that, my buddy only has one good kidney and shouldn't take risks that could injure the good kidney.

I'd give the OP the same advice I gave my buddy. Highest level of involvement in shoplifting should be notifying manager or store security.

Leave it up to the store to deal with it. You can notify their management and if they have Loss Prevention working in the store, they will watch them and if they see a theft for themselves then they will try to catch the person. Don’t be mad if you see the suspect leave not apprehended as they should not stop a suspected shoplifter on the word of a customer, they need to see the theft for themselves to avoid lawsuits.

When I was young and dumb in my 20’s I worked Loss Prevention in some bad areas and we would do what it took to apprehend the thief. At times that was fighting and foot chasing the suspect. Even back then, we had people pull guns and knives on us and it turned into a fight for our life to get them cuffed. No way in hell would I do that today with the way the world is. I ended up working my way up to the director of Loss Prevention for a major national retailer before I changed fields to work in the public sector doing what I do now. In loss prevention there are major organized crime groups that go stealing up to $50K in merchandise a day to resell at 25 cents on the dollar. If people knew how many organized retail theft groups operate out there it would blow their mind. It is a crime many normal patrol officers just see as shoplifting and don’t understand the organized crime aspect behind it so it ends up being a high reward low risk crime for these criminals. We saw many drug dealers turn to organized shoplifting because they could make more money and there was not much risk if caught.

On some groups we busted we ended up solving murders from evidence found in the homes of the thieves; those are the people you are dealing with. Myself and about four other people got laws created and passed in Texas that established current Organized Retail Theft laws in the Texas Penal Code to make the punishments harsher. Even after being out of the private sector, I was once in my grocery store and saw a guy with a basket filled to the top with briskets. I knew exactly what was about to happen. I notified the store and followed him out to get his license plate number once he pushed the cart out without paying for the meat. I did identify myself as law enforcement and showed my badge when he was at his car, but he didn’t care and jumped in it and tried to run me over. I got out of the way and took a ton of pictures of him, his car, and his plates. Turned out he was responsible for stealing well over $100K in meats from local stores and no one was ever able to identify him until my pictures. He is now sitting in prison where he belongs. It didn’t even go to trial as he plead guilty due to the evidence. Even in that situation, I should not have tried to stop him and should have simply taken the pictures of him and his car. Not worth getting killed for a corporation’s merchandise. It can be replaced, people can’t.

One of the things stressed in a CCW class was, “Is it worth dying or losing your freedom over?” If someone is threatening you or your family, that is a pretty easy answer. It is worth considering that while “That absolutely isn’t right!” and “They shouldn’t get away with that.”, “Is it your problem?”, and “What is it worth you risking to solve that problem?”

Yes, evil succeed not because of bad men, but because of otherwise good men who do nothing, but before jumping in, at least consider what you are risking. If your primary job is to provide for and protect your family, dying or going to prison stopping some dirtbag makes it kind of hard to do your primary job.

I’m not saying never get involved, only to consider the risks and make sure it is worth it.

You’re not “part of the greater problem”. That problem has been around long before any of us were born, and it will still be around long after we’re six feet under.

Remember, no good deed goes unpunished.
.

Me getting physically involved as a customer? No.

Me getting physically involved as an employee? Probably not.

In either case, do you know that the business owner/corporation will give you legal representation either in civil or criminal court if the defendant brings suit against you for wrongful detainment, personal injury or anything else? Will that owner/corporation cover your loss of income, medical bills, support your family if you are injured or killed defending his property?

I’d tell management. Just like if I’m going to use a cart to get my purchases out to my car I take one out of the corral in the parking lot. Shrinkage and cart retrieval are added into the price you pay for your items. NOTHING is free.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
I don't get up to the big city much.
But when I do , my big city, head on a swivel, spidy since kicks in.

I see stuff, three times in the last month I have seen people stealing stuff from stores.

All three times I did and said nothing to anyone.

All the stuff was under $20.00.

At my age with my energy level, I've decided that until I get to decide the punishment, it's totally up to the retailer.

I was in retail sales and service for 30 years so I know full well the detrimental effects thieves have on stuff.


Pinching petty thieves ain't going to solve anything.

Shoot 'em so they don't graduate to grand larceny.

quote:

Originally posted by sonnydaze:

Shoot 'em so they don't graduate to grand larceny.

Or worse yet, they might remove mattress tags.

quote:

I see stuff, three times in the last month I have seen people stealing stuff from stores.

All three times I did and said nothing to anyone.

That's not a failure on your part, it's the system. More precisely, the way our society has evolved. Even if you notified a manager or a loss prevention person, they wouldn't - and in fact couldn't - do anything, partly because they have to have personally seen it. If you tried to intervene yourself, it would very likely get you in more trouble - legal or physical harm - than the shoplifter. In the case of these flash mobs looting stores, it is unfortunately illegal to blow them away with shotguns and hang the carcasses over the door as a warning to others. So there's nothing you can do.

Take some comfort in the fact that you have the self-awareness and caring to ask the question.

This resembles the broken windows theory of Mayor Giuliani.

The store knows they're stealing. The same people often steal from the same store over and over again.

I saw a car stop and idle outside the CVS door. Four people got out. A kid, about 8, stayed inside the store near the door. The three other went deeper inside. A couple minutes later everybody ran out to the waiting car. Three had arms full of loot. The 8 yr old doesn't have a chance.