[TriLUG] shoplifting - Re: [WAY OT] security goons at TigerDirect in Raleigh: "No, thanks!"

[Jeremy Portzer]

Magnus wrote:
> Brian Henning wrote:
>> Wouldn't setting off the alarm then give them "probable cause" to legally
>> detain you? 
> 
> That varies from state to state.  I'm not sure about NC.  In many
> states, they have to actually SEE you conceal their merchandise in your
> clothes/handbag/whatever and still can't detain you until you try to
> walk out of the store with it.

When I worked at a grocery store, the rules to detain someone were very 
specific, a four-step process:

1) Observe the subject select the merchandise from the shelf 
[otherwise, maybe they brought it in with them]
2) Observe them conceal the merchandise
3) Keep your sight on the person *continuously*, either in person or via 
surveillance camera, after the merchandise was concealed.    This was 
the hardest part because the cameras didn't have 100% coverage.  Usually 
the only way to do this was in person, so our "loss prevention" 
specialists would walk around the store, hopefully stealthily, in hopes 
of catching someone at step 1 and following them through step 4.  If you 
lost sight of them, even for one moment, you might not see if they 
discarded the concealed merchandise.
4) Observe the subject pass the cash registers, and give them ample 
opportunity to pay for the merchandise.  In practice, this means we 
wouldn't detain people until they stepped across the threshold of the 
door and were clearly on their way out.

Only those who had attended a training class, which included certain 
personal defense and "detaining" physical moves, were allowed to 
physically detain someone.

This standard for detecting shoplifting is a lot different that the 
receipt-checking business, which as someone pointed out, is mainly to 
prevent certain types of scams - namely, finding a receipt in the 
parking lot, selecting the same item in the store, and then walking out 
with it as if you'd purchased the item.

And yes, employee theft was a large percentage of our "shrink" - in our 
case, it was estimated at 30-40% (grocery stores are a bit higher target 
for run-of-the-mill shoplifters).

--Jeremy