Our daughter is a Walmart undercover cop of sorts. She walks the floor pretending to shop or in an office watching the cameras. Her Walmart had an event where cops from several agencies attended and she still caught six shoplifters. Three American Indians and two college kids plead guilty in court, the sixth, a Canadian, plead innocent.
Pleading guilty got them a $250 fine and no police record. Pleading innocent gets a trial and if convicted it’s jail time. The Canadian’s theft was caught on video. The Cannuck is not too bright.
I suppose there is still a police record, like a speeding ticket. Second offence may go harder.
Municipality where I used to live basically had a cop camped out at the WalMart. They’d literally park the truck in the plaza between the two entrances, very visible, any they’d still bust tons of knuckleheads.
That store has since closed down, and it was in what is a pretty high end suburb.