Posted on 01/12/2010 11:37:50 AM PST by greatdefender
I read they are trying to catch employee theft more than customer shoplifting. The way the scam works is a cashier rings up a friend's cart but neglects to ring up the big screen TV or computer. The receipt checkers are there to counter this hard to catch employee theft.
I stopped reading after that moronic statement.
You're just full of crap and dripping it all over this forum.
So calling Republic of Texas a Liberal is your way of promoting a substantive argument? It looks like you are guilty of name calling on top of straw man arguments.
It is pretty common for LEO wannabees to work in Retail Loss Prevention while going to College and/or academies. Gosh “didn’t cut muster in retail?” What’s that supposed to mean. That was just something I did until I was done with school and got a job that included going around town in a real black & white Ford Crown Victoria with a couple flashing lights on top and a cool box that made loud oscilating noises. Oh I was also issued a few cool sets of clothing that were a little more official than a Wally World vest. About ten years ago I turned my part-time hobby as a Volunteer Firefighter into my chosen career as a full-time Firefighter/EMT. Now I drive around in a big red truck with a noisemaker and flashy thingees. I have no regrets about my career path and choices, it has been very rewarding. Every job I’ve had I managed to leave on good terms and get great letters of recomendation. My comments on this string have been based on my schooling and experience not typical layman’s “I know the law” water cooler gossip. The bottom line that I’m trying to impress upon everybody is that you are responsible for your own safety and well being. You are not required to submit to searches and seizures without due process. The customer at Wal-Mart may well have been a crook, the greeter may have been a hot-head. That is all irrelevant to the underlying fact that all too many people will take a knee to any company rule or supposed official that asks. Letting a greeter go through your bags and showing deference when it is obvious that you just paid for it is showing the same subservient mind-set as a POTUS bowing to a foreign King. It should never happen and it shouldn’t be expected.
On an aside I just watched the video...
That Jack Hole (customer) should not have gone back into the store. His excuse about the liscence plate is bunk. The plate is owned by the State and is public domain. Obviously he had something to hide.
While outside the greeter was well within his right to look from a distance, observe and report. Once inside it’s a bit harder to tell what happened. My gut says the customer took hostile action first by stealing the clip board. At that point if the greeter felt threatened he was justified in using force.
You lost all credibility when you said that a customer could feel threatened enough by a wally world greeter who was taking down his license plate that the customer could be justified in using deadly force.
Methinks my credibility is still intact until you provide documentation that you have been duly empowered by the State to carry out the duties of Credibility Police and enforce the Laws of Credibilty thereof.
Your statements have shown that you have not understood my posts, misquoted and misinterpreted. It is my opinion that you have allowed your emotions to cloud your judgment in this matter.
As evidence to this I would submit the “badass” comment, the “full of crap” comment, the “newbie” comment, the “couldn’t cut the muster” comment. I will give myself a pat on the back and submit that I have been professional and congenial throughout this thread. I cannot say that the same treatment has been given me by some of the others following this thread
Once your blood pressure has gone down you may wish to go back to the beginning of the thread and read them through. You will probably find that we agree more than you realize.
Good Day/Night.
We’re laughing. But not with you.
Proving your first analysis was out of ignorance.
I'm still waiting for you to tell me where one is can use deadly force against a store employee who follows you out to write down your license plate number.
No, not at all. Florida law is quite specific that activation of an exit alarm or even a video tape showing suspicious activity IS probable cause for detention by an employee. See earlier thread on this story where it is quoted.
You would think so, but you are wrong in Florida and that is where this happened.
Florida Statute 812.015
(3)(a) A law enforcement officer, a merchant, a farmer, or a transit agency's employee or agent, who has probable cause to believe that a retail theft, farm theft, a transit fare evasion, or trespass, or unlawful use or attempted use of any antishoplifting or inventory control device countermeasure, has been committed by a person and, in the case of retail or farm theft, that the property can be recovered by taking the offender into custody may, for the purpose of attempting to effect such recovery or for prosecution, take the offender into custody and detain the offender in a reasonable manner for a reasonable length of time. In the case of a farmer, taking into custody shall be effectuated only on property owned or leased by the farmer. In the event the merchant, merchant's employee, farmer, or a transit agency's employee or agent takes the person into custody, a law enforcement officer shall be called to the scene immediately after the person has been taken into custody.You have to do it right, promptly call the police, etc., but your main assertion is that you cannot be held by an employee and the law says the opposite.(b) The activation of an antishoplifting or inventory control device as a result of a person exiting an establishment or a protected area within an establishment shall constitute reasonable cause for the detention of the person so exiting by the owner or operator of the establishment or by an agent or employee of the owner or operator, provided sufficient notice has been posted to advise the patrons that such a device is being utilized. Each such detention shall be made only in a reasonable manner and only for a reasonable period of time sufficient for any inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the activation of the device.
(c) The taking into custody and detention by a law enforcement officer, merchant, merchant's employee, farmer, or a transit agency's employee or agent, if done in compliance with all the requirements of this subsection, shall not render such law enforcement officer, merchant, merchant's employee, farmer, or a transit agency's employee or agent, criminally or civilly liable for false arrest, false imprisonment, or unlawful detention.
Okay point taken. I thought maybe I should have thrown a disclaimer out there that I have always worked in Michigan and other States may be different. I also neglected to mention that I’ve been out of the Law Enforcement business for 10 years so things may have changed.
I don’t think he was correct in anything except admitting to being a wannabe LEO loss prevention agent.
“On Dec. 26, a customer in red shorts set off an alarm while leaving the store. Bauman followed the man ...”
And the greeter gets fired. WalMart might not have had a choice due to weenie/nanny regulations ensconced in insurance policies.
Most service businesses tell you, “We can always make more money, but we can never make another Bauman.”
I worked in a restaurant chain where we were required to take every threat seriously. One lady drove from restaurant to restaurant for over a week with nothing but a bomb threat letter. Cashiers emptied their registers over half a dozen times until finally one manager called her bluff and had her boxed in at the drive thru until the police arrived.
It’s just like our old policy with sky-jackers. “Do what they say.” At some point, you have to fight back.
Following a criminal to write down a plate number is not a crime. Defending oneself from attack is not a crime either. But I do understand concerns about employee safety.
The customer..”accused Bauman of using a SLUR against him.” Ah ha! NOW it begins to make sense! I’ll take a wild guess and say Bauman is white.
What name did I call you again?
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