Some of you are justifying the employees actions based on an assumption that there was a theft. As I read the article there was no theft, merely an alarm going off. It is a proven fact that 99% of these entry way alarms are false and therefore cannot be used as probable cause for a civilian to effect a stop.
They may ask for permission to search but if denied they have no further recourse. Now play Devil’s advocate and ask yourself if you walked out of a store, any store, and were followed out to your vehicle how would you feel? How would you react?
In many places you would be justified to use deadly force as soon as you feel threatened and when in a place where you have legal rights to be. It is absolutely foolish for any (minimum wage) employee to follow a customer into a parking lot (where he/she has a legal right to be) and engage in what could be construed as aggressive behavior based on an electronic tag/beeper that a cashier neglected to deactivate.
On another note ask yourself this, how would your parents/grandparents have reacted 40 years ago if they were stopped whenver they left a store to check their cart and receipt to make sure they weren’t thieves. I have a strong hunch that they would not have accepted being treated as shoplifters on a regular basis, without provocation and would have refused further patronage. Yet nowadays I see people consistently stopped while leaving stores so that a “Greeter” can go through their cart and check receipts. This is absolute foolishness (harassment in my opinion) since the customer just came through the cash register!
I for one refuse to stop for a civilian when leaving a store if the exit beeper goes off. When they ask me to stop I simply ask if they are a law enforcement officer. When they answer no I just keep walking to my car as I do not wish to be inconvenienced nor will I submit to an unwarranted search of my person or property. I am a citizen with rights, not a sheeple! All of you people that regularly stop and let “Greeters” go through your purchases should ask yourself are you a sheeple?
Your thoughts are well explained and accurate. But I side with the Walmart employee. If I was a greeter and went to check a tag of a supposed criminal and got punched. Its game on! Someones gonna get hurt and I shouldn’t lose my livelyhood(sp?) Because I got assaulted in the parking lot by some douchebag because I’m carrying out my duties as an employee.
Everything you said is true. But your rights don’t include punching the guy. End of story.
Threatened by a uniformed store employee? Exactly where would this justify deadly force for someone following a customer out to his car to get his license plate number? Where? What state?
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.
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.