Daughter works in a store where shoplifting is simply allowed. One guy announced on walking in that he was going to take things. The store won’t allow the employees to do anything and the police don’t do anything unless it’s armed robbery or a very high dollar amount
Stores are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. If they stop the shoplifters the police come and write them a ticket and nothing happens.
If they stop the shoplifters and they fight (same problem the cops have) the thief or an employee gets hurt. If the employee gets hurt the business pays far more for that than the “merchandise” was worth. If the thief gets hurt they sue the store and it cost them far more than the “merchandise” was worth.
IF they successfully detain the thief for the cops nothing happens AND the way the court system is set up they will then have to pay for the employee (a witness to a crime against them) to be available to go to court as required and even if they “win” the court case no punishment occurs because of our liberal attitude towards “petty theft”.
There are two solutions as I see it for retail stores - raise prices to cover the ever-increasing losses (far beyond what they can write off with Uncle Sugar) OR close the store and focus on stores that show a profit with minimal loss.
We are beginning to see both happen.