This just doesn't make any kind of sense at all! Macy's hasn't done anything wrong, but has paid to defray the state's cost of examining complaints??? ..and from black and hispanic customers who said they were more often detained, questioned, searched and handcuffed than white customers??
How do they know they were detained, questioned, searched and handcuffed more often than white customers?
Macy's should tell the state if they need costs for idiocy to be defrayed then they better start charging an idiot tax to pay for it.
Don't know NY Law but personally I would not agree to be detained, questioned and certainly not handcuffed by a mall security guard. I would resist, forcefully should they try this on me. I would certianly do more than file a complaint after the fact. (It goes without saying I am not a shoplifter). If asked I'd probably give a smart answer. If detained forcibly I would certainly file both a civil lawsuit and ask the DA to prosecute them for illegal detainment or kidnapping or whatever.
Now if the people that Macy's were detaining were actual shoplifters, this is assinine. However if all they had was a suspicion, which then proved unfouded and they were detaining, searching and arresting innocents then they were wrong and Elliot (who I'm no fan of) did good.
Not enough info in the story to tell.
<< "The payment is designed to defray the state's costs of examining complaints from [Thieves] who said they were more often detained and questioned, searched and handcuffed than .... customers." >>
Where's the beef?