[alisasny]

I worked for American Greetings and the policy at that time was you can not even approach the suspected shoplifter until they actually left the entrance way to the store...and pretty much expect to be fired if you were wrong.

I also believe that most stealing was done by employees finding all new ways of stealing cash and bypassing security checks and management due to the ungreatful job of being in retail store management.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

I was replying to an earlier post of yours (#9). Next time I'll read the whole thread befotre posting- I see that several others made the same point.

[Chad Fairbanks]

When I worked as loss prevention for a major retail grocery chain, I worked the floor and the catwalks... I "profiled" customers and made my own decisions on who I needed to keep an eye on... but I digress...

The policy was simple, and the cops expected me to follow that policy. If I called them, and had failed to follow the policy, I could have been nailed for kidnapping or false arrest... the policy was pretty simple:

1. They select an item...

2. They conceal the item...

Once this occurs, you must maintain visual contact with that individual 100% of the time until they leave. If you don't, you could not stop them (they may have "dropped" it on another shelf when they were out of site...)...

3. Once they actually passed through the doors, the intent was clear and you could stop them...

The interesting part was, I had to be able to specify exactly what the item was, and where, exactly, they had concealed it.

I watched coworkers get nailed for violating this policy, and stopping people who didn't have anything on them, etc... I also busted two coworkers (security guys, no less) for stealing... I followed the policy to the letter, and I still had the highest success rate in my district...