This happened about 2 years ago while working for a specialty retailer in a newer shopping center in a downtown metropolis. This retailer did not place cameras in their stores as a rule, however due to this store's location, we had a fully functional and pretty decent camera system. We also worked in two-man teams at this location. When this shopping center first opened, I was working for a big-box retailer in the same shopping center. In the first 6 months we were open, we brought successful resolution to 45 internal cases that were worth over $35,000 collectively and apprehended close to 200 shoplifters. I saw some incredibly disturbing things while working in this city. There was the bathroom completely and inexplicably covered in blood (and I mean like wall to wall, floor to ceiling). There was the abandoned child in the children's department (we never did find the mother.) And there were many many other just truly disturbing stories, but the main purpose of this blog is to entertain and not to give you nightmares. And so I give you this story...
My co-worker and I, we'll call him J, had just started the shift and J decided to run out to the Starbucks to grab us some coffee. We knew that things would be slow for a while and with the camera system, it was a pretty comfortable gig when we worked this store. Shortly after he stepped out, a young girl caught my eye. She was pushing a baby stroller and kept looking up toward the ceiling- usually a telltale sign of a shoplifter. I zoomed in on her to check the contents of the baby stroller, just to make sure there was actually a baby inside. I once got "burned" by a woman who walked out with close to $1,000 in her stroller because there had been no baby in the stroller and I thought that there was no way a woman with a baby would be stealing (I was new and naive.)
After checking the stroller and seeing that there was, indeed, a baby in the stroller I continued to observe the mother's behavior. I noticed that she kept messing around with her waistband of her pants while looking up toward the ceiling. She was acting as though she was concealing merchandise down the front of her pants, but I hadn't seen her select anything and was fairly certain that she hadn't picked anything up before I started watching her. As I zoomed in further, I noticed that she had her hand completely down the front of her pants and was sort of raising one leg as if to get down in there deeper. Just then, J came walking back into the office. He looked at the monitor and asked what I was watching. I told him I had no idea but this girl was digging at her crotch for reasons unknown to me. Just then, she withdrew her hand from her pants and J and I practically ran out of the office screaming at the horror of what we were witnessing. As this nasty piece of trash hood rat took her hand out of her pants, it was covered in what we could only assume was menstrual blood. And then things went from really bad to extremely worse...
She looked around to see if anyone was watching and then slowly brought her bloody hand up to her face and then... she fucking sniffed her hand. Not once... but twice. She didn't recoil at what I can only imagine was the most foul-smelling thing on Earth... no... instead, she fucking wiped her hand on the nearest sweater. Up until about 5 seconds prior, it had been a nice white cotton sweater. Now, it was a $30 tampon.
And then she did the whole thing all over again.
And then she tried to leave the store.
She didn't make it very far. She was stopped before leaving and apprehended for criminal damage of store property.
When the police arrived, we had to show them the video. After seeing what she had done, he simply turned to her and asked, "what the fuck is wrong with you?!" The girl had no explanation at all. Normally, the police in this city would have just cited-and-released her but this day, for some reason, they felt it necessary to take her to jail after releasing her child to a family member.
They should have charged her with felony stupid as well.
What a nasty bitch.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
The Wonderful Tale of "Ketchup and Mustard"
I'm certainly not going to offer any insight as to how exactly LP works, or give any tips to shoplifters so that they can circumvent our techniques. However- this one piece of advice should be total common sense.
If you're going to shoplift- it would probably be best to wear something discreet that doesn't attract a lot of attention.
At this point in time, I'm working for yet another retailer for which I covered 5 of their stores. None of these stores had cameras in them forcing me to have to work the sales floor all day. I'm at one such store when in walk "Ketchup" and "Mustard." I call them this solely based on the manner in which they were dressed. "Ketchup" was wearing a bright red jogging suit, red knit cap, and the shiniest red tennis shoes I've ever seen. All of this attire was accompanied by a bright red leather purse. "Mustard" was wearing the EXACT same thing, only in yellow. For a brief moment I thought to myself, "these bitches can't honestly be stupid enough to wear this to come shoplifting." I thought this right before I observed Mustard select a pair of jeans, remove the sensor tag, and then hand them to Ketchup who then concealed them into her purse. As they went to leave, they were apprehended without incident. Okay, so this isn't the crime of the century, but it was a good, clean, and prosecutable stop. On the way back to the office, accompanied by two store managers, Ketchup kept asking me if she was going to jail. I said what I had to say to keep her calm and to get her in the office (but I do not lie.) Just as we're about to enter the office, Ketchup unzips her purse and dumps the jeans into a trash can near the office door... in plain view of me, the managers, and several other associates standing in the area. And then she says, "I ain't got shit." As if by dumping the merchandise into the trash can alleviates her of all responsibility. I just looked at her and said, "okay, you stick with that, now come in and sit down." Mustard just kept saying, "I'll see your ass in court. I didn't do nothing. I ain't got nothing, I ain't did nothing." I very fruitlessly attempted to explain the concept of complicity and that it carried the same penalties as committing the actual theft act. Her response was, "Motherfucker don't use words I can't understand! I ain't do shit."
A short time later the police showed up and took them both to jail; the whole time while Mustard kept screaming that she "ain't do shit."
Apparently the police didn't agree.
A quick search for the two of these women, both in the company database, and in online court dockets revealed that not only had we caught both of these subjects more than a handful of times in the past several years, but they each had no fewer than 25 shoplifting convictions.
Ketchup and Mustard are stupid condiments. I prefer mayo and relish.
If you're going to shoplift- it would probably be best to wear something discreet that doesn't attract a lot of attention.
The next two subjects did not adhere to this advice and, in fact, appear to have gone the exact opposite route.
At this point in time, I'm working for yet another retailer for which I covered 5 of their stores. None of these stores had cameras in them forcing me to have to work the sales floor all day. I'm at one such store when in walk "Ketchup" and "Mustard." I call them this solely based on the manner in which they were dressed. "Ketchup" was wearing a bright red jogging suit, red knit cap, and the shiniest red tennis shoes I've ever seen. All of this attire was accompanied by a bright red leather purse. "Mustard" was wearing the EXACT same thing, only in yellow. For a brief moment I thought to myself, "these bitches can't honestly be stupid enough to wear this to come shoplifting." I thought this right before I observed Mustard select a pair of jeans, remove the sensor tag, and then hand them to Ketchup who then concealed them into her purse. As they went to leave, they were apprehended without incident. Okay, so this isn't the crime of the century, but it was a good, clean, and prosecutable stop. On the way back to the office, accompanied by two store managers, Ketchup kept asking me if she was going to jail. I said what I had to say to keep her calm and to get her in the office (but I do not lie.) Just as we're about to enter the office, Ketchup unzips her purse and dumps the jeans into a trash can near the office door... in plain view of me, the managers, and several other associates standing in the area. And then she says, "I ain't got shit." As if by dumping the merchandise into the trash can alleviates her of all responsibility. I just looked at her and said, "okay, you stick with that, now come in and sit down." Mustard just kept saying, "I'll see your ass in court. I didn't do nothing. I ain't got nothing, I ain't did nothing." I very fruitlessly attempted to explain the concept of complicity and that it carried the same penalties as committing the actual theft act. Her response was, "Motherfucker don't use words I can't understand! I ain't do shit."
A short time later the police showed up and took them both to jail; the whole time while Mustard kept screaming that she "ain't do shit."
Apparently the police didn't agree.
A quick search for the two of these women, both in the company database, and in online court dockets revealed that not only had we caught both of these subjects more than a handful of times in the past several years, but they each had no fewer than 25 shoplifting convictions.
Ketchup and Mustard are stupid condiments. I prefer mayo and relish.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Absolutely the Dumbest Shoplifter Ever... Ever
This little anecdote also comes from the store I worked for where I caught the wanted murderer. We've all encountered dumb shoplifters. I mean, take-the-cake stupid. I once had a girl conceal $250 worth of clothing, tags, hangers, and all, into a backpack in the middle of a main aisle in the most shopped department in the store. Even she doesn't hold a candle to this guy I'm about to tell you about.
Some of the surrounding stores had been reporting losses in dietary aides (Alli, Hydroxicut, etc.) in rather large quantities. One of the stores had been able to identify the subject by reviewing video and had sent photos out to the other stores. The night before this incident, I had installed a covert camera directly above the products this guy was known to target. The next day, at around 4:30 pm, I noticed a gentleman standing directly below my camera. On previous occasions, the subject had never worn a ball cap, but today, the guy standing below my camera was wearing a hat making it impossible for me to identify the subject with the camera shot. I had to hit the floor.
I'll interrupt the story telling for a minute for a little side note. We've all been busted or "burned" by the people we were watching a time or two. No one that's been in loss prevention for more than a year can tell me they've never been burned by someone. It happens to the best of us, but the truly great among us will find the most interesting and creative ways to take the "burn" situation and turn it to their advantage. I was neither great, nor very good at this point in my career, but the stupidity of this subject definitely worked to my advantage... read on.
When I reached the health and beauty aisle where the subject had been, I couldn't find him. Thinking that he had already made his selections and was on his way out the door, I became slightly frantic. How cool would it be for me to be the one that catches this guy? So as I'm almost running from aisle to aisle looking for this dude, I damn near run directly into him. He gives me this stunned look and I reciprocate. It takes me all of a millisecond to realize that this was definitely the right guy. And in his hands were 8 bottles of Alli. My mind was racing a mile a minute. I wanted to salvage the situation, but had sort of already resigned myself to the fact that this was going to turn into a merchandise recovery at best and the guy was going to get away from me. I thought I was hopelessly busted. The only thing I had working to my advantage was the way in which I was dressed. I'm a rather clean cut white guy. At the time I was still in the military and usually kept my face clean shaven and my hair in a high-and-tight. Working where I worked, I had to balance the clean cut persona with a particular style of dress. My face and hair screamed "cop" but my clothing and exposed tattoos screamed "thug." The below conversation is not a word-for-word exact quote of what was said. There was a lot of street talk and "industry lingo" most of which I didn't even understand, but to keep things simple and easy to understand, I've simplified it a little.
-"Dude, why you watching me?" said the subject
-"What the fuck you talking about man? Why you watching me?"
He didn't respond right away, but rather just stared at me sizing me up and down. I had to either act quick to dispel any suspicions, or just come clean and get the guy out of the store. I chose to do the first.
-"Man, yeah, I was watching you. I was hoping you'd fuck up and get caught so I can do what I gotta do," I said.
-"Well fuck that, I ain't getting caught and neither are you. Fuck this place. I've done this shit so many times and ain't never got caught. You do what you gotta do, I'll do what I gotta do. Meet me by my car when you get outside, I parked across the street- silver Tahoe. I got some shit for you to see."
I absolutely could not believe that this guy bought my act. My mind was still racing a mile a minute. I called a friend of mine who was a detective for the local police department and told him what I had going on. I told him that a known "booster" was in the store and I had sold myself as another booster. I told him that the guy was getting ready to boost close to $500 in dietary aides and that he wanted to show me something in his car- most likely more stolen products. The company I worked for labeled their products in such a way that when law enforcement did raids or stings, our product could be easily identified among the others. Within about 3o seconds we had an impromptu sting set up and ready to go. I was told to be safe and that I didn't have to participate. I stated I wanted nothing more than to bust this guy. I was told that a team would be there within 5 minutes and that detective would text me when they were set up. He told me that I would be under close surveillance the moment I stepped out of the store and that when I got to the car, if I felt I was in danger to just take my ball cap off and they would come in. He told me that if I observed stolen product in the car, I should turn my ball cap backward and they would also come in. The ball cap was the key and I hoped I didn't screw it up.
The entire time, I kept the subject under surveillance. I observed him conceal the pills. I was orchestrating everything from behind the scenes. I told the uniformed security people to leave him alone and to stay away. Any time an employee got close to him, I'd radio someone to move them away. I was making this way too easy for him. I was taking a big chance because in order for the sting to work, I had to let the guy exit the building and get to his car. There was nothing keeping him from waiting for me. I could only hope that if the guy took off, the police would cooperate in assisting me with a smaller bust when they were geared up and ready to go for something much bigger.
The subject left the store with a big smile on his face. About 10 seconds later I received the text from the detective that they were ready to go. I had no idea how many people he brought or what was about happen. I was working alone that day and the uniformed security company was a private company that was not allowed to utilize our camera system. I briefly touched base with the store manager and informed him of what I was getting involved in. I asked that he take over the cameras and get as much of this thing recorded as possible. I also told him I'd be "stealing" several products to make it all look good. I grabbed my stuff and headed out the door. The guy was sitting in his car and joyfully hopped out when he saw me coming. He asked to see what I got and I showed him. He gave me a "fist-bump" and got to small talking. He told me he did this "just to do it" (it was later learned that he had a major coke and heroin problem that he stole to support.) Then his eyes got real glassy and he got real serious and he said, "man let me show you this shit. I been busy."
We went to his trunk and when it opened, I was so amazed I almost forgot to turn my hat. In it, he had about six cardboard boxes just completely full of every weight loss product and dietary aide on the market. 8 large bottles of Alli are worth about $500. He had much much more than that. I stood there in amazement and then slowly turned my hat. Before I even had it completely backwards, you could hear the horns, sirens, and tires squealing. This guy couldn't wrap his head around what was happening. How did some random booster he ran into in the store turn into him getting busted? The cops piled out of their cars, probably 9 or 10 of them, and ordered us both to the ground at gun point. I was told this would happen just to make it look good. We both got handcuffed and placed in the back of separate cruisers. Within an hour, the car had been searched and inventoried. The suspect was taken to jail. And I was in the office making a shit load of phone calls and doing an endless amount of paper work. In total, half of the guy's stash belonged to my company. The other half was from various other retailers and drug stores. The total of recovered merchandise from my company was just over $9,000.
The guy wound up cutting a deal with authorities. In exchange for a lighter sentence and rehab, the guy gave up the guy who bought his product, and the person he bought his drugs from. Within the week, they were both in jail as well.
What a dumbass.
Some of the surrounding stores had been reporting losses in dietary aides (Alli, Hydroxicut, etc.) in rather large quantities. One of the stores had been able to identify the subject by reviewing video and had sent photos out to the other stores. The night before this incident, I had installed a covert camera directly above the products this guy was known to target. The next day, at around 4:30 pm, I noticed a gentleman standing directly below my camera. On previous occasions, the subject had never worn a ball cap, but today, the guy standing below my camera was wearing a hat making it impossible for me to identify the subject with the camera shot. I had to hit the floor.
I'll interrupt the story telling for a minute for a little side note. We've all been busted or "burned" by the people we were watching a time or two. No one that's been in loss prevention for more than a year can tell me they've never been burned by someone. It happens to the best of us, but the truly great among us will find the most interesting and creative ways to take the "burn" situation and turn it to their advantage. I was neither great, nor very good at this point in my career, but the stupidity of this subject definitely worked to my advantage... read on.
When I reached the health and beauty aisle where the subject had been, I couldn't find him. Thinking that he had already made his selections and was on his way out the door, I became slightly frantic. How cool would it be for me to be the one that catches this guy? So as I'm almost running from aisle to aisle looking for this dude, I damn near run directly into him. He gives me this stunned look and I reciprocate. It takes me all of a millisecond to realize that this was definitely the right guy. And in his hands were 8 bottles of Alli. My mind was racing a mile a minute. I wanted to salvage the situation, but had sort of already resigned myself to the fact that this was going to turn into a merchandise recovery at best and the guy was going to get away from me. I thought I was hopelessly busted. The only thing I had working to my advantage was the way in which I was dressed. I'm a rather clean cut white guy. At the time I was still in the military and usually kept my face clean shaven and my hair in a high-and-tight. Working where I worked, I had to balance the clean cut persona with a particular style of dress. My face and hair screamed "cop" but my clothing and exposed tattoos screamed "thug." The below conversation is not a word-for-word exact quote of what was said. There was a lot of street talk and "industry lingo" most of which I didn't even understand, but to keep things simple and easy to understand, I've simplified it a little.
-"Dude, why you watching me?" said the subject
-"What the fuck you talking about man? Why you watching me?"
He didn't respond right away, but rather just stared at me sizing me up and down. I had to either act quick to dispel any suspicions, or just come clean and get the guy out of the store. I chose to do the first.
-"Man, yeah, I was watching you. I was hoping you'd fuck up and get caught so I can do what I gotta do," I said.
-"Well fuck that, I ain't getting caught and neither are you. Fuck this place. I've done this shit so many times and ain't never got caught. You do what you gotta do, I'll do what I gotta do. Meet me by my car when you get outside, I parked across the street- silver Tahoe. I got some shit for you to see."
I absolutely could not believe that this guy bought my act. My mind was still racing a mile a minute. I called a friend of mine who was a detective for the local police department and told him what I had going on. I told him that a known "booster" was in the store and I had sold myself as another booster. I told him that the guy was getting ready to boost close to $500 in dietary aides and that he wanted to show me something in his car- most likely more stolen products. The company I worked for labeled their products in such a way that when law enforcement did raids or stings, our product could be easily identified among the others. Within about 3o seconds we had an impromptu sting set up and ready to go. I was told to be safe and that I didn't have to participate. I stated I wanted nothing more than to bust this guy. I was told that a team would be there within 5 minutes and that detective would text me when they were set up. He told me that I would be under close surveillance the moment I stepped out of the store and that when I got to the car, if I felt I was in danger to just take my ball cap off and they would come in. He told me that if I observed stolen product in the car, I should turn my ball cap backward and they would also come in. The ball cap was the key and I hoped I didn't screw it up.
The entire time, I kept the subject under surveillance. I observed him conceal the pills. I was orchestrating everything from behind the scenes. I told the uniformed security people to leave him alone and to stay away. Any time an employee got close to him, I'd radio someone to move them away. I was making this way too easy for him. I was taking a big chance because in order for the sting to work, I had to let the guy exit the building and get to his car. There was nothing keeping him from waiting for me. I could only hope that if the guy took off, the police would cooperate in assisting me with a smaller bust when they were geared up and ready to go for something much bigger.
The subject left the store with a big smile on his face. About 10 seconds later I received the text from the detective that they were ready to go. I had no idea how many people he brought or what was about happen. I was working alone that day and the uniformed security company was a private company that was not allowed to utilize our camera system. I briefly touched base with the store manager and informed him of what I was getting involved in. I asked that he take over the cameras and get as much of this thing recorded as possible. I also told him I'd be "stealing" several products to make it all look good. I grabbed my stuff and headed out the door. The guy was sitting in his car and joyfully hopped out when he saw me coming. He asked to see what I got and I showed him. He gave me a "fist-bump" and got to small talking. He told me he did this "just to do it" (it was later learned that he had a major coke and heroin problem that he stole to support.) Then his eyes got real glassy and he got real serious and he said, "man let me show you this shit. I been busy."
We went to his trunk and when it opened, I was so amazed I almost forgot to turn my hat. In it, he had about six cardboard boxes just completely full of every weight loss product and dietary aide on the market. 8 large bottles of Alli are worth about $500. He had much much more than that. I stood there in amazement and then slowly turned my hat. Before I even had it completely backwards, you could hear the horns, sirens, and tires squealing. This guy couldn't wrap his head around what was happening. How did some random booster he ran into in the store turn into him getting busted? The cops piled out of their cars, probably 9 or 10 of them, and ordered us both to the ground at gun point. I was told this would happen just to make it look good. We both got handcuffed and placed in the back of separate cruisers. Within an hour, the car had been searched and inventoried. The suspect was taken to jail. And I was in the office making a shit load of phone calls and doing an endless amount of paper work. In total, half of the guy's stash belonged to my company. The other half was from various other retailers and drug stores. The total of recovered merchandise from my company was just over $9,000.
The guy wound up cutting a deal with authorities. In exchange for a lighter sentence and rehab, the guy gave up the guy who bought his product, and the person he bought his drugs from. Within the week, they were both in jail as well.
What a dumbass.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The Scariest Stop Ever
Some time after the incident with the sex offender, I was working for a different company in a very large city. I was utilizing the camera system to scan the floor on a relatively slow day. Customer traffic was light. It was a very warm summer day and was just beautiful outside. As I was observing customer behavior, one particular guy kept drawing my attention. He wasn't doing anything particularly suspicious, but there was just something about him. Anyone who works, or has ever worked in this field knows what I'm talking about. Your stomach sinks just a little and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I continued to observe him for about 5 more minutes when, sure enough, he grabs a CD and sticks it in his waist band. This excited me and threw me off a little, all at the same time. This was a clean cut and relatively well dressed male in his late 30's. Why is he stealing one CD? It didn't make any sense. He begins walking toward the front of the store without a care in the world. Most of the time, a shoplifter will act very nervous and will constantly be looking around to see if they're being followed. They'll hesitate right before they exit and look to see if there's anyone that looks like they might be security standing near the front, or outside, waiting to stop them. This guy just didn't give a shit. He walked right through the exit and was as polite and respectful as someone can possibly be when I stopped him.
-"Sir, I'm with store security and I just need you to step back inside the store with me for a few minutes so we can talk about the CD. It's not a big deal at all, I just need to get the merchandise and get some information from you. I'll have you out of here as quick as possible."
-"Yes sir, I'm sorry. I understand- it's not a problem. I don't know what I was thinking. I won't give you any trouble at all."
This was an older gentleman (than me) calling me "sir" and was definitely not something I was used to. In the office, he was very respectful, upbeat, and even slightly humorous. The only thing that made me nervous about him at all was that he absolutely refused to tell me who he was. Under normal circumstances, for only 1 CD, we would have trespassed him from the store and released him without getting police involved. But standard practice was to contact police in every case and prosecute subjects who either provide false information or refuse to provide ID. I asked him several times to provide ID information and he just flat out, but politely, refused without explanation. Even after I told him that if he provided ID, he'd probably be released but if he didn't, we'd have to call police, he still refused. I actually think that the only reason he didn't run from the office when I told him we would have to call police is because I had a very very large and very very muscular store manager standing directly in front of the door. He wouldn't ever hurt a fly, but he just looked like he could kill you by looking at you wrong. So we did what we had to do. Now, something else you have to understand is that in this city, you were waiting a very long time for police to arrive. All the police knew was that we had a cooperative adult male in custody for stealing 1 CD, but refusing to provide ID. This wasn't exactly a priority for them. So... 2 hours later, a single lone police officer arrived at the store and began to question the guy. He again refused to ID himself but did, however, tell the police two key factors that would finally lead to an identification: he drove to the store himself, and he was from out of state. It didn't take long for the officer to locate a vehicle with an out of state plate in the lot. The officer left me, the manager, and the subject in the office while he went to go obtain information from and about the vehicle. After about 10 minutes, the officer returned to the office. His demeanor was extremely different and I noticed that there were no fewer than 3 other officers standing in the hall outside the office. The officer came into the office with a very serious look on his face and one hand on his tazer. I had no fucking clue what was going on. I looked at the subject sitting on the bench and he just kind of smirked. The officer ordered him to stand and place his hands behind his back. The subject stood and did as he was directed. No one was saying a word to me. The officer grabbed on the subject's arm and began escorting him out of the office. As the subject walked past my desk, he turned and smiled at me and I will never ever forget what he said to me:
-"Hey man, thanks for being a gentleman. You have no idea who you got and you probably saved your own life."
I just sat there somewhat dumbfounded. After I regained my focus, I followed the officers and the subject out of the store. As I got to the exit, I observed anywhere between 7 and 10 cruisers in the lot. These were mostly two-man cars so you can imagine the number of officers actually on the scene. No one would speak to me or even let me know who I just got. This pissed me off and frustrated me for two reasons. First, I wanted to know what the hell was going on, and second, I needed the guy's information to write up the report. I also needed an explanation for the report because it would have seemed rather odd when I listed the 10 different car numbers and 20 badge numbers that responded to the store for a "cooperative" male shoplifter in my report. Finally, as I was walking back in the store, the shift sergeant stopped me and began asking me questions. And then it all came out. The man that I had just apprehended- the person that I had just shared a small office with for almost two hours- the respectful gentleman shoplifter was a man from South Carolina. And in South Carolina, this "gentleman" was wanted for the murder of 6 people including his wife, his in-laws, his boss, and an office building security guard who apparently "disrespected him." In the car, the police located two hunting rifles, a .45 caliber pistol, multiple knives, and a suicide note.
I didn't sleep for almost a week.
And the CD he stole?
Celine Dion
That explains the suicide note.
-"Sir, I'm with store security and I just need you to step back inside the store with me for a few minutes so we can talk about the CD. It's not a big deal at all, I just need to get the merchandise and get some information from you. I'll have you out of here as quick as possible."
-"Yes sir, I'm sorry. I understand- it's not a problem. I don't know what I was thinking. I won't give you any trouble at all."
This was an older gentleman (than me) calling me "sir" and was definitely not something I was used to. In the office, he was very respectful, upbeat, and even slightly humorous. The only thing that made me nervous about him at all was that he absolutely refused to tell me who he was. Under normal circumstances, for only 1 CD, we would have trespassed him from the store and released him without getting police involved. But standard practice was to contact police in every case and prosecute subjects who either provide false information or refuse to provide ID. I asked him several times to provide ID information and he just flat out, but politely, refused without explanation. Even after I told him that if he provided ID, he'd probably be released but if he didn't, we'd have to call police, he still refused. I actually think that the only reason he didn't run from the office when I told him we would have to call police is because I had a very very large and very very muscular store manager standing directly in front of the door. He wouldn't ever hurt a fly, but he just looked like he could kill you by looking at you wrong. So we did what we had to do. Now, something else you have to understand is that in this city, you were waiting a very long time for police to arrive. All the police knew was that we had a cooperative adult male in custody for stealing 1 CD, but refusing to provide ID. This wasn't exactly a priority for them. So... 2 hours later, a single lone police officer arrived at the store and began to question the guy. He again refused to ID himself but did, however, tell the police two key factors that would finally lead to an identification: he drove to the store himself, and he was from out of state. It didn't take long for the officer to locate a vehicle with an out of state plate in the lot. The officer left me, the manager, and the subject in the office while he went to go obtain information from and about the vehicle. After about 10 minutes, the officer returned to the office. His demeanor was extremely different and I noticed that there were no fewer than 3 other officers standing in the hall outside the office. The officer came into the office with a very serious look on his face and one hand on his tazer. I had no fucking clue what was going on. I looked at the subject sitting on the bench and he just kind of smirked. The officer ordered him to stand and place his hands behind his back. The subject stood and did as he was directed. No one was saying a word to me. The officer grabbed on the subject's arm and began escorting him out of the office. As the subject walked past my desk, he turned and smiled at me and I will never ever forget what he said to me:
-"Hey man, thanks for being a gentleman. You have no idea who you got and you probably saved your own life."
I just sat there somewhat dumbfounded. After I regained my focus, I followed the officers and the subject out of the store. As I got to the exit, I observed anywhere between 7 and 10 cruisers in the lot. These were mostly two-man cars so you can imagine the number of officers actually on the scene. No one would speak to me or even let me know who I just got. This pissed me off and frustrated me for two reasons. First, I wanted to know what the hell was going on, and second, I needed the guy's information to write up the report. I also needed an explanation for the report because it would have seemed rather odd when I listed the 10 different car numbers and 20 badge numbers that responded to the store for a "cooperative" male shoplifter in my report. Finally, as I was walking back in the store, the shift sergeant stopped me and began asking me questions. And then it all came out. The man that I had just apprehended- the person that I had just shared a small office with for almost two hours- the respectful gentleman shoplifter was a man from South Carolina. And in South Carolina, this "gentleman" was wanted for the murder of 6 people including his wife, his in-laws, his boss, and an office building security guard who apparently "disrespected him." In the car, the police located two hunting rifles, a .45 caliber pistol, multiple knives, and a suicide note.
I didn't sleep for almost a week.
And the CD he stole?
Celine Dion
That explains the suicide note.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Sometimes, we catch a lot more than shoplifters...
There are a lot of sick people in this world. There are a lot of perverts and pedophiles. Most of the time, though we definitely don't agree with things that people do, we eventually come to understand what went wrong in the perpetrator's life to drive them to commit such disgusting and heinous acts. Every person on the planet goes through rough times. Many come from hectic and broken homes. Not all of these people turns out to be pedophiles or child molesters. It is not the events that occur in our lives that should define the people we are, rather it is how we react and overcome the tragedies, and revel and share in the blessings of our lives that should and do define us. In December of 2004, my path would cross that of a man (and I use this term loosely) who had decided that he would allow his disturbing past to infect the most innocent people he came across.
I got to the store in the not-so-nice neighborhood at store opening on a Monday. I did my usual start of shift routine which involved checking my email. I had been off all weekend so my inbox was full of job-well-done emails sent to the teams at other stores in the region, internal tips from department managers, various association newsletters, as well as a few BOLO's (be on the lookout.) The BOLO's were always the most interesting. We had a pretty sophisticated email system. Everyone in LP had an email address and we could send photos taken directly from our digital surveillance systems. They were usually alerts for known or habitual boosters (professional shoplifters) that had been spotted or caught at different stores. Sometimes we'd even get alerts from other retailers' LP departments with whom we cooperated and shared information. Today, however, one of these BOLO's was not your typical alert. This one didn't involve theft at all... at least not theft of property. This particular subject was more into stealing innocence. An adult male had recently been reported to store managers as having exposed himself to a 6 year old girl in one of our nearby stores. Surveillance video was reviewed and sure enough, the entire incident was recorded. This evil sonofabitch waited until this little girl was in an aisle all by herself. Her mother was looking at picture frames as the girl wandered into the next aisle to look at children's bedding. When she was all alone, the subject walked into the aisle, made sure he had the girl's attention, and exposed himself. She just stood there after he walked away. She didn't do or say anything immediately. After about a minute, she slowly walked back over to her mother and apparently told her what happened as best she could. You could tell just by watching the video that the mother was horrified. She absolutely freaked out. You can see her practically running around the store looking for the nearest associate. The police were called and reports were taken but the subject wasn't located.
Over the next few days, this sick asshole struck twice more at different stores. By Thursday, he was in the paper as being the fugitive task force's most wanted. On Friday, they almost got their man. My partner and I started that morning at the same time. I refer to him as my partner because at this store, whenever we worked together, it was a partnership. We never stopped alone. We knew how each other operated. We were in the office turning on the various surveillance monitors. As soon as our call-up monitor was powered on and came into focus, I saw him come in through the main entrance. He was wearing the same stupid sunglasses he had worn in every other case. I told my partner "T" that our guy had just entered the store. T immediately called the police, but unfortunately the self-important dispatcher hadn't read the local paper. The conversation between T and the dispatcher went something like this:
-"----- Police, is there an emergency?"
-"Yes ma'am, this is T with ----- store security, we've got a wanted fugitive in the store and need police immediately."
-"Sir, how do you know he's a wanted fugitive?"
-"He's the guy that's been exposing himself in our stores. He's wearing the same sunglasses. I know it's him and we need the police right now."
-"Sir, you can't be positive it's the same guy. Has he exposed himself to anyone in the store today?"
-"...Well, no, but... please just send a car."
-"Sir, we're tied up at the moment. I can't send anyone now but we'll get an officer there when one is available. In the meantime, call us if he does anything."
T hung up the phone and just had this completely baffled look on his face. He could not comprehend the fact that a local dispatcher had basically just refused to send an officer to a situation that required immediate attention. He had one more trick up his sleeve but after a very brief discussion, the two of us agreed that even though it was completely against company policy, we would take the guy down ourselves to keep him from making another little girl a victim; even if we got fired. T had a good friend that worked as a cop for a neighboring agency. The store was right on the border to the extent that if you left the parking lot out of the west drive, you immediately entered the other city. T called his cop buddy and, fortunately, he wasn't busy. His friend agreed to break departmental policy and leave his jurisdiction to check things out. The officer arrived and parked in the lot out of view from the main entrance. We continued to follow the bastard on camera as he singled out his prey. T and I went to the sales floor in preparation to deter or take this guy down. A little girl wandered into an aisle all by herself and T and I could see the asshole making his move. For the safety of everyone involved, I entered the aisle with the girl and began looking at random merchandise. The subject quickly proceeded to the front of the store. He left and got into his vehicle. Because the cop was out of his jurisdiction, he could not do anything unless the subject committed an offense in his city. I followed the subject out to the parking lot and watched him leave toward the west drive. The officer drove by and told me to get in the car. I was confused, but not about to argue with a cop, so I got in. Fortunately the subject exited out the proper driveway and immediately entered into the cop's jurisdiction. Even more fortunately, he failed to use his turn signal when making a left hand turn. The officer ran the plate and initiated a traffic stop. The subject pulled over without hesitation. The officer told me to stay in the car no matter what and showed me where the "man-down button" was on the in-car radio in case something bad happened. I began reading the screen on the cruiser's laptop as the officer conducted a field interview with the subject. Next thing I knew, the officer was sprinting back to the cruiser and the tires were squealing before the door was even closed.
-"What the hell happened?"
-"That motherfucker took off! 42 dispatch, I'm in pursuit..."
Apparently right after the officer asked the subject for his identification, the subject threw the car into drive and took off. Here I was, sitting in the passenger seat of a police car involved in a high speed pursuit. Next thing I knew, there were no less than 12 cruisers from various agencies (including the one we had called initially- not so busy now huh?) pursuing the suspect vehicle. The traffic increased as did the danger. After what seemed like forever, but was probably only 5 minutes, a supervisor called off the pursuit for safety reasons. The subject got away, but as long as the vehicle he was driving was registered to him, we at least had a name.
A week later we were visited in the store by a deputy US Marshal. He handed us each a plaque and notified us that they had tracked down and arrested the subject at a family barbecue. The subject had been released from prison not even two months prior after serving a 10 year sentence for attempted rape and child molestation. He was a convicted sex offender on parole who had failed to report to his PO. The dispatcher that T initially contacted was immediately terminated after receiving letters from both the Marshal's office as well as from the chief of the agency that T's friend worked for. A recording of the call aired on the nightly news. More plaques and letters of congratulations would follow from citizens, colleagues, and corporate executives.
What a day.
I got to the store in the not-so-nice neighborhood at store opening on a Monday. I did my usual start of shift routine which involved checking my email. I had been off all weekend so my inbox was full of job-well-done emails sent to the teams at other stores in the region, internal tips from department managers, various association newsletters, as well as a few BOLO's (be on the lookout.) The BOLO's were always the most interesting. We had a pretty sophisticated email system. Everyone in LP had an email address and we could send photos taken directly from our digital surveillance systems. They were usually alerts for known or habitual boosters (professional shoplifters) that had been spotted or caught at different stores. Sometimes we'd even get alerts from other retailers' LP departments with whom we cooperated and shared information. Today, however, one of these BOLO's was not your typical alert. This one didn't involve theft at all... at least not theft of property. This particular subject was more into stealing innocence. An adult male had recently been reported to store managers as having exposed himself to a 6 year old girl in one of our nearby stores. Surveillance video was reviewed and sure enough, the entire incident was recorded. This evil sonofabitch waited until this little girl was in an aisle all by herself. Her mother was looking at picture frames as the girl wandered into the next aisle to look at children's bedding. When she was all alone, the subject walked into the aisle, made sure he had the girl's attention, and exposed himself. She just stood there after he walked away. She didn't do or say anything immediately. After about a minute, she slowly walked back over to her mother and apparently told her what happened as best she could. You could tell just by watching the video that the mother was horrified. She absolutely freaked out. You can see her practically running around the store looking for the nearest associate. The police were called and reports were taken but the subject wasn't located.
Over the next few days, this sick asshole struck twice more at different stores. By Thursday, he was in the paper as being the fugitive task force's most wanted. On Friday, they almost got their man. My partner and I started that morning at the same time. I refer to him as my partner because at this store, whenever we worked together, it was a partnership. We never stopped alone. We knew how each other operated. We were in the office turning on the various surveillance monitors. As soon as our call-up monitor was powered on and came into focus, I saw him come in through the main entrance. He was wearing the same stupid sunglasses he had worn in every other case. I told my partner "T" that our guy had just entered the store. T immediately called the police, but unfortunately the self-important dispatcher hadn't read the local paper. The conversation between T and the dispatcher went something like this:
-"----- Police, is there an emergency?"
-"Yes ma'am, this is T with ----- store security, we've got a wanted fugitive in the store and need police immediately."
-"Sir, how do you know he's a wanted fugitive?"
-"He's the guy that's been exposing himself in our stores. He's wearing the same sunglasses. I know it's him and we need the police right now."
-"Sir, you can't be positive it's the same guy. Has he exposed himself to anyone in the store today?"
-"...Well, no, but... please just send a car."
-"Sir, we're tied up at the moment. I can't send anyone now but we'll get an officer there when one is available. In the meantime, call us if he does anything."
T hung up the phone and just had this completely baffled look on his face. He could not comprehend the fact that a local dispatcher had basically just refused to send an officer to a situation that required immediate attention. He had one more trick up his sleeve but after a very brief discussion, the two of us agreed that even though it was completely against company policy, we would take the guy down ourselves to keep him from making another little girl a victim; even if we got fired. T had a good friend that worked as a cop for a neighboring agency. The store was right on the border to the extent that if you left the parking lot out of the west drive, you immediately entered the other city. T called his cop buddy and, fortunately, he wasn't busy. His friend agreed to break departmental policy and leave his jurisdiction to check things out. The officer arrived and parked in the lot out of view from the main entrance. We continued to follow the bastard on camera as he singled out his prey. T and I went to the sales floor in preparation to deter or take this guy down. A little girl wandered into an aisle all by herself and T and I could see the asshole making his move. For the safety of everyone involved, I entered the aisle with the girl and began looking at random merchandise. The subject quickly proceeded to the front of the store. He left and got into his vehicle. Because the cop was out of his jurisdiction, he could not do anything unless the subject committed an offense in his city. I followed the subject out to the parking lot and watched him leave toward the west drive. The officer drove by and told me to get in the car. I was confused, but not about to argue with a cop, so I got in. Fortunately the subject exited out the proper driveway and immediately entered into the cop's jurisdiction. Even more fortunately, he failed to use his turn signal when making a left hand turn. The officer ran the plate and initiated a traffic stop. The subject pulled over without hesitation. The officer told me to stay in the car no matter what and showed me where the "man-down button" was on the in-car radio in case something bad happened. I began reading the screen on the cruiser's laptop as the officer conducted a field interview with the subject. Next thing I knew, the officer was sprinting back to the cruiser and the tires were squealing before the door was even closed.
-"What the hell happened?"
-"That motherfucker took off! 42 dispatch, I'm in pursuit..."
Apparently right after the officer asked the subject for his identification, the subject threw the car into drive and took off. Here I was, sitting in the passenger seat of a police car involved in a high speed pursuit. Next thing I knew, there were no less than 12 cruisers from various agencies (including the one we had called initially- not so busy now huh?) pursuing the suspect vehicle. The traffic increased as did the danger. After what seemed like forever, but was probably only 5 minutes, a supervisor called off the pursuit for safety reasons. The subject got away, but as long as the vehicle he was driving was registered to him, we at least had a name.
A week later we were visited in the store by a deputy US Marshal. He handed us each a plaque and notified us that they had tracked down and arrested the subject at a family barbecue. The subject had been released from prison not even two months prior after serving a 10 year sentence for attempted rape and child molestation. He was a convicted sex offender on parole who had failed to report to his PO. The dispatcher that T initially contacted was immediately terminated after receiving letters from both the Marshal's office as well as from the chief of the agency that T's friend worked for. A recording of the call aired on the nightly news. More plaques and letters of congratulations would follow from citizens, colleagues, and corporate executives.
What a day.
My first felony stop...
In the months after my first apprehension, there were many many more and they happened quite frequently. Some of them I made alone, while others were made with my partner who is now one of my best friends. Most of these stops were very routine with little to no real excitement. They consisted of both juveniles and adults, but most of them were relatively low dollar amount stops. In Ohio, the felony threshold is $500 and these were all below that threshold...
Until May of 2003. I was working at the store in the middle of leave-it-to-beaver-ville. Up until this point, I had only made two stops at this store and they were both juveniles stealing trading cards. Nothing to be real proud of. For about a week, my boss and I noticed that we seemed to be getting lower and lower on our stock of baby formula. After checking the purchase records, it was determined that we were missing a significant amount. So, that evening the boss and I repositioned a camera so that we had full coverage of the baby formula aisle. The very next morning, I had just arrived for my shift at about 11:00 am. I did my routine checks and headed back to the office. At this store, the office was right next to the only store entrance. As I passed by the entrance, two people caught my eye as they were entering the store; mostly because they were entering through the exit, but also because I noticed the male was digging through the garbage can. I continued on to the office and pulled them up on camera. I hadn't been able to see what they had picked out of the garbage, but I noticed that in the top of the shopping cart they were pushing, there appeared to be several empty plastic shopping bags balled up. I followed them on camera as they headed directly to the baby formula aisle. As soon as they entered, they began clearing off the shelf. They then left the formula aisle and I was forced to hit the sales floor because there was too likely a chance I would not be able to maintain surveillance with the cameras. I headed directly to the baby formula area and with my peripheral vision, I saw them directly across from the formula in the men's department. I could very clearly observe them filling the empty shopping bags with the cans of formula. I continued to watch until all the bags were filled. There was still a large number of cans that would not fit in the bags. They simply left these in the bottom of the cart and piled the full bags on top of the loose cans. Normally, I would let them leave, apprehend them, complete my paperwork, and then contact the police. This time, however, I recognized the potential danger. I knew why people stole baby formula. 99 percent of the time, baby formula theft was drug related. It would either get sold for drug money, or it would actually be used to mix into powder cocaine or heroin to expand the stash. These two definitely looked like they had a drug problem. As soon as I observed them concealing the formula, I contacted police. Several other issues factored into my decision to contact the police immediately. First, this had been the same police department I had worked for for 3 years as a corrections officer and they all knew me very well. Second, the station was directly behind the store. I stayed on the line with the dispatcher and updated her as to what was going on. The subjects pushed the shopping cart to the front of the store. Once they were at the checkout line, the male subject selected a candy bar and a bottle of pop and entered one of the express lanes. The female continued through the lanes without stopping and exited the store. I ran out in front of her and tried to stop her. She immediately became belligerent and began waving her arms wildly while she denied any wrong doing. I turned on the speakerphone option on my cell phone and put it in my pocket so I had both hands free. I grabbed hold of the female's arms and was able to get her handcuffed behind her back. Just as I had put the second cuff on, the male came walking up and tried to pretend as though he had no idea who she was or what was going on. I knew the police were either in the parking lot, or on their way so I tried to keep him in the store for as long as possible. I told him he needed to stay put, but he continued with his denials and walked past me. In one last-ditch effort to keep him the store, I attempted to grab him with my free hand but he easily avoided contact and bolted through the door. He didn't get very far. 4 police cars were waiting in the parking lot and took him into custody at gun point. An unknown getaway driver was also arrested in the parking lot. In the car the police found 4 grams of black-tar heroin, 16 used syringes, 5 packs of new syringes, 3 crack pipes, 2 small crack rocks, 2 ounces of marijuana, one small baggie of powder cocaine, an ecstasy tablet, a 9 inch homemade shank with dried blood on it, a fully loaded magazine for a Highpoint 9mm (the cheapest gun known to man)- but no gun, approximately $1200 in other various stolen merchandise, and a partridge in a pear tree.
The total tally came to 32 cans of baby formula for just under $700. Well above the felony threshold. The female pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 4 years in state prison. The male pleaded no contest and received 6 years in state prison. He also was tried and convicted for several other crimes for which he had initially failed to appear in court. He received an additional 3 years in prison for those crimes as well. The female getaway driver had a clean criminal record and received 2 years probation for complicity and conspiracy to commit theft. Over the next few months, several other area stores inspected their stocks of baby formula and almost every one of them were missing significant amounts. In every case, the stores' video clearly showed these subjects entering the store and exiting with shopping carts containing full shopping bags, however there was no video evidence of the subjects selecting or concealing the formula so local prosecutors would not allow us to file additional charges. Still, score one for the good guys.
About a year ago, I was bored at home and did a county court records search for the male half of the formula duo. Records indicate that he was released on parole after serving 4 years of his sentences. Two months after he was released, he caught an open case for murder.
The female half has also been released but has had no new records. At least not in this area.
Until May of 2003. I was working at the store in the middle of leave-it-to-beaver-ville. Up until this point, I had only made two stops at this store and they were both juveniles stealing trading cards. Nothing to be real proud of. For about a week, my boss and I noticed that we seemed to be getting lower and lower on our stock of baby formula. After checking the purchase records, it was determined that we were missing a significant amount. So, that evening the boss and I repositioned a camera so that we had full coverage of the baby formula aisle. The very next morning, I had just arrived for my shift at about 11:00 am. I did my routine checks and headed back to the office. At this store, the office was right next to the only store entrance. As I passed by the entrance, two people caught my eye as they were entering the store; mostly because they were entering through the exit, but also because I noticed the male was digging through the garbage can. I continued on to the office and pulled them up on camera. I hadn't been able to see what they had picked out of the garbage, but I noticed that in the top of the shopping cart they were pushing, there appeared to be several empty plastic shopping bags balled up. I followed them on camera as they headed directly to the baby formula aisle. As soon as they entered, they began clearing off the shelf. They then left the formula aisle and I was forced to hit the sales floor because there was too likely a chance I would not be able to maintain surveillance with the cameras. I headed directly to the baby formula area and with my peripheral vision, I saw them directly across from the formula in the men's department. I could very clearly observe them filling the empty shopping bags with the cans of formula. I continued to watch until all the bags were filled. There was still a large number of cans that would not fit in the bags. They simply left these in the bottom of the cart and piled the full bags on top of the loose cans. Normally, I would let them leave, apprehend them, complete my paperwork, and then contact the police. This time, however, I recognized the potential danger. I knew why people stole baby formula. 99 percent of the time, baby formula theft was drug related. It would either get sold for drug money, or it would actually be used to mix into powder cocaine or heroin to expand the stash. These two definitely looked like they had a drug problem. As soon as I observed them concealing the formula, I contacted police. Several other issues factored into my decision to contact the police immediately. First, this had been the same police department I had worked for for 3 years as a corrections officer and they all knew me very well. Second, the station was directly behind the store. I stayed on the line with the dispatcher and updated her as to what was going on. The subjects pushed the shopping cart to the front of the store. Once they were at the checkout line, the male subject selected a candy bar and a bottle of pop and entered one of the express lanes. The female continued through the lanes without stopping and exited the store. I ran out in front of her and tried to stop her. She immediately became belligerent and began waving her arms wildly while she denied any wrong doing. I turned on the speakerphone option on my cell phone and put it in my pocket so I had both hands free. I grabbed hold of the female's arms and was able to get her handcuffed behind her back. Just as I had put the second cuff on, the male came walking up and tried to pretend as though he had no idea who she was or what was going on. I knew the police were either in the parking lot, or on their way so I tried to keep him in the store for as long as possible. I told him he needed to stay put, but he continued with his denials and walked past me. In one last-ditch effort to keep him the store, I attempted to grab him with my free hand but he easily avoided contact and bolted through the door. He didn't get very far. 4 police cars were waiting in the parking lot and took him into custody at gun point. An unknown getaway driver was also arrested in the parking lot. In the car the police found 4 grams of black-tar heroin, 16 used syringes, 5 packs of new syringes, 3 crack pipes, 2 small crack rocks, 2 ounces of marijuana, one small baggie of powder cocaine, an ecstasy tablet, a 9 inch homemade shank with dried blood on it, a fully loaded magazine for a Highpoint 9mm (the cheapest gun known to man)- but no gun, approximately $1200 in other various stolen merchandise, and a partridge in a pear tree.
The total tally came to 32 cans of baby formula for just under $700. Well above the felony threshold. The female pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 4 years in state prison. The male pleaded no contest and received 6 years in state prison. He also was tried and convicted for several other crimes for which he had initially failed to appear in court. He received an additional 3 years in prison for those crimes as well. The female getaway driver had a clean criminal record and received 2 years probation for complicity and conspiracy to commit theft. Over the next few months, several other area stores inspected their stocks of baby formula and almost every one of them were missing significant amounts. In every case, the stores' video clearly showed these subjects entering the store and exiting with shopping carts containing full shopping bags, however there was no video evidence of the subjects selecting or concealing the formula so local prosecutors would not allow us to file additional charges. Still, score one for the good guys.
About a year ago, I was bored at home and did a county court records search for the male half of the formula duo. Records indicate that he was released on parole after serving 4 years of his sentences. Two months after he was released, he caught an open case for murder.
The female half has also been released but has had no new records. At least not in this area.
Monday, December 7, 2009
My very first stop...
In early 2003 I was working as a corrections officer for a small suburb of Cleveland. During my time there, it seemed like the majority of people incarcerated in the jail were shoplifters and other petty thieves. I was constantly booking in the "best" of what Cleveland had to offer. Occasionally one of the loss prevention people would have to come back through the jail to hand the people they caught a trespass notice or a civil demand notice (I'll explain this later.) One day, I struck up a conversation with one of the guys about his job and it intrigued me. It sounded like a ton of fun. I inquired about open positions with his company and he informed me that he had a part-time position at the store around the corner. I applied, interviewed, and was hired. For a while, I was working both jobs part time. The store I worked at was in a very quiet suburb so I didn't see any action there at all. During my training, I was sent to another store in a not-so-nice area and was offered an additional 20 hours a week at that store. It promised to be much more active than what I had been used to. I accepted and quit my corrections job. The whole training process took about 2 months.
It was a quiet and cold Sunday afternoon in February and I was working alone in the not-so-nice store. There were very few customers in the store, but even if it had been busy, this "customer" would still have been rather noticeable. He was a short and young male with very unkempt hair and incredibly stained and torn sweat pants. He was wearing a very large over sized black winter coat. While working for this retailer, I had the luxury of a very nice camera system that pretty much allowed me to work a whole case from beginning to end without having to leave the office. Now, I'll take a quick moment to explain one of the common and cardinal rules of loss prevention:
"The Five Steps"
I thought long and hard before deciding to post this, but then I realized that the shoplifters know the rules better than most loss prevention (from here on referred to as "LP") people do. I'm not going into anything too specific and I'm not going to mention any specific policies relating to any single retailer. Basically, the "5 steps" are the elements that an LP person needs to establish a suspect's intent to steal. A law enforcement officer needs only probable cause. For example, if a certified law enforcement officer observes a subject conceal store merchandise into a purse, a coat, a pocket, or a shopping bag (not the "green" re-usable kind), then he can reasonably determine that the subject intends to steal the merchandise and may legally arrest the person for theft on the spot. In fact, some retailers in some states (not Ohio) do allow retail security people to detain shoplifters the moment they've concealed merchandise. I won't discuss these situations, but I digress.
Basically, an LP person must observe a subject enter the department or area empty handed or without merchandise already selected from the department (step 1). Next, LP must observe a subject select an item or items from a display and know exactly what it is that was selected (step 2). Further, LP must then observe a subject conceal the merchandise (step 3.) Concealment can mean many different things. In most cases, it will mean that the subject places the items into a purse, pocket, shopping bag, coat, etc. In some cases, there is no concealment as the subject simply pushes items out in a shopping cart. Obviously, if concealment is not an issue, then step 3 can be omitted from the process. Next, and probably most difficult and important, LP must maintain continuous and unbroken observation of the subject and the purse, coat, pocket, shopping bag, etc. in which the merchandise was concealed (step 4). This prevents LP from not seeing the subject discard the merchandise if they feel they have been detected. And finally, LP must provide the subject every possible opportunity to pay for the merchandise. Only after the subject has proceeded past all open, manned, and functional points of sale (step 5) and has not made any attempt to render payment for the merchandise, can LP initiate a confrontation of the subject for theft of merchandise. It is a myth that, legally, a person must be allowed to fully exit the store before a stop can be made. No such law exists in Ohio. In court, it will certainly eliminate the possibility for dispute if the stop is made outside the store on the sidewalk, however it is not necessary. Stops are most commonly made either at the entrance/exit, or in the threshold between two sets of doors. So that's it in a nutshell.
Back to my story...
I was sitting in the camera room and it didn't take me long to spot this guy. As soon as he walked in, he headed straight to the electronics department. He quickly selected 15 CD's seemingly at random. He made no attempt to remove them from their packaging. He didn't even attempt to remove the security sensor stickers that were on every CD. Then, in plain view of the few customers that were nearby, he shoved the entire stack of CD's down the front of his sweat pants. It was at this time that I noticed he was actually wearing two pairs of sweat pants. Shoplifters will often do this and tuck the legs of the inner pair of pants into their socks so that any merchandise placed down the pants will not fall out. He then immediately proceeded to the front of the store and out the door. I rushed out of the office to stop him with my adrenaline pumping and my heart racing a mile a minute. This was it! This was my first stop and it was going to be a good one. I didn't know if the guy would try to run or fight me but I was ready for anything he had to offer. I rush outside and was a little shocked and very much caught off guard to see the guy just sitting on the bench outside the store. "Hey! You lookin' for me man?" the thief asked. "Sir, I'm with store-" he cut me off... "Yeah man, I know who you are. Let's just go inside, it's fucking cold out here." I was stunned. I simply escorted him back inside the building and to the holding area. The merchandise was recovered, he was processed, and the police were contacted. When they got there, they asked him why he did what he did and why it seemed like he wanted to get caught. Simply stated, this 19 year old man was homeless. He had been living in his car for the last 4 days and had run out of gas to turn on the heat. He figured he'd go and steal something that he could sell easily. He wouldn't try to be deceptive or not get caught. If no one came after him, he'd be able to sell the CD's for enough cash to put some gas in his car to heat it for a few more days. If he did get caught, he'd have someplace warm to sleep and some food to eat. This was complete culture shock for me.
I was raised relatively sheltered, and over the years I would gain more life experience than most people do in a lifetime. My shock in how this young man was living was only slightly overshadowed by my disappointment that that my first stop wasn't just a bit more exciting.
It was a quiet and cold Sunday afternoon in February and I was working alone in the not-so-nice store. There were very few customers in the store, but even if it had been busy, this "customer" would still have been rather noticeable. He was a short and young male with very unkempt hair and incredibly stained and torn sweat pants. He was wearing a very large over sized black winter coat. While working for this retailer, I had the luxury of a very nice camera system that pretty much allowed me to work a whole case from beginning to end without having to leave the office. Now, I'll take a quick moment to explain one of the common and cardinal rules of loss prevention:
"The Five Steps"
I thought long and hard before deciding to post this, but then I realized that the shoplifters know the rules better than most loss prevention (from here on referred to as "LP") people do. I'm not going into anything too specific and I'm not going to mention any specific policies relating to any single retailer. Basically, the "5 steps" are the elements that an LP person needs to establish a suspect's intent to steal. A law enforcement officer needs only probable cause. For example, if a certified law enforcement officer observes a subject conceal store merchandise into a purse, a coat, a pocket, or a shopping bag (not the "green" re-usable kind), then he can reasonably determine that the subject intends to steal the merchandise and may legally arrest the person for theft on the spot. In fact, some retailers in some states (not Ohio) do allow retail security people to detain shoplifters the moment they've concealed merchandise. I won't discuss these situations, but I digress.
Basically, an LP person must observe a subject enter the department or area empty handed or without merchandise already selected from the department (step 1). Next, LP must observe a subject select an item or items from a display and know exactly what it is that was selected (step 2). Further, LP must then observe a subject conceal the merchandise (step 3.) Concealment can mean many different things. In most cases, it will mean that the subject places the items into a purse, pocket, shopping bag, coat, etc. In some cases, there is no concealment as the subject simply pushes items out in a shopping cart. Obviously, if concealment is not an issue, then step 3 can be omitted from the process. Next, and probably most difficult and important, LP must maintain continuous and unbroken observation of the subject and the purse, coat, pocket, shopping bag, etc. in which the merchandise was concealed (step 4). This prevents LP from not seeing the subject discard the merchandise if they feel they have been detected. And finally, LP must provide the subject every possible opportunity to pay for the merchandise. Only after the subject has proceeded past all open, manned, and functional points of sale (step 5) and has not made any attempt to render payment for the merchandise, can LP initiate a confrontation of the subject for theft of merchandise. It is a myth that, legally, a person must be allowed to fully exit the store before a stop can be made. No such law exists in Ohio. In court, it will certainly eliminate the possibility for dispute if the stop is made outside the store on the sidewalk, however it is not necessary. Stops are most commonly made either at the entrance/exit, or in the threshold between two sets of doors. So that's it in a nutshell.
Back to my story...
I was sitting in the camera room and it didn't take me long to spot this guy. As soon as he walked in, he headed straight to the electronics department. He quickly selected 15 CD's seemingly at random. He made no attempt to remove them from their packaging. He didn't even attempt to remove the security sensor stickers that were on every CD. Then, in plain view of the few customers that were nearby, he shoved the entire stack of CD's down the front of his sweat pants. It was at this time that I noticed he was actually wearing two pairs of sweat pants. Shoplifters will often do this and tuck the legs of the inner pair of pants into their socks so that any merchandise placed down the pants will not fall out. He then immediately proceeded to the front of the store and out the door. I rushed out of the office to stop him with my adrenaline pumping and my heart racing a mile a minute. This was it! This was my first stop and it was going to be a good one. I didn't know if the guy would try to run or fight me but I was ready for anything he had to offer. I rush outside and was a little shocked and very much caught off guard to see the guy just sitting on the bench outside the store. "Hey! You lookin' for me man?" the thief asked. "Sir, I'm with store-" he cut me off... "Yeah man, I know who you are. Let's just go inside, it's fucking cold out here." I was stunned. I simply escorted him back inside the building and to the holding area. The merchandise was recovered, he was processed, and the police were contacted. When they got there, they asked him why he did what he did and why it seemed like he wanted to get caught. Simply stated, this 19 year old man was homeless. He had been living in his car for the last 4 days and had run out of gas to turn on the heat. He figured he'd go and steal something that he could sell easily. He wouldn't try to be deceptive or not get caught. If no one came after him, he'd be able to sell the CD's for enough cash to put some gas in his car to heat it for a few more days. If he did get caught, he'd have someplace warm to sleep and some food to eat. This was complete culture shock for me.
I was raised relatively sheltered, and over the years I would gain more life experience than most people do in a lifetime. My shock in how this young man was living was only slightly overshadowed by my disappointment that that my first stop wasn't just a bit more exciting.
Introduction part 2
A recent discussion over a YouTube video got me pretty heated and I want to clear up a few more things real quick. First, I only speak from experience and my knowledge of the law as it pertains to loss prevention and private security in the state of Ohio. I do know that the vast majority of the United States have laws that echo those in Ohio, but since I have never worked in any of them, it would be irresponsible for me to speak out of school. In Ohio, as in many other states, there are "Merchant Protection statutes." These are the set of laws and ordinances under which loss prevention people operate and perform their duties. They give us our authority. Basically, they give any retailer or merchant, from the smallest convenience store to the largest billion dollar corporation, the right to protect their merchandise, their property, and their people. They allow merchants to either, by their own actions, or through the actions of someone they employ, detain someone suspected of theft or other dishonesty. In the state of Ohio, there are NO rules or laws that specifically limit or define what a merchant can or can not do in order to detain such a person. They simply say that a merchant may not use excessive or undue force to detain someone suspected of theft.
The debate that I had the other day pertained to a YouTube video of a Wal Mart asset protection officer physically detaining and handcuffing a young male suspected of shoplifting. At no time did the asset protection officer become excessive or abusive. He acted with professionalism and dignity throughout the ordeal. When he went to stop the suspect, the suspect turned and took a swing at the guy. He then turned to run but the asset protection officer restrained both of his arms, turned him towards a wall, and handcuffed him behind his back. He never tackled, struck, or shoved the suspect. One user began making comments that the Wal Mart employee had absolutely no right or authority to touch or physically detain the suspect. He began using words like "excessive force" etc. The simple fact is that this user was just flat out wrong. Whether or not a security agent has the authority to physically restrain a suspect depends more on the individual company's policies than it does state or local law. Many companies, especially the smaller specialty retailers, do have "no-touch/no-chase" policies. Larger retailers, however, such as Wal Mart, KMart, Target, etc. still allow for physical detentions and, in fact, send their people to training classes that equip them with the knowledge and skills to safely detain someone in a physical manner. To make a blanket statement that "none of these LP guys are allowed to touch someone" is simply ludicrous. I'm fairly certain that if this was the case, the large and law-suit-conscious corporations would not send their people to official training classes on how to break the law.
In the 7 years I've been doing this, I've worked an equal amount of time for companies that do and do not allow for physical contact when making an apprehension. During my entire tenure, I have only had to go "hands on" on a very few occasions. It almost always depends on your approach and how you speak to people.
I want to get all of this introduction stuff out of the way so that later on, as you're reading the stories, you're not saying to yourself "oh he's full of shit, he never would have been allowed to do that, etc."
So with all of this out of the way... now, enjoy.
The debate that I had the other day pertained to a YouTube video of a Wal Mart asset protection officer physically detaining and handcuffing a young male suspected of shoplifting. At no time did the asset protection officer become excessive or abusive. He acted with professionalism and dignity throughout the ordeal. When he went to stop the suspect, the suspect turned and took a swing at the guy. He then turned to run but the asset protection officer restrained both of his arms, turned him towards a wall, and handcuffed him behind his back. He never tackled, struck, or shoved the suspect. One user began making comments that the Wal Mart employee had absolutely no right or authority to touch or physically detain the suspect. He began using words like "excessive force" etc. The simple fact is that this user was just flat out wrong. Whether or not a security agent has the authority to physically restrain a suspect depends more on the individual company's policies than it does state or local law. Many companies, especially the smaller specialty retailers, do have "no-touch/no-chase" policies. Larger retailers, however, such as Wal Mart, KMart, Target, etc. still allow for physical detentions and, in fact, send their people to training classes that equip them with the knowledge and skills to safely detain someone in a physical manner. To make a blanket statement that "none of these LP guys are allowed to touch someone" is simply ludicrous. I'm fairly certain that if this was the case, the large and law-suit-conscious corporations would not send their people to official training classes on how to break the law.
In the 7 years I've been doing this, I've worked an equal amount of time for companies that do and do not allow for physical contact when making an apprehension. During my entire tenure, I have only had to go "hands on" on a very few occasions. It almost always depends on your approach and how you speak to people.
I want to get all of this introduction stuff out of the way so that later on, as you're reading the stories, you're not saying to yourself "oh he's full of shit, he never would have been allowed to do that, etc."
So with all of this out of the way... now, enjoy.
Introduction
Hey everyone. My name is Josh and I work in a profession that has many names. Some of these names include loss prevention, asset protection, or simply retail security. When someone hears one of these terms, the initial assumption is that someone who works in this field is a "wannabe cop" who has cowboy-like tendencies and wants nothing more than to chase and tackle petty thieves. They assume that this line of work is centered around catching shoplifters. Before I continue any further, let me clear a few things up:
This industry has many different facets and subcategories, but can be broken down into three main categories: external dishonesty, internal dishonesty, and physical security/safety. Dishonesty, whether internal or external, includes theft, fraud, deception, etc. For each of these three categories, there is an incredibly large amount of methods and techniques to minimize the damage they can cause and ultimately... "prevent loss." Loss refers to the money or merchandise a company loses due to theft, fraud, or lawsuits created by liability issues such as safety hazards.
The second myth, that all of us are cowboy adrenaline-junky cop wannabes, is just that: a myth. I will be honest, however. This myth does ring true for a small percentage of those in the field. These people have no business in this line of work, and pose more of a threat and potential liability to the retailer than the dishonest people they are employed to investigate. The truth is that the majority of us are college educated, responsible, and professional. We act with integrity in everything that we do without bias or prejudice. Those of us that chose this career did so because we recognized one simple fact about loss prevention: there is simply more money to be made in the private sector than in public service. The average salary for a regional-level loss prevention manager or investigator is at or near 6 figures. Of course, it depends on the company and the size of the region. The average profile for a regional-level LP manager is a male or female in their early to mid 30's, college educated, with approximately 6-10 years of experience. So let me put this in perspective to clear up the wannabe cop myth: at 30 years old, with a college degree, and 10 years experience, an LP professional can make up to 6 figures. In law enforcement, most departments now require a college degree. At 30 years old, you'd be hard pressed to find someone with 10 years experience. 10 years of experience with a police department in a midsized city will most likely make you a sergeant with a salary of roughly 50 to 60,000 a year. I'd be lying if I said that a lot of us did not, at one point, desire to go into law enforcement. The point I'm trying to make is that the vast majority of the colleagues and peers I've had over the years would be more than qualified and capable not only in mental and physical status, but in moral and ethical character to perform the duties of a police officer. They simply chose a different path.
I have 7 years of experience in this line of work. I've worked for 4 different retailers. I've worked in Cleveland and most of the surrounding suburbs. I've worked in Akron and most of the surrounding suburbs. Over the years, I've accumulated a lot of stories. Some have been funny, others have been terrifying. Some would make you laugh, and yet others might make you sad. Whenever I get into discussions with some of my peers about our various experiences, I'm reminded of more stories and tales that I had forgotten. That's why I'm doing this. Probably more for me than for anyone who might stumble across this and read it.
The purpose of this blog is simply to tell some of my tales and share some of the discussions I've had with people throughout my career. The first few "installments" of this blog might seem kind of random and that's simply because I can't remember the exact chronological order of when certain things occurred. Once I'm caught up and told my stories, it will continue from there as the new stories happen. Please enjoy...
Disclaimer: every name, except my own, has been changed in the telling of the stories to protect the anonymity of those involved. They may be criminals (or "alleged" criminals) but they still deserve some amount of respect.
This industry has many different facets and subcategories, but can be broken down into three main categories: external dishonesty, internal dishonesty, and physical security/safety. Dishonesty, whether internal or external, includes theft, fraud, deception, etc. For each of these three categories, there is an incredibly large amount of methods and techniques to minimize the damage they can cause and ultimately... "prevent loss." Loss refers to the money or merchandise a company loses due to theft, fraud, or lawsuits created by liability issues such as safety hazards.
The second myth, that all of us are cowboy adrenaline-junky cop wannabes, is just that: a myth. I will be honest, however. This myth does ring true for a small percentage of those in the field. These people have no business in this line of work, and pose more of a threat and potential liability to the retailer than the dishonest people they are employed to investigate. The truth is that the majority of us are college educated, responsible, and professional. We act with integrity in everything that we do without bias or prejudice. Those of us that chose this career did so because we recognized one simple fact about loss prevention: there is simply more money to be made in the private sector than in public service. The average salary for a regional-level loss prevention manager or investigator is at or near 6 figures. Of course, it depends on the company and the size of the region. The average profile for a regional-level LP manager is a male or female in their early to mid 30's, college educated, with approximately 6-10 years of experience. So let me put this in perspective to clear up the wannabe cop myth: at 30 years old, with a college degree, and 10 years experience, an LP professional can make up to 6 figures. In law enforcement, most departments now require a college degree. At 30 years old, you'd be hard pressed to find someone with 10 years experience. 10 years of experience with a police department in a midsized city will most likely make you a sergeant with a salary of roughly 50 to 60,000 a year. I'd be lying if I said that a lot of us did not, at one point, desire to go into law enforcement. The point I'm trying to make is that the vast majority of the colleagues and peers I've had over the years would be more than qualified and capable not only in mental and physical status, but in moral and ethical character to perform the duties of a police officer. They simply chose a different path.
I have 7 years of experience in this line of work. I've worked for 4 different retailers. I've worked in Cleveland and most of the surrounding suburbs. I've worked in Akron and most of the surrounding suburbs. Over the years, I've accumulated a lot of stories. Some have been funny, others have been terrifying. Some would make you laugh, and yet others might make you sad. Whenever I get into discussions with some of my peers about our various experiences, I'm reminded of more stories and tales that I had forgotten. That's why I'm doing this. Probably more for me than for anyone who might stumble across this and read it.
The purpose of this blog is simply to tell some of my tales and share some of the discussions I've had with people throughout my career. The first few "installments" of this blog might seem kind of random and that's simply because I can't remember the exact chronological order of when certain things occurred. Once I'm caught up and told my stories, it will continue from there as the new stories happen. Please enjoy...
Disclaimer: every name, except my own, has been changed in the telling of the stories to protect the anonymity of those involved. They may be criminals (or "alleged" criminals) but they still deserve some amount of respect.
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