Today's Word: Subpoena

I returned from the local Wendy's with the lunch Du Jour, and headed right for the break room. It is an accepted practice to ignore pages and phone calls while sitting in the break room so you can actually get a "break." I had been in the break room for about five minutes when my own cell phone rang. It was the girl from the front desk calling.

"I know you're eating lunch, but.." what a great way to start while interrupting my lunch. "We just had a guy walk out with an air conditioner in his cart, and several bags of underwear, but they weren't in bags, so I don't think he paid."

I took another bite. If this guy was already out of the store, and probably in his car by now, why is my lunch being interrupted? There isn't a damned thing I can do about it now.

"And I got his license plate number..." she finally continued.

Well doesn't that change things a bit. I ate slightly faster than I had planned, finished up and hoped there was something on video I could use. Sure enough, I watch as the tall black man in a long flannel shirt strolls in pushing an empty cart, in the middle of the store he places an air conditioner into the cart and is then escorted by an employee toward the apparel department. Two minutes later, he appears at the door again, air conditioner and underwear visible in the cart now, and he casually strolls out the exit without stopping at any register. With all of this video on him, and a license plate, I notified the police department. Within minutes the officer arrived, I showed him the video, provided the license plate and off he went to search for the thief. (In my head I pictured this guy sitting in his apartment, in his new underwear, enjoying his new air conditioner, when the officer knocks on his door, but I figured it wouldn't be quite that easy).

About an hour later the officer called me to say he found the car, and he was about to contact the owner and see what the story was. It seemed like the case was coming to a close pretty smoothly. Turns out, he contacts the owner, an 85 year old lady who is disabled. However, she said she rents an apartment to a man who borrowwd her car for the day to run errands. She also added that he had been asking if he can put an air conditioner in his apartment. The officer obtains the name and information on the tenant, and as luck would have it, this isn't the first crime he has committed. In fact, there are two warrants already out for his arrest from neighboring towns. The officer finds a photo of him in the computer, places him into a photo line up so the girl at the desk can pick him out. Unfortunately, the girl was too busy looking at the air conditioner and license plate, she never got a good look at the mans face. As a result, she does not pick him out of the line up.

I go back to my video to check for a good facial shot, but instead it hits me, the employee helping him with the air conditioner had to see his face, hell, they were talking.

Employee background... when this high school kid started, I recognized his last name from when I worked at a police department prior to this job. And if someone says I remember that name from working at a police station, it's never good. For this reason, I never provided this kid a tour of the Loss Prevention office and camera system as I would for any new employee. For some reason, I thought it was a better idea to keep him guessing.

So, the officer comes back a day later to show this employee the photo line up. Before I went to get the kid, I advised the officer the employee's name. His reaction was exactly what I expected, he knew the name as well.

The employee comes to the front desk as the officer lays out the photos. He is asked to pick out the guy he helped with the air conditioner the other day. Without hesitation, he points to the right photo. Instantly, we have a case again, complete with a witness. When the officer starts collecting his information, the employee backs up a little.

"What ya need all that for? I don't want to get involved in all this..." suddenly the kid was back pedalling. The officer explained he is going to be called as a witness to testify in court in the retail theft hearing.

"No, I don't want to be that guy.."

The conversation turned slightly less conversational, and the officer began explaining firmly, that he just identified a suspect in a crime, and that he would only be held up for about ten minutes to say that on the witness stand. He kept shaking his head. The officer finally explained to him, if he doesn't come to testify voluntarily, he would get a subpoena which requires him by law to testify. The employee still didn't catch on and still tried to refuse.

"We give you one chance to show up, after that we come and get you, handcuff you and force you to appear in court, it's up to you."

The employee reluctantly agreed, but it will remain to be seen how it all plays out. In the mean time, unfortunately I am stuck with an employee who doesn't want to cooperate with catching a retail theft from the store. It's good to know I made the right decision about keeping my office a secret.

Sometimes you want to recover the merchandise...other times, you don't!

I noticed a Korean or Japanese grandfather and his granddaughter enter the store and wander off toward the apparel section. I really paid them no mind. I continued meandering about the store looking for more suspicious folk. Unfortunately, I saw none. I wandered back around toward the apparel section and cut through the jewelery and cosmetics area, when what to my incredible peripheral vision does appear...the grandfather and granddaughter bent over in one of the cosmetics aisles. I turn down the next aisle and check them out in the overhead mirror. I really couldn't believe it, but the little girl was holding a mirror out while it was still hanging from the hook, while the old man was bent over using scissors, from that aisle, to trim his nose hairs. That's right... he was using scissors, he had just taken from a package, to clip his nose hairs, right there in the aisle! And the little girl was kind enough to help by holding the mirror up for him.

Once he was done his grooming, he tossed the scissors back onto the opened package on the bottom shelf, and took the little girl's hand, and walked off as if nothing was wrong. I walked into the aisle and picked up the USED scissors, tucked them into the torn package, and slippeed them into my back pocket. I took them to the front desk for a price check. $6.99. Really a borderline price when deciding whether to go through the whole apprehension deal. Technically, I could do it. Was it worth apprehending and going through all of the paperwork, what would we do with the little girl? Does he even understand English? All of these questions swarmed about my brain as I watched them tour the store with no apparent mission.

The two finally made their way toward the front door, and I sped up to approach them.

"Excuse me sir.."

He kept walking to the door.

"Sir, excuse me!"

He glanced over his shoulder as he opened the door. I motioned for him to come back to me away from the door.

"Do you understand English?" (crickets)
"Do you understand what I am saying?" (more crickets)

The man walked over to the front desk as I was still trying to talk. I tapped him on the shoulder and waved him back to me.

"Listen to me, I am talking, not them." He smiled, and shook his head.

"Can you understand me, or what I am saying right now?" He stared with a smile and a slight shake of the head. I took out the torn package of scissors from my back pocket, pushed it into his chest and pointed to the front desk.

"Pay for these." I had a feeling he understood more than he was letting on, and I was done trying to communicate.

He shook his head with a big smile..."Okay, Okay.."

He shook my hand and bowed to me, apologizing in his own strange, embarrassed way. He paid, grabbed the girl's little hand, and walked out of the store.

It's Nice to be Noticed!

The highlights of making some internal apprehensions lately, were quickly dashed as I was notified this morning that I would have to drive an hour away, to help a different store verify their inventory. In a nutshell, an inventory counts everything, we follow behind them and check their counts, then wheen the reports come out saying they missed merchandise, we go and find the missed merchandise and account for it. Yeah, noting but a good time for about eight hours!! The only good part is the free donuts coffee and lunch.

My family can attest, I can be an all star pouter when I want to be, and since I have participated in my inventory, and three other inventories, I felt it was time I could miss one and let someone who hasn't been to one to step up. But no, I chose not to be sarcastic, a real reach for me, and not mention anything about other LP's who are not coming, and one actually choosing to go to the beach instead! Biting my tongue, I walked through the main entrance to the empty store way too early this morning. I counted, then counted some more, then counted a little bit more.

Just before breaking for lunch, a surprise visit from my Acting LP District Manager, as well as the Operations District Manager. My LPDM lives two hours away from here, in a neighboring state, and is only taking care of administrative things for us until we get our own LPDM. They congratulated me on a good job with the recent apprehensions at my store, and we joked back and forth about how I was embarrassing the other LPs, making them all look bad. We laughed and joked, and the only thing we were missing were the beers and nuts sitting on the bar. As the fun settled, the LPDM called me aside. I followed him all the way outside the store. I figured it must really be important... but had no idea what it could be.

"I already talked to your store manager yesterday about this, we are realigning the LP structure and creating another level above your current level. I would like to offer you the promotion to this new level, it would mean a raise and more hours...but meaning overtime each week too...."

Really not sure what he said after that, but I am sure his lips were still moving. When my shock wore off, I heard more good things..

"You aboslutely deserve it, you'r doing a one helluva job and if I had a Managers position in my local district I would certainly want you over there..."

Pretty cool to hear from your boss who has been doing this job for over fifteen years. Me... about 16 months.

I will now be able to clean up my resume builder from my desk, shut down Monster.com and concentrate on the next year in this position.

Sigh.

As Long As We Keep Hiring Idiots...I Will Have A Job!!! (...wait a second)

So, the sulking has subsided temporarily.

Saturday I arrived to work in the morning with the Office Manager a little more disgruntled than usual. She finally, reluctantly, admitted that we were missing twenty dollars from a register from the previous night. To her, it was a challenge to figure out where the missing money was. She wanted to find it herself, and before I had a chance to look into it. Oh well, this time, she had to give up and turn it over to me for the REAL investigation. (Actually, I enjoy having her handle it before me so I am not looking for every two and three dollar "wrong change" transaction.)

So, my day starts with her turning over the paperwork from the previous shift transactions, and says good luck. Off I go to my cave, never to be seen again until I have come up with an answer to the "Case of the Missing Twenty."

Through the paperwork, computer and video, I narrow the issue down to a new employee working the register. Eventually, I review video of most of her shift with nothing that really jumps out at me. I review the printed receipts of all of her transactions, still not much found. It was maybe my third review of the information in front of me when I decided to look at any transactions where a twenty dollar bill was used to pay, or as change. Coincidentally, I found two back to back purchases of one bottle of soda where the customers used a twenty dollar bill to pay. I brought up the video of these purchases and found the first one was rung up and changed perfectly. The second transaction, immediately after the first, started when she tells a small boy to leave the line next to her and come into hers. He brings a bottle of Coke and places it on her counter. She rings it up, he hands her a twenty dollar bill and suddenly she appears to be confused about the change or the price or something... She ends up handing the boy a five dollar bill as change. Now, I'm no mathemetician, but a $1.39 purchase from a twenty dollar bill does not result in a five dollar bill in change! However, the boy accepted that, and left with his fifteen dollar bottle of Coke. I then slowed the video down and watched as the cashier holds the remaining bills in her hand until she closes her drawer, and slips it into her pocketbook. Day One: Case Closed.

After realizing she was definitely a thief, I then go back in time and check her previous shifts. Fortunately, she had only been hired three weeks ago. I review register shortages during the past month, and what do ya know.... two more 20.00 shortages occur on her register during her shifts. Hmmm. Coincidence?

I repeat the same steps for each day. I pull transactions, I review video, etc etc. Two shifts ago I observe her being told to switch registers. I watch with Sherlock Holmes-like detail, every hand movement she makes. And suddenly, there it is! She pulls her pocket book up over her left shoulder. She then pulls the cash drawer from the register, but I notice her right hand is holding the drawer from underneath the right side, while her left hand seems to be on top of the drawer at the left side. I slowed the video down to a snails pace and noticed she was actually curling up the twenty dollar bill with her left hand, and palming it as she moved the drawer out of the register. She turns left, right into the camera, and as she walks to the next register, she slips her left hand into the pocket book hanging over her shoulder. Day Two: Case Closed.

I check her schedule and change mine to match hers so I can watch her live. This results in a bunch of shady actions, very suspicious behavior, but the only thing I see clearly, is when she pulls a pack of Bic lighters off the counter nearby, walk back to her register and drops the lighters down on her pocket book under her register. I watch the rest of her shift, and she never attempts to purchase the lighters. Day Three: Add Retail Theft.

While working with her that evening, I discover a note from her on the HR office door. She is asking for the rest of the day off, but can work tomorrow if hours are available. I run immediately to the store manager and advise him to tell her to come in tomorrow, and she can have the rest of the week off. (I'm thinking alot longer than that...but we can start there.) She is overjoyed to hear the news. My plan: Collect my evidence, have her come in, interview her, get her confession, and have her arrested.

I team up with my interrogation partner, an LP from a neighboring store, and plan our attack. By 6pm last night, with only 30 minutes left in my shift, I have the manager call her back to the office. She seems completely oblivious as to why we would want to speak to her. The interview/interrogation started slowly, with her giggling at the thought of people being dumb enough to steal knowing there are cameras all over. This changed when we shifted our attitude to...we know the answers to every question we are going to ask. We will know if you are lying or not. She started getting nervous shifting back and forth in her seat. Her voice lowered to almost a whisper at times. She finally admitted taking money, but had a good reason. That was my cue (Good Cop). I said "we absolutely want to hear why, I'm sure you had a good reason, thats fine, but let's talk about how much and when you took money. Then we'll talk about why and I'll make sure I write it all down." She agreed to tell us when, and how much it was each time. By the time we were done, it totalled $100.00 cash removed from her register over a period of few shifts.

When her confession didn't match the facts, my partner (Bad Cop) got angry, "losing his patience" and stormed out of the room. She turned to me and said "I don't want him to be mad..." I took this opportunity to work my angle of "let's see what we can remember and as long as you are completely honest, and quit the lies, I'll be able to stop my partner from proceeding down a path you don't want to go...believe me!"

Eventually, after a wave of tears, and an hour and a half of "I really have a bad memory" and me reviewing the facts with her over and over...she came clean to stealing $100.00 and the bic lighters. I handed her a notebook, and very Law and Order-like said... "Put it in writing..."

After she cracked, I rewarded her with a can of soda. She was all mine after that. My partner never returned... we needed her to stay inside this comfort zone with me. She explained she needed $100.00 to pay off a fine. Go figure. Once she completed the written statement, I signed it, our female witness signed it, and I said I needed to go make a copy. Just before the door closed behind me, she asked... "Will any of this leave this room?" "Wait, be right back..." leaving that question unanswered.

I did actually make a copy, but in addition, I called the Police Department and advised them I had an employee stealing $100.00 from the register. I then walked to the front desk, told the associate there to give us ten minutes after he sees the police officer arrive, then call all the other employees up front for a minute. (Right now you may be calling me names...but more than embarassing the thief, I wanted to make an impression upon the high school kids we still had working in the store. I have exceeded my employee apprehension goal for the year, it can stop now.)

Officers arrived, I explained what I had, and the first officer opened the office door with an opening statement of... "Ever been arrested before?"

She almost passed out. The helpful guy that I am, as she was being handcuffed, I asked, "Are your things still at your register? We can get that on the way out..." I then heard the announcement for all associates to come to the front desk for their returned merchandise. She tried every possible excuse why she shouldnt be in cuffs, but apparently the cop had done this once or twice before. "The cuffs aren't too tight, I can fit my finger in between them.."

I led the parade from the back of the store to the front, behind me was the thief with her hands in cuffs behind her, a police officer holding her arm, a Police Sergeant behind him, my partner, then our witness.

Employees, most part timers still in high school, stood with eyes wide open. I heard a few comments muttered, "How stupid." "Dumb." "Are you kidding me?"

Hopefully, lesson learned.

As the officers loaded her up and drove off all eyes were on me. I just smiled, and walked back to the office with my notebook in hand. Let the rumors begin!!

By tomorrow night when I return to work, she will have stolen a television, I'm sure. That's okay, it was entertaining enough as it was.

Goals for the Year

The Corporate bean counters have once again published goals for the year. Last year it took me most of the year just to meet goal. It was a tense few months being pressured to reach goal. In the end, making or missing goal has something to do with our Safety and Theft Metrics, and as a result, relates to the Risk Level each store is assigned.

So I was reviewing my numbers the other day and found this interesting...

Goals for 2010: 10 Shoplifters
2 Employee Apprehensions

Last year I ended with 20 Shoplifters and 4 Employee Apprehesnions, so I am not sure how they set their goals. Was business supposed to be cut in half this year?

It is June 2010.

I have 8 Shoplifters and 2 Employee Apprehensions already.

Unfortunately, the one statistic which stands out the most to me is the one where I am told I get no raise because it's not in the budget, and I'm not eligible for the promotion I was being recommended for by two District Managers.

Doesn't exactly fire up the adrenaline to go apprehend someone and possibly be maced or assaulted over an Avatar DVD.

But something tells me I will do my best to sit and sulk in my office, until I happen to see the next idiot trying to steal something and for some reason I will run out there and jump in his way and take my chances on how it will end up. Sometimes, I wonder, who is the bigger idiot. The guy who has planned out a theft, or the guy who has no idea what state of mind the thief is in, what weapons he is carrying, or how many black belts he has earned, but still gets in front of him to try and stop him.

I wonder.

My new Goal for 2010: Not get my ass kicked over a video game.

Part Two: Sunday.

After dedicating a good portion of the day to documenting the incredible employee apprehension the day before, I took to the salesfloor which was unusually crowded due to the holiday weekend. It would seem to the average Joe that this would be ideal circumstances for catching a shoplifter. However, not so. The more crowded it is, the more suspects you have to keep an eye on. Easy, no. Frustrating, yes. So for the next few hours I would follow people of all ages, all over the store, and sure enough, they all slowly made their way to the register to pay. Honest shoppers are killing the LP field.

This was how the rest of the day would go, until a familiar face showed up in the middle of my store. Allow me to digress.

A few weeks ago my attention was turned toward one of our newer cashiers, "Amber," a senior in high school, who really should have dedicated her evenings to studying, rather than attempting to learn the cash register at a retail store. She was the living breathing example of every blonde joke you have ever heard. One day we were on the kick of enforcing the "No Cell Phone Use" policy while they worked at the register. I was never too strict about it if it was done quietly, and not when customers were around. However, this particular day, Amber was told about not using her phone for texting while she was working. Not twwenty minutes later I observed her ducking down behind the register to text someone. Okay, so blatant disregard for a manager's request. Later during the shift, I was observing her through the overhead camera, and watched as she texted someone as a customer stood waiting for her to finish. Now that makes me mad. Customers come first in my book, and I'm not even in Sales!

When the manager approached her to speak to her about it, a second and third cashier complained that she does it all the time. As a result of that, Amber took it upon herself to threaten the other cashiers with physical harm. Once I heard that, I heavily encouraged the management staff to terminate her. Not only is that harassment, forcing one cashier to seek a shift change, but that's also illegal! So, by the end of the day, Amber was called into the offfice and terminated. She left with her empty head held high, saying "thanks for the opportunity," as if she was watching The Apprentice, and by the time she hit the front door, she was looking at coworkers saying "whatever."

Fast forward now to this weekend. Amidst the crowd of holiday shoppers, I recognized the bleached hair coming through the crowd. I stopped in my tracks and watched as she made her way down the center aisle, accompanied by two boys who couldn't have been any more opposite. They were dressed gothic-like, wearing nothing but black. Black t-shirt, black hoodies, black shorts that actually reached their ankles and black sneakers. I couldnt believe Amber would have the guts, or the balls to come back to this store, but I immediately sensed trouble. I watched as they ducked into the CD aisle in the Electronics Department. I was simply shocked to see this but, I walked into the adjacent aisle and began my ritual for almost every grungey looking hoodie wearing high school kid I come across. I stared into the overhead mirror and watched for a few minutes as one kid took two CD's off the shelf and immediately tried to get one open. Again, my jaw dropped in amazement. I was simply asking myself, was she really this stupid? Finally, she glanced up into my mirror and saw me looking at them. She nudged the accomplice and walked out of the aisle. The accoplice left the aisle in the oppostie direction. I walked right past Amber as she tried to draw my attention toward her and the other kid walking into Sporting Goods. I kept my attention on the scrawny long haired kid sliding down the back aisle toward the mens room. Sure enough, my suspicion wa correct. He ducked into the men's room and wasted no time trying to get the Cd's open inside the stall. (When you are bored some day, go into a public bathroom and try to crack a piece of plastic quietly...it's impossible.) I could hear the case breaking from the hallway outside the mens room door, and I was so stunned that they were obnoxious enough to do this even though she knew I was watcching, I walked right into the bathroom. I wanted to scare the shit out of the kid, but when I got inside, I realized he was tucked away inside the stall. When he heardd me enter, he froze. Suddenly there was no noise coming from the stall until he flushed the toilet. I washed my hands and walked out. I saw the assistant manager walking nearby so I gave her the heads up about Amber and her band of thieves. I took a position outside the mens room where I could see the bathroom door in an overhead mirror, but I was hidden from sight.

Sure enough, the kid finally came out, looked around, and made his way toward the front of the store. I ducked into the bathroom, and quickly removed the cracked open CD cases from the trash can, and came out to pursue the little thief.

At the front of the store I see Amber standing in the vestibule. She sees me and decides to make a dash for it. I looked behind me and saw the black clothes coming around the corner. Somehow I got to the front before the bathroom kid did. I tossed the empty CD case on to a shelf and nonchalantly walked out the front door. I see Amber walking into the parking lot, and decide I was going to let the police department take this from here. I call 9-1-1 and explain a retail theft just occurred and they are walking north from the parking lot. Meanwhile, the last kid finally comes out, but he walks right to a car parked in the lot. Not only was I then able to give a vehicle description, but since the genius turned right toward me and passed by within six feet of me, I also read off the license plate to the 9-1-11 dispatcher.

Sirens filled the air for the next few minutes and I returned to the store thinking the case will be closed any minute now. As expected, withing five minutes, a police car pulled up outside.

"Please tell me he didn't dump the merchandise..." I asked the officer as he got out of his car.

"Don't know, couldn't find the car."

I was flabbergasted. I told him they were about a half a block away from the car when he flew past with his siren wailing. For whatever reason, they missed the car. On the other hand, I knew Amber, knew where she lived, and we had the license plate of the other kid. Officers would then head to the houses to try to locate the thieves, not how I wanted it to end, but ok.

About 45 minutes later a second police offficer arrives at the store.

"Wanna go for a ride, we got them stopped."

Without hesitation, I was out the door and climbing into the police car.

We drive into the next town and pull up in a neighborhood behind three other police cars. I can see Amber already standing outside the car. Officers are standing next to the car I saw leave the parking lot. Just as we stopped and called the other officers by radio, all hell broke loose. Suddenly the officers were wrestling the driver to the ground in the middle of the street. The officer in my car jumped out and ran to join the mini melee. Since the goth kid weighed all of 100 pounds soaking wet, the wrestling match ended as fast as it started. However, when the kid came up off the pavement, he was now wearing handcuffs.

When it was all said and done, the kid was arrested for Retail Theft and Disorderly Conduct, and Amber and the other kid was banned from my store.

So, this is how May ended for me. Back to back apprehensions that if nothing else, gave my coworkers something to talk about when the lucky employees who were off for the holiday weekend asked..."So how was it in here this weekend?"

So, I wonder what June will bring me.

A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend (Say that twice fast!)

Part One: Saturday.

I was sitting in my office trying to be disgruntled about not getting a raise and/or promotion I had been recommended for, but the fact that I simply had a paying job kept interrupting my efforts, when out of the corner of my eye, I notice a new employee entering the store wearing a back pack. She walks out of the camera view and I go back to wondering if I should sign on to the various job search websites on my work computer.

A few minutes later, on a different camera monitor, I see the same girl entering the Hardware Department, carrying a pair of gloves, and two pairs of shoes. She walked to the rear corner of the store, placed them down on an empty counter, then walked to each end of the aisle, obviously looking for anyone in the area. With so many red flags waving at me, I left my office and forced myself to do the fun part of this job.

I entered the department and quite stealthly walked into the aisle right next to her. I positioned myself under a ceiling mirror to observe her actions. The first thing I notice with this overhead view, was the fact that the back pack was unzipped. I was confident she was about to put the items right into the back pack...when she was interrupted by a shopper entering her aisle. She quickly gathers her items and walks out of the aisle. I follow from a distance and saw she was entering the stairwell leading to the employee locker room and bathrooms. I watched the stairs until she finally comes back down, minus the back pack, but plus a shiny silver wristwatch on her left wrist. She reports directly to a register she assigned to for the next five hours. Gave me time to sit in the office and review some video to see what she had done while I was in the office feeling shitty about my job.

It only took a few minutes for me to decide to go upstairs and check her bag. I grabbed up an assistant manager and told her I had to check an employees bag, and she willingly followed me up the stairs. We perused the locker room and found no back pack. We walked around the lounge outside the ladies room...still no back pack. As we stood bewilidered in the empty locker room, we heard footsteps coming up the stairs. We quickly stepped out of the locker room and into the lounge across the hall outside the men's room. The footsteps reached the top of the stairs and entered the ladies room. The manager and I stood wondering where she could have put the back pack when I realized I was staring at a couch that appeared to be desheveled, as much as a couch can. At one end, pushed against a wall, there was a pile of coats with pillows on top of the pile. I pulled the pile apart and found nothing underneath it. As a last ditch effort, I pulled the couch away from the wall and peeked down the side. Sure enough, something was on the floor shining up at me.

I reached down and pulled up an empty wrist watch box, which still had the tags on it. I glanced back down at the floor, and saw a strap sticking out from under the couch. Reaching down and pulling on the strap, I ended up pulling up the red and black back pack I saw the new employee wearing. With the assistant manager witnessing my actions, I opened the bag to discover two pairs of shoes, two pairs of paintball gloves, and a paintball holder. I tucked everything back into the bag, and tried to hide it again exactly like she had done. I tidied up the couch and threw the pile on top as I had found it.

I found the Store Manager and advised him he would be losing a cashier by the end of the day. Surprisingly, he was okay with that, and went back to work.

I checked to see when her break was scheduled so I could watch for any attempts to take the bag to the parking lot. My plan was to treat her like any other shoplifter if she was going out the door with it. Well her break came a few hours later. I was planted right at the front door to see which way she went. Instead of signing out and heading for the lounge, she slowly perused the store as if she was shopping. I stayed by the front of the store and kept an eye on her movement so she didnt notice me following her. I watched as she entered the soap aisle, the shampoo aisle and then
walked to the back of the store carrying her selections. A little while later, she reappears at her register empty handed, to finish her shift.

I snuck back upstairs and found that she had moved the back pack, but not very far. I found it, opened it, and noticed right away she had added items to the bag. My shoplifting dollar value just increased, and I was willing to allow her to keep this up all night if she wanted to.

I knew she wouldn't leave her post until the end of the shift, but just in case, I told her Supervisor to call me if anyone's schedule suddenly changed during the shift. I had a few hours to kill so I started the paperwork I am usually stuck with after the apprehensions. I went into the computer to get her personal info for the report and got quite the shocking surprise.

I read her name, and started writing it on the theft report. As I was writing the last name, it started sounding and looking familiar. I gave it a minute, looked at her address and I stood straight up out of my chair, opened my office door and immediately searched out the Store Manager.

"Are you kidding me? Are you ready for this? This is unbelievable."

I couldn't even get the words out fast enough before I was on to the next thought.

"Would you believe the girl stealing from you today is the sister of the guy who maced me a few months ago? How is it we can hire the sister of a convicted shoplifter, who maces me, and I am not told about it?"

Well, he was as shocked as I was...sort of. I returned to the office, shook it off, and just became more determined to make this apprehension than before. I contacted the Police Department and advised them I was going to be stopping an employee with a bag of stolen merchandise, and as a side note, she's related to the "Mad Macer of 2009". Since I wasn't sure how trained she was in macing, I asked an officer to be nearby at the end of her shift, and they agreed to have someone in the parking lot.

So, her shift finally came to an end. I stood behind the jewelry counter and waited for what seemed like an hour for her to go retrieve the bag, then come back don to leave. Just to make it more suspenseful, she had to stop and select two gallons of laundry detergent and take it to the front desk to be rung up. Finally, with her back pack over her shoulder, she made the move to the front door. I quickly hustled from the jewelry counter to the door and met her inside the vestibule.

When I asked to see what's inside the bag, she refused, saying there was personal belongings inside. I then recited what I had already seen inside the bag and she still refused. She denied stealing anything. I then asked about the watch which was still in plain sight, and she said she bought it a few days ago. I was starting to think I was giving her too much time to think about how to react, so I then gave her one more chance at giving me her bag. When she refused again, I invited her outside. Once on the sidewalk, I could see a police car to the right of me, a police car to the left of me, and another across the lot from me. I gave her one more chance to cooperate, and once she refused again, I simply raised my hand and gave a quick wave which resulted in four police officers surrounding us in an instant. They advised her that if we didn't see inside the bag as asked, she would be placed under arrest. This convinced her to drop the bag.

This episode is wrapped up with a quick inventory of her bag. Inside we found two pairs of shoes, a paintball holder, two pairs of paintball gloves, three vacuum cleaner belts, two 3-packs of Irish Spring soap, shampoo, two skin care products, and the winner of the most randomly selected item is...an iron!

Total value of the contents of the back pack, plus the watch...$140.00.

Needless to say, she was arrested anyway. Unfortunately, we were already outside so we didn't get to enjoy her walk of shame through the store, but I was just glad I escaped without that feeling of my skin burning off.

Tomorrow: Part Two: Sunday.

Don't Get Sucked In!!!

Folks!!

You fell for it! Just as she planned it!!

Let me fill in the blanks. Prior to this apprehension, this same lady was complaining about not getting enough hours. During our first interview on the phone, her early responses included the fact that she didn't need money, she wasn't having any problems financially, so why would she need to steal rings, she doesn't even wear jewelry....she told us.

When we met, she wrote a full statement, told us about selling them in the city to a guy in a long leather trench coat for $80.00. She told us she didn't know who he was or that he was even going to be there looking to buy rings from someone that day. Then, she changed it up a little and added that she knew of the guy because her son, a previously fired employee at my store, had already sold him a Wii game system...

(Any guesses where he might have acquired a Wii game system to sell???)

So, after getting all of the paperwork done, and finalizing her sudden early retirement, we move on to the little issue of restitution. Please remember, even though she got $80.00 for the rings, we are out almost $2,000.00. She now owes us...$2,000.00. As is the popular opinion, we gave her some sympathy when we allowed her a year to repay us. Twelve months that is. She didn't have to worry about scrounging up the 2K for an entire year. Her response?

"Oh no, I am paying this back tomorrow. I have a million dollar trust fund, all I have to do is make a phone call and I will have a check for ya tomorrow."

......I'll let that sink in.

I Know How to End a Month!

Finally, I have something worth writing about. Although I could have updated you on the Diamond Ring thief earlier, the amount of paperwork that generated didn't really give me incentive to come home and write even more about it...no offense. But now I have a few things to bring you all up to speed on...

First, the suspect in the diamond ring caper was off for a week. During this time, it was disccovered we were missing two rings instead of one. Her taking an entire week off, however, gave me time to investigate a little further. To make a long story short, myself and the district manager reviewed the video, then went out and examined the "crime scene," the jewelry counter. Unfortunately, I had assumed the staff had thoroughly searched the area for any evidence fo the ring. Silly jme, it took us just a few minutes to locate the price tags under a counter that belonged to both rings. Obviously they had been ripped off and tossed aside. This convinced us of what we suspected and we decided not to wait for her to come backto work. The DM and I called her at home, and on speakerphone interviewed her about the missing rings. She agreed to meet us, and during that meeting, she admitted to stealing both rings, and then selling them for 80.00 to help pay medical bills. They were worth $2,000.00, but she got $80.00 for them. As a result, she was fired and prosecuted. Case closed.

I now jump ahead to Memorial Day weekend. I am sentenced to working the entire weekend since it is a busy retail time....two grabs so far.

Stay tuned.

Quite the Sunday of Work.

Finally. No, you haven't missed anything. It really has been this long since I caught a shoplifter. However, the rest of the time was filled with counting merchandise for three different store inventories, preparing for a compliance inspection, and of course following people around the store until each and everyone of them ended up in a line to pay for the stuff I saw them pick up. Damned honesty is killing this career!

So, today, a nice quiet Sunday right? Yeah well. It starts with an investigation into a missing diamond ring from the jewelry department. It was last seen five days ago, so atleast I do have a starting point. Initially, I look at video. That is alot of video to watch. I then go to a database that shows all transactions done on a specific register. I see no transactions, or purchases made, that fit the description of the missing jewelry. Just before I gave up on the transactions, I noticed one strange event. Someoen did a price check for something that was the same price as the missing ring. I looked further and sure enough, it was the missing ring. And it was done just the night before we discovered it missing. Suddenly, we have narrowed it down. I then go back to the video of the date and time of the price check, and there it is. A fairly new employee holding the missing ring in her hand and scanning it to see how much it cost. She then carries it off camera and returns 10 seconds later empty handed. Hmmmm....

I check the next time she works and it so happens, she was on the schedule for tonight. I settled in for a long night. As I relocated a camera to take in a full view of the jewelry department, the employee calls off sick. Not just for tonight, but for the week. I guess if I knew I was about to be caught stealing a diamond ring, it would make me sick too.

Next we found two empty packages from $70.00 camcorders left in the trash can outside the fitting rooms. I viewed video and watched a girl cut the packages from the hook, carry them in her cart to the fitting rooms, and come out of the fitting rooms with a handbag just a little more filled than when she went in. Ten minutes later, we find the packages... close!

The rest of the day was busy with a crowded store most of the day, several people acting suspicious needed to be watched and followed. Of course a busy day wouldn't be complete if one of my two DVR's didn't crash. This suddenly left me with only half the cameras I started with. I spent several hours moving the lost cameras to a good dvr and eventually finished the shift with no apprehensions, or so I thought.

I left my office with car keys in hand, looking forward to a cold beer. I didn't even say goodbye to anyone, just walked out, got in the car, and began to drive away. For some reason, before I left the property, I thought I would take one lap around the building. As I drove around the last corner before leaving, I noticed two side doors to the garden center wide open. I thought to myself, I need to call the front desk and tell them to close them and set the alarms. I made my last turn, and glanced back toward the open doors. Suddenly, two boys came running out the doors, turned toward the back of the store and ran toward a neighboring rear parking lot. I nanchalantly pulled my Mustang up next to their little running feet.

"Hi there."

Their eyes were popping out of their heads when they realized I saw them.

"Why would you be coming out the back door and not the front doors?"

They both fumbled over their own version of their story. I quickly turned toward the bag they were carrying, and the receipt that was no doubt included. As I suspected, they only paid for two items, yet, they each held bags of candy in their hands, and the bag was still half full. I called the front desk and had the assistant manager meet us outside. We escorted the boys to my office where the parents were called. Soon, I had two embarassed kids, and two pissed off fathers in my office. Information was exchanged, the kids took the walk of shame through the store with dad within arms reach, and again, I walked out the door with my car keys in hand.

Pardon me while I get that beer now.

Should Feel Good About Three Easy Grabs Right? ...I Don't.

Sitting before the monitors in the office, I just happened to be scanning through cameras in the Health and Beauty Department, when into the aisle walks three young girls. The Red Flag painted on these girls was the fact that they were hustling quickly down the aisle, and turning back looking behind them, as if they wanted to see if anyone was watching. Two of the girls were carrying items already in their hands, while the third was carrying a back pack and a shopping bag from a different store. They all turned behind the end of the counter, out of view of the camera, and paused, as if hiding from view. At this point I left the office and headed toward their location. Just as I walked into the adjacent aisle, I could hear the girls, and one actually encouraged the others...

"Here, back here, there are no cameras here."

Although she was right, no cameras were mounted in that aisle, there was a camera a few aisles over pointed right at them. Not to mention, the Loss Prevention Manager was standing in the next aisle watching their every move through the overhead mirror. And it was in this aisle that they decided to place all of their newly selected merchandise into the shopping bag from the mall nearby. They left this department and scurried to the rear of the store into the stationary department. I left them alone briefly and called for the Assistant Manager and advised her what I had seen, and that I was planning on stopping the girls when they try to leave. I quickly slipped behind the Service Desk and picked up a security tag, which activates the alarms at the exit, and slipped it into my back pocket.

After a few minutes of hiding behind the Easter flower display, with one eye on the girls, they started their move toward the front of the store. I looked to my right across the front of the store, and saw the Assistant Manager, as well as the service desk employee awaiting my signal. I waved to them to tell them the girls were coming toward us, and turned toward the register as if I was checking out.

Just as they approached, the three girls split up, and two went to a register while the third, carrying a back pack and the shopping bag, turned toward the exit. I quickly walked through the register line and got to the door just as the girl did. As soon as I stepped into the doorway, the tag in my pocket tripped the alarms, and everyone came to a stop. I turned to the girl carrying the bags, who's eyes were now the size of silver dollars.

"Oh that must be something they forgot to deactivate, we'll have to check that bag, have your receipt?" I said to her so fast she had no idea where I even came from, or who I was.

"This bag isn't mine! I found it! I was bringing it up here to give to somebody!" the girl rattled off nervously. I responded just as quickly...

"Oh cool! You found it in here somewhere? Thanks!"

I took the bag of stolen merchandise and handed it to the sevice desk employee and asked him to look through it to see if any of the merchandise was ours...knowing without a doubt there was. As I was talking to the first girl, up come the second two, trying to walk around us with their purchases. I put out my arm and told them to hold up. They stopped, but not without an argument.

"What? We bought this stuff, look here is our receipts! We have money!" To top it all off, one of the girls began yelling at me...

"I am not a thief! I'm not!"

I scooped them all together and had them follow me to the detention room. There I began recording their information. As usual, the first round yielded three false names, two false date of births and two false phone numbers. I chuckled when the third girl had trouble spelling "Crutchfield" as her own last name. After I explained that the police would be called if I couldnt notify their parents, the information changed a bit. I then got real names, and real phone numbers.

I pulled all of the stolen merchandise from the shopping bag and placed it out on the desk. I asked if anyone had any more that belonged to us. The answer was no from all three.

As I was walking the first girl out to meet her parents, she advised me that the girl with the back pack still had stolen stuff in her bag, specifically, three more large packs of chewing gum. I thanked her for being honest and hustled back to the office.

"Okay, I just reviewed the video," I advised the remaining two girls. "I will ask one more time... Does anyone have ANYTHING else on them, or hidden somewhere, that belongs to this store?"

Slowly, the first girl's hands reached for her backpack, and pulled out three large combo packs of chewing gum.

"Is there anything else you haven't shown me, I need the absolute truth here... keep in mind, I saw the video, I know the answer to this question already."

Again, the girl reaches deep into her back pack and pulls out a make up kit, slowly handing it over to me. When it was all said and done, I had collected a loot worth a total of $45.00. I explained to the girls that had they stolen just five dollars more, I would be forced to contact the police department, and they would all be in handcuffs by now.

Waiting for the parents to arrive, it soon became apparent that these girls were more afraid of their parents, and their near future punishments, than what me or the police department would do. They even asked if I had kids, and what I would do to my kids if I got a phone call about them stealing. I muttered something about being grounded and having their phones taken away. They seemed shocked that my punishment was so easy to them.

"Would you beat them?"

I explained I would try never to beat my kids and that there is usually a better solution. They didn't understand that. One little girl looked up at me shyly...

"Wish you were my dad."

I wondered what was in this little girl's past that would make her think like that about a stranger, let alone a stranger who just caught her stealing.

"I'm gonna get beaten!" the two scared girls said in unison.

I was almost saddened that this was what these kids had to look forward to. Yes, they had done wrong, they admitted it, eventually, but was beating them the answer?

I grabbed the phone. It was the grandmother of one of the girls. She had received a message to call me and wanted to know what her granddaughter had done. After determining that she was the legal guardian of the girl, I explained the situation. Her response...

"You got a belt at that store?"

Soooo Close.

With two hours left in an otherwise dead shift... I glanced up at the monitor and noticed four people entering the electronics department. They seem to overtake the department as they all separated and entered different aisles. I sat up, not that my feet were up, and zoomed in on the shot of that department. I then noticed, it was two females, and two males. They wandered around the aisles then eventually gathered near the PSP, XBOX, NINTENDO display case. Ha! I remember you people!!

It suddenly dawned on me, our buddies with the fraudulent credit cards have visited us again! Just as they asked the employee for some help, I rang the phone at that register.

"Just give me a Yes or No...are they our credit card buddies again?"

"Yep."

I hung up and left the office preparing for another fraudulent transaction, and try to decide what I was going to do about it. I went right to the front door and planted myself between them and their exit. I wanted to notify the police department, but I wasn't sure if it was definitely the same people. I waited.

Eventually, all four left the store with nothing in their hands. I watched them walk to their car and dialed the electronics employee. I was advised they only asked questions about merchandise and never attempted to buy anything. Glad I didn't jump the gun and have them surrounded by police officers. However, something told me to keep an eye on these folks. From the front door, I watched them pile into a small white car with New York tags. This didn't surprise me since I knew they used rental cars every time they come in. So far, they haven't changed their M.O.

I nonchalantly walked to my car and as they pulled out of the lot, so did I. I kept my distance enough to see what direction they turned, but not close enough for them to realize I was still watching.

I saw them weave through traffic, which made it even easier to keep an eye on them, and finally get on a highway that leads right to our neighboring store. I called that store as I drove and gave them a heads up that these people were back in action, and just left my store. I then got stuck behind a slow moving truck and lost sight of them. Forunately, my sports car was a little bit faster than their four door sedan, and soon I was arriving outside the other store, just in time to see the four exiting their car again in their lot.

I called inside and told the LP there that I was outside, and that the four entering the store right now, was them. Unfortunately, the LP on duty was a new part time guy, who barely knew the history, and wasn't really sure who I was. I parked far away, and walked into a vestibule of the neighboring bookstore. From there I could watch the car, and outside the front door of the store. I advised the other LP, if he needs me, I would be waiting outside. We stayed in contact by cell phone, and he kept me overly-updated as to their actions inside his store. I knew when they reached the DVD aisle, when they walked toward the register, and when they picked their noses. It seemed this guy was all over them. He then told me they tried to buy something with a credit card, but the card was declined. They would be coming outside any minute, again empty handed.

I cracked open the bookstore door and peeked down the sidewalk to watch the four exit the store. Sure enough, they came out one behind the other and started walking across the lot. Suddenly, one of the girls turned around and walked back to the sidewalk, where there were several racks filled with clearance items. Just before the girl reached the sidewalk, a customer from the bookstore tried to come out of the store behind me. I stepped out, politely held the door for her, and stepped back inside. The next time I looked down the walk, I saw the girl walking away from the sidewalk carrying a large package containing a comforter toward the car.

I put the cell phne back to my ear...

"Hey, did she pay for that comforter she has?"

"What comforter?" the voice replied. "I wasn't watching, I was on another computer..."

He had one assignment: Watch these four people until they are gone. He rewound the video quickly and then said..

"No! I see it now! She just grabbed it off the rack and walked away!"

Yeah, no kidding. I watched as they all piled back in the car and began to pull away before the LP came outside to meet me. A stroke of luck then hit... I thought.

"They stopped right up there and went into the pizza joint! What do you want to do?" Translated: CALL THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, THEY ARE STILL HERE!

He pulled out his cell phone, and then said... "Wish I could get Steve to answer." Steve, the guy I often work with in cases like these, was off, and nowhere near the store, but this guy wanted to talk to him before stopping a shoplifter? I was stunned...and frustrated.

"Do you think we should get involved?" the new LP asked me.

"If this was my store, the police department would be here by now, but this is your store. You do what you do here. They are right there in the lot, I have a license plate if you want to give it to them..." His face looked scared to death. "Look, credit card transactions are one thing, but now they finally made a mistake and stole something from the store! If you call the police, I will back you up, it was my idea, do you want me to call?"

Finally, after debating for a few minutes, he dialed 911. As expected, the four then came out of the restaurant and walked to the car. I could hear the LP still explaining what store he was at. This wasn't going well.

Again, I stood on the curb and watched the car disappear into traffic as two police cars came screeching into the lot. I wanted to just get in my car and drive away. I watched as the LP explained his version of what happened to the two officers. I provided my name and said goodbye. Just as I opened my car door, one of the officers called to me.

"Next time you see these guys, or something like that happen, call us right away, don't wait."

Really?

Four Hours of Court I'll Never Get Back

So after a week or so waiting to see my Thousand Dollar Thief again, it was time to face him in court. I arrived at the court on tim,e and slid right through the bad guy riddled waiting room, and walked right through the door labelled "Authorized Personell Only." After frequenting this courtroom so many times in the past twelve months, I have decided, I am authorized. Nine times out of ten, on the other side of the door are police officers and/or constables I know.

I made my way through the hall, past the offices and into the courtoom through the back door. I took my seat on the side of the room quietly awaiting for my turn to have my name mispronounced across the room, so I can testify. In my hand was the folder for this incident. I reviewed the report so the facts were fresh in my mind.

Eventually, the Judge took his seat, the Assistant District Attorney's took their seats and one or two Public Defenders floated in and out of the room, each preparing a defense for the Crime of The Century, they were assigned.

A few DUI hearing waivers lead off the morning. The offenders would walk in dressed to the Nines...as I am sure they were when they were stopped for Drinking and Driving, and read the riot act by the Judge. After that, they are asked to sign an agreement that they will behave themselves and attend a class on not drinking and driving. In a few minutes, their day in court is finished. They then return to their cars...

Finally the criminal cases can begin. First, the continuances are continued, then the waivers are waived. Hearings are next. But as luck would have it, I am not the only Retail Theft hearing waiting. Mine is no doubt the highest dollar theft, but apparently that doesn't count. I have to sit through a few retail Theft hearings at stores near mine. First an LP from a local "Food Store" testified. Apparently...or allegedly, a guy and a gal entered his store and teamed up to take some Prilosec, Whitening Strips and Razors. A third person was waiting in the SUV in the Fire Lane. However, in this hearing, they were only pressing charges on one guy, who according to testimony I heard, didn't do anything illegal. I felt bad for the LP testifying as the Public Defender tore him a new one. Did you see my client take anything from your store? Did you see my client help anyone else take anything from your store? Did you see what he did with the merchandise he selected from the shelf? Unfortunately, all of the above answers were the same...NO.

If in preparation for any of my cases I found that my respsonses were no to any or all of those questions, I wouldn't be sitting on the witness stand. Somehow, after all of the testimony, cross examination and rebuttal, the Judge held the guy for trial. What case he was listening to, I am not sure, but if nothing else, it looked good for me and my case. I could tell it was going to be a good day for the prosecution.

Next, th DA's and the PD's left the room for a brief conference and it was decided the next client was pleading guilty, and waiving a hearing. Great! I thought. I may be moved up on the schedule. It was already an hour after past the hearing time, but I don't mind listening in on other hearings. I am on the clock, and after all, I watch Law and Order for a reason.

A long pause in the action takes place as the Public Defender consults with defendants, families, counselors, cell phones and Blackberry. The pause was long enough that the Judge himself excused himself and asked someone to call him when they were ready to proceed with something.

After another hour, a stenographer pushes through the door carrying his equipment. He began setting up at the front of the courtroom, within reach of the witness stand. This was a sign that whatever was about to happen, was the real deal. Until now, it was all preliminary hearing stuff. It soon became apparent that I was being pushed back on the agenda instead of up. This case that just came bustling through the door, was going before mine.

Turns out, all of the wandering around by the Public Defender, caused a huge backlog in the hearing schedule. As a result, my thief hadn't even been spoken to by the PD. Nothing can be done until that occurs. And now in the courtroom, was a real District Attorney, and a real Defense Attorney.

"Sorry about this.." the Asst. District Attorney said to me with a shrug of his shoulders. Seems they had to step aside while this real hearing was given the green light. Defendants, two of them, for this case were brought into the room cuffed and shackled. Witnesses were sequestered in rooms on the other side of the building. Me, I sat up straight and acted like I belonged there!

Turned out to be a hearing for two guys being charged with making a Meth Lab in their house. And in the small world category, these two defendants were the same two guys who visited my store in August to buy the ingredients for their Meth Lab. Detectives were called to the stand, Police Sergeants were called to the stand, then I was called out of the room.

The Asst. District Attorney had decided he wasnt staying. He had places to be, and that our hearing would either be continued to another date, or waived, and the guy would be held for trial. This, four hours after the scheduled hearing time.

I was about to ask if I could just go back in and observe the Meth Lab hearing, but then he mentioned he would just tell the Judge I had to be somewhere, and I already waitied four hours. This was his attempt to stay off the bad side of the court. Since he was still an intern, I didn't blame him, and gave him prermission to say I had to leave. Truth was, I had a "mandatory" LP meeting starting at 9am, and expected to last several hours. Now that it was 2pm, and I still hadn't even testified...I didn't really want to face the District Manager with that bit of news either.

We both exited the courtroom with a feeling of frustration. My frustration was slightly relieved when he made sure I knew my Thousand Dollar Thief would still be residing in the County Prison until we decided what to do about the hearing.

I then decided, we could put it off for a while, that was perfectly fine with me.

Career High Dollar Grab!

I was in the office trying to figure out what to do with my time, since the week before was overwhlemed with paperwork and inspections and audits, etc. This week was looking like it would be mostly shoplifting stuff, and hopefully my shoplifting dry spell would change. It didn't take long to realize this would definitely be the case.

I glanced up at the cameras covering our Health and Beauty aisle, and in walks a black male pushing an empty cart. Halfway down the aisle he stops, reaches out across the shelf and sweeps the shelf with his arm, pulling all of the Prilosec into his cart. He reached back again and pulled out a box of a dozen or so packages nd dumped the contents, and placed the empty box back on the shelf. He glanced around only once before pushing the cart out of the aisle. I left the office and walked into the area in time to see him enter the toothpaste aisle. Once again, he reaches out into the shelf, and sweeps all of the Crest Whitening Strips into his cart, and moves on. So far, he hasn't done anything illegal, but I did think this was a most interesting method of shopping. I did like the idea a little since it only took a minute to fill half of the cart, and there is nothing more that I hate than wasting time shopping for things. I am an in and out kind of guy, and apparently, so was this gentleman.

I followed the guy out of the department as he grabbed two boxes of ALLI on his way by. He didn't act nervous, just hurried. He never stopped long enough to see if anyone was watching. He turned into our Pantry aisle and it was there he removed a large white plastic bag from his pocket, and filled it with the items from the cart. He seemed oblivious to anyone nearby, he was just on a mission.

I watched from the end of the aisle as he finished, then grabbed an energy drink from the shelf, and tossed that in the bag as well. He was walking right toward me at the front of the store, and I quickly grabbed a movie off a nearby display and pretended to be searching for a good viewing choice for the evening. He pushed the cart by me, and turned into a closed register line. I looked up from the movies just as he looked back and made eye contact with me. This was enough for him to change his mind, and he pulled the cart back out of the line and headed back toward the pantry.

In an effort to avoid being seen by him again, I walked to the front desk and informed the associate there what I thought was happening. He left the desk and began his surveillance of the man walking through pantry. I waited near the desk so I was in a position to see him go for the front door, but time passed with no sign of him or the associate.

I left the front desk and walke across the front of the store hiding behind the registers, trying to see wheere either of the two were. Just them the alarm at the front desk started beeping, usually alerting us to an open door somewhere in the store. I came out of hiding and looked back at the desk to hear where the alarm was coming from.

"Door Alarm Garden Center, Door Alarm Garden Center" a voice came acoss the PA system. I immediately turned and ran from the registers to the side wall and sprinted to the rear of the store. It didn't take a fraction of a second to realize what this guy just did. I cut through a stockroom and popped outside through a fire exit adjacent to the Garden Center where I was met by the Front Desk Associate coming out the Graden Center door.

"He just ran across the back of the building!" he yelled to me.

"Was it the same guy we were watching?" I wanted to make sure I knew who we were looking for.

He nodded his head and ran toward the rear of the building as I pulled my cell phone out and ran toward the front in case he was coming back around to his car. As I ran across the front sidewalk, I dialled 911. We were already outside th store, and I knew we would need some help catching this character. Between heavy breaths, I was able to provide a description of the guy and direction he was seen running. Just as I made the lap to the opposite side of the building I saw him making his way up a muddy hill to the parking lot behind our store. I continued running and again met up with the associate following him. We continued this halfassed pursuit into the shopping center lot behind our store. I didn't really want to catch up to him, but I did want to keep an eye on him so the Police Department could catch up to him.

Just as I crested the muddy hill and emerged between the trees into the next lot, two police cars screamed past me with the lights flashing. I hung up on the dispatcher and pointed toward the parking garage I saw him run into... still carrying his large white bag stuffed with my merchandise.

I stopped for a moment as the cars assembled in the lot. I figured five police cars could move alot faster than me running, so I stopped and waited right where I was. Sure enough, one of the police cars that flew past me returned to pick me up. They had successfully stopped the guy before he made it to the next store, and had him cuffed on the asphalt. As we approached the crowd, the officer in my car asked...

"Do you recognize anyone here?"

I almost laughed. There were five uniformed police officers, and a black guy wearing a black hoodie leaning over the hood of a police car, with his hands cuffed behind his back. Are you kidding? Hard choice! I positively identified the man as the guy I saw filling the bag with Prilosec. The man was hauled away to the police station as I was asked to go through the bag and determine if it was all merchandise from my store. Of course it was.

I took possession of the bag of goods, and got a ride back to the store. I walked in with the bag over my shoulder like Santa Claus arriving with a sack filled with gifts. I poured the bag out at the front desk and had the associate scan all of the items. My smile grew larger and wider as the count went on and on.

Finally, the grand total of stolen, but recovered, merchandise came to $975.00. Until then, my highest amount recovered was approximately $600.00.

This little visit to the neighboring parking lots certainly turned out to be well worth the trouble, and exercise.

I compared my video of the incident with photos from a similar incident at a neighboring store. Unfortunately, he took the same amount there, same merchandise there, just didn't get caught there.

I was later advised by the arresting officer that this man, 45 years old, was from New York, and couldn't make bail. He would be spending the week in the County Prison, until we will meet again for the Preliminary Hearing where I get to brag about catching him on the witness stand.

Dry spell ended.

This Just In...

Update to the "Tip of The Day" dated 2/4/10:

Today, I received a text in the middle of the afternoon... it read:

"Think we ID'd your thieves from the Technical School - Call me"

It was from the Detective who took me through the school after a student left my store with a Webcam in his pocket. As we talked on the phone he emailed me a photo of one of the students they thought might match the video I had from the store. I quickly brought up the photo and rewound the video to the day of the theft. I called an assistant manager to the office to get a fresh, unbiased pair of eyes to look at the photo and match it with someone in the video. It was a match to both of us.

Soon, the police department will visit the school, and pull this young man out of class and grill him about the incident. Hopefully, this too will put me back in court soon, listening to the defendant plead guilty.

I will just want to yell..."Surprise!!"

Continued No More!

Another Tuesday spent in the courtroom.

For the fourth time, I was subpoenaed to testify for the guy who used the stroller to hife merchandise, and then decided we would wrestle our way through the vestibule until the police department grabbed him up trying to run away. Several time before I had reported to the court for him, only to be told the case was being continued becaue he was represented appropriately. I always thought you would be assigned a Public Defender when you couldn't afford a proper attorney, but I guess I was wrong.

So finally, I am at the court, the bad guy is seated in the waiting room when I arrive, so I don't even slow down there. I walk right through the waiting room and enter the courtroom. Not only does this put me with the guys on the right side of law, but it also says I am here and ready for the case to begin.

Of course, the DA comes up to me and asks if its okay that he put a case before mine, and I agreed. Afterall, I am getting paid no matter how long I am sitting in the courtroom. So, I sat there and observed as a case of Stolen Identity, Forgery, False reports, etc was played out before me. I watched as a Police Officer testified about responding to an auto accident, then receiving false information from one of the vehicle operators, now, the female sitting at the Defense table.

They would end up debating back and forth about a detail of the way the law is worded and after close review by the Judge, the charge of Identity Theft was thrown out. The Prosecutor was not happy.

Finally, after every possible delay they could think of, it was time for my case of the Baby Stroller Assault Theft and Assault. Before the case moved an inch, the Defense Attorney and Prosecutor stepped into a conference room. Moments later, the District Attorney came out and discussed the possibility of dropping the charge of Endangering the Welfare of a Child. I pictured in my mind, how this guy shoved me to the ground, pushed the occuppied babystroller into me as he tried to get out of the store, wrestled with me out onto the sidewalk and finally fleeing on foot dragging the stroller behind him. How is this NOT endangering the child? The arresting police officer and the DA both agreed it will be very hard for this charge to stick. I voiced my opinion, but yielded to their expertise in the matter.

The deal was, if we dropped the Endangering Charge, he would plead guilty to Robbery, Assault, Retail Theft, and Harassment. I took the four guilty pleas to one dropped charge. The remaining charges would be brought up at trial in about a month, unless he makes another agreement about the sentencing without a trial.

Next up... the trial to be held for the young shoplifter who decided it would be necessary to spray mace into my face. Can't wait to see how the law gets twisted around these charges!

Funny Thing Happened On My Way Home...

Today, as planned, I reviewed video of the shift before, hoping to acquire a good shot of the movie thief. As luck would have it, I have plenty of footage of him buying his ring, and wandering around the store looking for the bathroom, but somehow, he, like an odd number of the bandits I deal with, avoids every camera like the plague. He walks right under several of them, but each time he is either looking down, or away. So, we have to pass on the photograph idea.

I spend the rest of the day relaying the story to employees who weren't there and those who heard about it and came to me for the juicy details. By the time the end of my nine hour shift arrived I had just about forgotten about the movie thief. Walking to my car in the lot I noticed the sun wasn't all the way down yet. I thought to myself, it will be nice to get home while the sun is still in the air. Before I left the lot, I decided to do a lap around the building. This is recommended by the higher ups, because sometimes they are able to catch an unsuspecting thief walking out the rear doors, or in the back hiding items in the bushes, etc.

I lap the building every time I close the store for the night, but when the store is still open, I don't usually make the trip around the building. For some reason, I decided to do it this evening. I checked all of the fire exits and found each one clear. I turned the last corner and was approaching the last door before I peeled away from the building and headed home.

Mounds of snow sat melting nearby. As I passed the last one, something caught my eye. Something in the snow was reflecting from the sun and shining at me. I slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car.

Sure enough... there sat the three discs I told the Police Dispatcher the thief would have in his pockets. One by one, I dug them out of the snow.
First, "The Marine," then "The Proposal" and ironically, thirdly, "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."

Something he was not.

All that effort for nothing. Case closed...advantage...me.

Almost a Good Start to March

March was almost kicked off with a bang. But, as my recent luck would have it, it fell through and did nothing but piss me off after my first shift of the month.

The day plugged along with the liveliness of a typical Tuesday morning, with the exception of one group of hispanic guys perusing the Electronics Department to perk me up temporarily. After following these guys for about thirty minutes, I determined they would not be helping my apprehension stats, and were only in the store to buy something...of all things.

With only an hour left in my shift, I noticed a white guy hanging around the Jewelry counter. After a few minutes of studying his actions, I saw the Jewelry employee helping him with purchasing a ring. As I did most of my last hours, I was hanging around the front desk watching people as they arrived at the store, and watching others leaving. I noticed subconsciously, the ring buyer made his way outside with his small bag in hand. I walked outside to do a weather check, since we were expecting rain, and saw the same guy walking back across the sidewalk toward the front entrance again.

I stepped inside and walked to the Jewelry counter to alert the employee.

"The next guy walking through the door...is this your customer from a few minutes ago?" I asked leaning over the glass counter. We both glanced over toward the door as the white guy wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and baggie jeans entered.

She nodded to me and we noticed he wasn't coming back to the Jewelry counter as I had expected. He turned and walked toward the center of the store. For a moment I thought it was strange he had returned, but then again, I have left stores before I was actually done getting everything I wanted. I didn't think of him again, and returned to the front desk.

I started looking for the Assistant Store Manager to let her know I was about to leave the store for the day. I found her in the pantry pulling expired merchandise from the shelves. Like usual, we entered into a conversation about the problems with store policy and leadership, when the employee from the front desk paged me. Every employee knows, if there is an urgent problem, as in a shoplifter or suspicious person in the store, they are not to use my name, they use the number "300." This particular page was my name. This meant it was nothing too importnat, and I could take my time getting back to them. Within thirty seconds, a second page went out...

"300 call 366, 300 call 366."

I was only a few steps away from the front desk and I hustled up looking for a signal from the employee watching for me. He picked up the phone and dialed 366, holding the receiver out for me as I approached the counter.

"Hello, whats up?" I said quickly as the phone picked up on the other end. I knew by the extension number that I was calling the Layaway Register, but I had no idea why, or who.

"Umm..I am having a problem with my register..." the female voice I recognized as the second Assistant Manager, but I could tell something was wrong. Not to mention, I have nothing to do with fixing registers.

"Do you need me back there, yes or no?"

"Yes." the voice replied. I hung up immediately and started for the back of the store. I made it into the next department when I heard the Service Desk employee call out to me. I turned and looked back as he once again held the phone receiver out for me to get. I jogged back and grabbed the phone from his hand.

Before I could get any words out...

"You have a white guy in black hoodie, just came out of the bathroom, he was opening packages in the bathroom, he's walking through the pantry right now..." the assistant manager rattled off.

I hung up the phone, repeated what I had heard to the guy working the desk, and together we positioned ourselves for a stop near the exit. As soon as I turned to look toward the pantry, there he was walking toward me. And as shocking as it may be, it was the ring buyer from earlier. I turned away from him and walked slowly toward the door, and soon he passed me and stepped into the vestibule. My partner from the Service Desk had already made it outside and I could see him approaching.

I walked up behind the hooded guy and called out to him before he made it through the second exit...

"Excuse me buddy... hang on one second?" He turned back to see who was talking, but never stoppede walking out the door.

"Can you stop for a second so I can talk to ya?" I asked.

He turned and looked at me very confused.

"I work here at the store, I just want to ask you something..." I tried several approaches to get him to atleast slow down. Again, he looked back at me, but kept walking away from me...

"Is that a no? Can't you just stop for one minute so I can talk to ya?" He turned back and said, "What do you want, I have to go," and never stopped walking.

"If you stop and talk to me I will explain..."

"Look, I just bought something in here and you are about to mess things up for me with my girlfriend..." he stopped long enough to get the words out and for his girlfriend to appear from out of nowhere and walk up behind me.


"I know what you bought and it has nothing to do with that, I am not saying anything about that if you just give me a minute..." He finally stopped halfway across the front of the store.

"What were you doing in the bathroom, I know you were opening stuff in there..." he interrupted my talking and again started walking away. "Were you opening what you bought from earlier?" I offered that to him and as soon as the words left my lips, I wanted them all back.

"Yes! Thats what I was doing in there...now can I go?" That was too easy for him. I should have never given him an out. With a slight doubt of whether he really stole something, I decided to let him go. Maybe he really was in there taking the ring out of the package and getting ready to give it to her. Not watching where he went when he returned to the store, I couldnt be sure. As I walked back into the store, I saw the assistant manager running toward the front desk carrying movies in her hand.

"These were in the toilet!" she said holding them out to me. She handed me the empty packages for three DVD movies. It was then I decided I was right the first time, he was stealing something and concealing it in the bathroom.

"Hey hang on a second!" I yelled again as I walked out the door again. The two stopped and turned to see what I wanted. I looked at the girlfriend who honestly looked confused about all of the drama. "Can I borrow him for one second?"

She stepped back and the guy walked back to me, surprisingly.

"How about the movies, you telling me you didn't take movies into the bathroom with you?"

"I don't lknow anything about that..." he said as he turned back around and kept walking away from me again.

"Its either cooperate with me, or you have to explain it all to the police when they pull up next to ya...I really don't want to get them involved." Honestly, I wanted nothing more than a police officer to pull up about now, but I thought I could use that to slow this guy down. Somehow it seemed he knew our hands off policy, and he did nothng but just keep walking away from me, and I couldnt do a damned thing about it.

As the couple turned the corner at the end of the building I called the Police Department. Within minutes, police cars flew past in the direction the couple was last seen walking. Moments later, a police car pulled up outside the front door of the store.

"You wanna take a ride?" the officer asked me, meaning they had located someone for me to identify as the actor. I jumped into the back of the car and we drove back behind the store. In the parking lot adjacent to ours, two other police cars were stopped and two people stood in front of the cars. As we pulled up slowly, I looked closely at the face of the guy standing with his black hood up over his head. Unfortunately, it wasn't him.

I returned to my store, with all of the employees waiting to hear the good news, but none was coming. Not yet any way.

Tomorrow, I will review the video, and provide the police department with a good photo of him. Then, if they run into him, there will be an apprehension. If not, that girl will get a new ring, and a few movies on us.

But I must think, when all is said and done, does she really want a ring from a guy who steals movies from a retail store? I hope someday I will meet them again in court, and find out.

My February Goes Out Like a Tortise

So yeah... February has come and gone, and I tallied up a big fat goose egg in the apprehension category. The only thing I have to show is the investigation, which is ongoing, and growing, into a fraudulent credit card ring hitting several stores in our area. Although this may yield a wonderful apprehension or multiple apprehensions, at some point, the fact remains I just went an entire month with no shoplifting or employee arrests.

The closest I came was on the last day of the month, at the beginning of the last hour of my shift. I was alerted by my Service Desk employee that a girl they had problems with before had just entered the store. The last time this girl was here she tried scamming the new cashier, and blamed him for overcharging her by ringing her up twice., As a result, she walked away with free merchandise, before I could review the video. Once I saw the video, it was clear she pulled a fast one on the cashier, confusing him just enough to ger her way.

This time I saw her as she paced the aisles in the Health and Beauty Department. I took a position opposite her in the aisle next to her, using the ceiling mirror to observe her. She seemed to be nervous about something, and paced back and forth before taking a bottle of Body Wash off the shelf. she then moved from this aisle to the Shampoo aisle, where she again did some pacing before choosing a few items. I kept an eye on her as she left the department and headed for the registers. I quickly grabbed a shampooo myself, and walked right up behind her in line. I wanted to watch her transaction first hand, without her even knowing she had more than just the cashier watching her. Unfortunately, the transaction went smoothly. I stepped up and placed the fake shampoo purchase on the counter and told the cashier to take the next person before me, as I watched the girl ahead of me walk toward the exit. Then it finally happened. She glanced back behind her, then at the last minute before stepping through the exit, she turned left, and back onto the salesfloor, this time carrying a bag from her first purchase with her.

I quickly left the line, and scurried down the aisle to see where she went. As I passed the Service Desk, the employee nodded toward the Cosmetics aisles, knowing I was in a slow pursuit of this girl. I walked past the Cosmetics Department and walked into the department next to it, and again used the mirrors to observe the girl fingering lip stick, eye shadow, and other make up. I was just waiting for her to pick one or two up and drop it into the bag with the merchandise she had already purchased. In my head, I had already played out the argument she would offer me when I stopped her leaving the store. I could hear her protesting saying she had bought everything in the bag. My heart beat actually quickened, realizing I would soon have my February apprehension...until that friendly, smiling coworker decided, of all days and times, to approach her and ask if there was anything she could help her with. She politely declined, tucked the bag under her arm, and walked directly to the exit, with only the original merchandise in the bag.

As I watched the girl leave the store, in my head I could hear the ticking of the 60 minutes clock. Only this time, the second hand was ticking away on my first apprehension-less month since starting this position. My streak has ended.

Fraud, Fraud...and more Fraud

Since I last chatted...I am saddened to admit, there have been no more apprehensions. As in, not one in the month of February. This time last year I had three under my belt. (By the way, February 9 marked my one year anniversary as Police Chief of my retail store. I ended the year with 20 shoplifter apprehensions, five employee apprehensions, one macing and two lacerated elbows).

Instead of straight up theft apprehensions, apparently the white collar crimes have picked up. Every day, it seems, I am walking into yet another fraudulent transaction investigation.

We have an assortment of people involved. I have a white mother and daughter coming in and shopping for an hour, loading up two shopping carts with merchandise, and proceeding to the register line. Once in line, they produce a tupperware container filled with coupons, and from it, matches almost every piece of merchandise with a coupon. As a result, two shopping carts cost them $2.32. That is not a typo. Just in case you didn't see it the first time, two shopping carts loaded with merchandise cost a total of $2.32.

So, using coupons isn't against the law. That really comes under the "smart shopper" column. However, they don't stop there. Over the past weeek, it has become apparent, through diligent review of video tapes, (because there are no shoplifters in the store...I have to do something), I notice the same coupon duet, returning merchandise the next day, shopping for another hour, and repeating the same procedure again. Suspicious? How many times do you need to shop for two cart loads of merchandise in a week? So I examine the situation closer. This is where I find the real problem for us, benefit for them.

When they return ten items the next day, they are getting the full price for the items back in a gift card. If you recall, their total order came to $2.32. Their return of just ten of the items yielded them %15.84. I am terrible at Math, but that seems like they made off with about $13.00 of which they never paid for to begin with. Innocent mistake? Maybe they aren't trying to make a profit, and it's cashier error, or paperwork error, etc etc... However, there is one more finding... when they go back shopping the next time, they purchase the same things they just returned! Verdict: Scam. Investigation continuing...

I also have two black females, and one or two black males who have joined efforts in their operation. I was approached the other day by an employee who was assigned to our Electronics Counter. The only reason he came up to me was because he needed a manager to unlock the Electronics Stockroom, and it happened to be me doing it for him. If this didn't cause our paths to cross that night, I really wonder if I would have ever heard from him. As I walked away from the stockroom, after unlocking it for him, he calls out to me...

"Question for ya!"

I stopped and walked back through to the back hallway to listen intetntly to his question, which I fully expected to be rivetting, if not totally random.

"Are we allowed to accept VISA gift cards whe they purchase PSP's and DSI's...and..."

I stopped him mid-sentence.

"I have a VISA gift card, are you going to stop me from buying whatever it is I want with it?"

He started to walk away with his tail between his legs but then paused and addded that he just had a customer who bought four PSP's with his gift card.

"Are you kidding me? You already made the transaction, and then think to ask if its okay that you did?" I was shocked, but knew his history of doing dumb things, so it really wasn't too shocking. "And let me ask this... someone who buys a stack of PSP game systems at 200 dollars a piece, with a gift card...does this raise any red flags with you at all? Other than whether you are allowed to take the gift cards?"

"Well it just happened, literally a few minutes ago..." he replied trying to save himself.

"So the customer has already left huh?" he just stared back at me. "So, no, it didn't raise any flags huh?, nothing suspicious about a guy buying numerous game systems with a gift card..."

He stuttered and stammered for minutes, until I finally walked away shaking my head. I had suddenly been given yet another investigation... and I just wished he didn't have anything to do with it.

I checked video of the transaction he was speaking of. A black male walks into the store alone, walks directly to the CD and DVD aisle and paces up and down. When the employee walks by, he suddenly walks out and aks him about the game systems which are locked in the display case on the other side of the department. The employee helps him out, and brings out the four he asks four, adds a few other DVD's and rings him up. This transaction comes to over 650 dollars. The customer pays for the merchandise with a card, later identified as a VISA gift card. He is handed a bag filled with merchandise and he walks out of the store with it. I try to get a good shot of the customer and get a still photo of him incase the card comes back stolen. Experience shows purchases like these are often done with stolen cards.

I check the time and realize I am due at the neighboring store to help interview an employee who is accused of stealing merchndise. I grab my coat and head back out of the office, doing one more lap through Electronics before I leave the store "unprotected."

As I started toward Electronics, I saw another employee walking quickly toward me, sorta signalling me with his fingers. As he walked by me he whispered...

"There's a girl in Electronics trying to buy a bunch of PSP's..."

Only fifteen minutes had passed since the first guy made his purchase. I instantly thought they could be working together. I did a lap down the back aisle so she wouldnt see where I was coming from. I came out and walked right behind her standing at the counter, waiting to be rung up. She was a thin black girl in her late twenties with a pony tail sticking out of her baseball cap. Before she turned to see me, I kept walking straight to the service desk by the front door. My mission now was to see what car they got into and hopefully get a license plate.

Since I was leaving for another store anyway, I waited for the girl to walk behind me out the door, then I walked out behind her, pulling my car keys out as I walked. She walked straight out toward the far end of the lot as I walked left toward my car. I peeked over to her as I acted like I was unlocking my car door, and saw her throw her bag of merchandise into the trunk of a silver Dodge Charger. She then walked up the passenger side and got in the front. I jumped into my car and pulled up behind them as they sat at the red light at the exit from the lot. I typed their license plate into my cell phone as we tunred out of the lot and sent it to the LP I was about to meet. At that point I thought I was done with the case for a while.

Once I arrived at the other store, I asked for the information I had sent over the cell phone, explaining the situation we had with the gift card purchases. As luck would have it, the scenario sounded familiar to him as well, and within a minute I was being shown video of the same people making purchases in this store too. The case just doubled...

I called back to the Electronics Department and asked about the transactions. I wanted in detail what was bought, how it was bought and how it all went down. It was then I learned that I didn't have two people making purchases, I had three. One male and two females. By the time the Electronics Department employee stopped me to ask about gift cards, he had already rung up the first two people for about 700 dollars each. The third girl left with about 600 dollars of video game systems.

The next day, I started right in on investigating and documenting the three transactions. I found the receipts for each transaction, complete with times, merchandise bought, cards used and amounts. On video I saw the guy, and the two girls. While reviewing it for the fourth or fifth time, I noticed something odd. Each time the person was making the purchase, they were talking on a cell phone. Then, I noticed, as the man and the first female was being rung up, the thin female with the pony tail, walked into the store on her cell phone, hung out near the front of the store, then slowly meandered out behind the one carrying the merchandise.

As I was reviewing the transactions, I got a call from the LP at another store which isn't in our district. He was explaining to me about a customer using a stolen gift card. Once he stopped, I described the case I was looking at and of course, it sounded very similar. One way to tell was for him to look at my video. A few hours later, he stopped in to my office and I pulled up the video. Sure enough, the same day they were in my store, they were also in his attempting the same thing. The big difference in the transactions is the fact that in addition to game systems, the male also tried to buy two 50 inch Tv's at the other store. Once the employees began asking questions, the guy left the store, leaving the TV's he had purchased with the card, behind on a flatbed.

The visiting LP added that each time someone came in to make a purchase with the gift cards, the pony tailed girl acted as lookout, watching their back. It made me wonder what she was prepared to do if the people were stopped. Would she just warn them and run, or is she armed and ready to help the other ones get away?

So, for now, we have them making purchases for over $6000.00 in the other district, $2000.00 in my store, and we are still checking video in other stores.

With any luck, we can help the Police Department make some arrests for Fraud, ID Theft, Theft by Unlawful Taking, Forgery and many more charges I may have never even heard of.

It's not as fun as beating someone to the front door and surprising them... but it's still taking a bite outta crime. And it would be nice to be able to say I have been spending my time this month saving the store some money.

Stay tuned...