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.