Shoplifting Policy Example: Fill & Download for Free

An Apple employee won’t try and stop you, Apple store’s do have security people though who may stop you if they notice you before you leave the store. If you do happen to leave the store though most Apple employees or security people won’t bother pursuing you, because any apple product you could steal (you’d only be able to steal the tech products on the floor) that’s worth anything (money wise) has an inbuilt security system that will cause an alarm to go off in the product & disable the product once it leaves the store’s wifi meaning that, you will be unable to use the product, it will be dead, worth nothing. Most people end up bringing back the product they’ve stolen because the alarm is so annoying, when this happens we employees don’t say anything simply thank you and goodbye.If for example, security notices you stealing say accessories e.g. phone case etc before you’ve exited the store you will be stopped. but this hardly happens as it’s rare to see an area of the store un manned by an Apple employee, this is done for a reason: to deter shoplifting. I have on occasion found an empty phone case box, meaning someone most likely stole the case, but since its such a small product not such a big deal is made, it’s simply listed as stolen on stock forms. however, this doesn’t happen much for the reasons listed above.

It comes down to company policy and procedures. For example, one big box store, the policy clearly states no employee is authorized to attempt to stop, stop, detain or take any action against a shoplifter. Policy goes on to say security must be notified. This same big box store has fired people for simply following the shop lifter to their vehicle to obtain a tag number. Said the employee was in pursuit of a shoplifter and that was not tolerated by company policy.Then you also have to take into consideration the laws that allow citizens to make an arrest.So this particular question is rather complex and there is no simple clear cut answer.The best answer would be yes, no, maybe so.

This is a classic example of “Begging the Question.”It wasn’t really decriminalization.What it actually is was likely not a mistake.There is no reason to believe that anything is going to be changed.I’m unsure if we can call what happened “decriminalization.”Decriminalization: the action or process of ceasing to treat something as illegal or as a criminal offense. Shoplifting in San Francisco is still illegal. It is also still punished the same. The difference is that some shoplifting is considered a felony and some of it is a misdemeanor. Prop 47 changed the dollar value at which a crime is escalated to a felony. If you shoplift at all in SF, you can expect to be arrested and/or fined. What changed under Prop 47 was the amount you had to steal to meet the threshold to make it a felony. The penalty stayed the same.Was Prop 47 a mistake?I guess you have to decide if you think that a homeless person who steals a few hundred dollars in goods should be convicted of a felony—but if you decide that they should, remember that everything is bigger in Texas, INCLUDING THEIR LIMIT. That’s right. California raised their limit from $450 to $950. Texas has had their limit at $2,500 for a long time. If you’re going to lambast SF for this so-called “decriminalization,” you’re going to have to yell at the Lone Star State first. Just remember, they have a saying:I mean… you could ignore all of that and just rip into San Francisco anyway, but why use this topic? There are other issues you can be upset about. I once drove around North Beach for two hours looking for a parking spot.Will SF be able to “reverse course?”Jeez, I hope not. See… throwing someone in prison isn’t cheap. Be aware that it costs $80,000 to throw someone into jail for a year.[1][1][1][1] The misdemeanor that now goes up to $950 (and used to be about half that) has a sentencing guideline of either six months in jail or a $1,000 fine (maybe both). The felony? That’s going to be three years and $10,000. So… overall, that’s going to run us about $240,000 if you get them for a felony for stealing $500 of trendy clothing.That $240,000? That’s MY MONEY. I’m a taxpayer. Every time I go to the store, I pay out an extra 7.5% to taxes. Every April, the California tax man PUNCHES ME IN THE FACE. Then the federal tax man PUNCHES ME AGAIN. So that’s my money that goes to punish some guy by throwing him in jail for three years instead of six months. When that’s over, he has to then say that he’s a felon every time he applies for a job, so he’s likely to just keep committing crimes when he cannot get a job.Do you really think a criminal is sitting there with an abacus trying to figure out how to stay under that $950 cap that swings him into the next tax—I mean sentencing bracket? Of course not! Also note this is just for shoplifting. Similar crimes like B&E and robbery still have the same penalties they always did. Armed with that knowledge, I guess the answer is… never. I don’t ever see it changing.Note:A lot of this information came from Was Bold Drugstore Shoplifting Incident in SF Due to 'No Arrest' Policy? I would suggest reading it and investigating Snopes’ sources. Be sure not to argue that Pew is a liberal source. That dog won’t hunt.Footnotes[1] Legislative Analyst's Office[1] Legislative Analyst's Office[1] Legislative Analyst's Office[1] Legislative Analyst's Office