Got Caught Stealing, But Allowed to Pay

sounds good.

But like I said it's his knowledge of the previous theft thats bugging me at this point. I know realistically, (though possible) he's not going to let me pay for the items, walk out of the store, and then send me a letter a week later that says that I'm in trouble for concealing items. I'm like 99.9% certain that he would have arrested me right there if he had wanted to.

Also, he didn't really ask about or monitor my method of payment, just that I was at the register. And once he saw I was being helped and she was scanning the items, he actually walked away. Not before communicating with several other employees and pointing at me though. I could have paid cash for all he knew. He didn't seem too concerned.

I didn't even drive away in a car, I had walked there, so theres no way they're going to get plates or anything. I'm probably worrying myself sick over nothing. He did bring up arrest as the first order of business in the conversation...and then didn't do anything about it. At worst I'm sure my name is on file there or something and i'll just never return. At least not for 2 years.

Ok, I've been doing a little more browsing and came across the 6 steps for LP outlined perfectly clearly for me. For the first instance of theft, there were no officers that apprehended me or anything, and I know there was nobody following me (though they obviously got it on camera, I stupidly left evidence behind and naturally they probably searched security tapes to see when the thing was stolen after seeing the evidence. So I guess in that case I "got away with it" so to speak.

In this latest case, I didn't pass the POS, which is why I'm guessing the guy didn't try to take me back and call the police, and let me go and pay for the items...I even read that in some places, simply ditching the stuff before you leave is enough for the LP to back down and go back to observing others. First priority is retrieving the stuff and not apprehending someone who was going to potentially steal. Unless there are some kind of concealment charges he felt like getting me on later... but I don't know why he'd wait to do that. He could have probably gotten me for the earlier crime if he felt his case was solid enough against me for the previous crime, but I guess he didn't. Does anyone know the laws on concealment in Texas? Its probably unlikely that I'll have to deal with any repercussions for this act other than my own paranoia which still isn't gone yet by any means. Also I just feel like a terrible person and will never ever do this again, like I said. Lesson definitely learned. This is the first big mistake I've ever made, and the last I'll make that's anything like it.

But still, I'm curious about how concealment works in Texas. Could he have gotten me right then and there if he had wanted to or was he basically bound by his job description and the store's fear of civil liability to not do anything unless I left? I guess the policy varies from store to store, but from what I read it seems the 6 steps or some variation of it can be applied pretty universally.

The "six steps" vary by company...some have 5. Generally companies do not want shoplifters stopped on the floor as it has too high a chance of causing a scene. I'm not sure exactly how TX's statute reads but in some states, concealment alone would be enough for a responding officer to go to the floor and detain someone. Also passing the POS, with some companies, can be excepted such as if the person goes for the bathroom stopping them before they enter.

Most companies I know of don't have uniformed security make stops so that may be why he let you go with paying for it. He may have been aware of who you are from your previous theft and took it upon himself to give you what one company calls "aggressive guest service" although that isn't supposed to involve outright accusing someone. They usually have specially trained LP people who are the only ones allowed to do so.

From the second I saw him I knew that he was looking for me. He was chilling right at the checkout, and I was about 20 feet from the first station. He looked at me as he was talking on his radio and didn't even try to act like his eyes weren't locked on mine, and I walked away. Normally I'd have played it cool and pulled out the concealed item and paid for it without being prompted, but the concealment was a fairly obvious one, and the place where it was hidden...well it would have been really awkward fishing the items out from that location at checkout to pay for them. Not to mention I had cut the tags and didn't want to cause a fuss at the checkout over pricing issues, which is why i tried evading him. Of course as soon as i turned the corner, he started walking after me and he followed me through 3 different departments.

Its probably for the best that I didn't flee of they'd have probably been more "aggressive" towards me. I happen to know the specific company has a dress code for normal employees, and he was wearing something that did not fit the dress code, but had the company logo on it. That makes me guess that he was a security guard or LP or whatever, but who knows, he could have been specially trained. Actually come to think of it, I've been in this building before, and had seen them employing security guards essentially decked out in police like uniforms, nothing like what this guy was wearing, so he could very well have been specially trained.

I didn't really know there were really rules about accusing someone though. I mean I figured if he had reasonable cause to accuse (which he did) he could have done so, training or no. To get a little more in depth about what he actually said, he told me to empty everything i was carrying and then told me he had "seen everything [i] had been dropping." Then he asked me why I did it, and if I wanted to go to jail, etc. and that's when I offered to pay. I didn't really think that would work, but in retrospect and after reading about the 6 steps, I'm guessing it was because I wasn't anywhere near the POS. I was 20 feet from the nearest register.

Like I said, not sure about concealment law in Texas, have really been trying to find something about it, but concealment and texas arent exactly the most specific google search terms.

Do you think you can go a little morein depth about the "aggressive guest service" thing? You've piqued my curiosity about that terminology. I'm siginifcantly less worried they're going to pursue me, but I still want to educate myself about this, and all my friends who tell me how easy stealing is and everything. Want to make sure they stop so the same thing doesnt happen to them.

The "aggressive guest service" does not refer to physical aggression. It simply means giving the person a huge amount of guest service to let them know the employees are aware of their actions and to try to scare them into ditching whatever they have.

If the person that stopped you was not in a security uniform, it may have been an LP manager or other such higher up. Again, letting the person pay is far from SOP so I'm guessing this person was off the reservation so to speak on his actions. But I wasn't there so I can't say for sure.

Oh yeah it was almost like he was purposely making himself known without making himself known directly. Someone would have to be an idiot not to realize they were being followed by this guy. He had his walkie talkie or radio or whatever turned up to max volume and he would mutter and it would beep very loudly at regular intervals. If he was trying to follow me without being noticed, he was doing an atrocious job of it, so its very possible he wanted me to know of his presence.

You got burned. Of course the lp wanted to make himself known. If not he would have surprised you at the exit.

He does things like I used to. I could care less about catching a shoplifter, I wanted the stuff back and the person to leave. Knowledge is power and the thief knowing that I knew is enough to get them to avoid the store I work at for a while.

See I used to get rated on my loss numbers, so while I convinced a lot of people to not steal, my peers caught a lot of people - 700 to 800 people a year per store. Me, my team nabbed 67 shoplifters in the same area and same time frame. We had a 0.87% shrink. That is really low. I win and I got a promotion.

So yea, you got burned by an lp smarter than you.

From my understanding it seemed that if you let someone go, you pretty much just wasted an opportunity. I mean logically it would make more sense just to let the person pay and go. Obviously most people would be just as shaken as myself and probably never come back to the location of the store an thus, less shrinkage, but from all the forums I've browsed that had former LP's posting it seemed that letting someone get away like that is just one step closer to getting you fired. Naturally I can't speak for everyone but it seems like if you didn't get a formal stop, then you basically weren't doing your job.

I don't claim to be an expert, this is just what I've read.