How Long do Stores Keep Security Tapes

[lomograph02]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: New York.

Earlier today. a friend of mine did something that now has them experiencing panic attacks and not being able to sleep.

They went to Target, shopped normally, but decided it would be okay to open and try a few products-mostly food items, but also some personal care/beauty items. The total was definitely not over thirty dollars. They never attempted to conceal any of the products they tried, only moving them to different locations as they walked ( I don't know if purposely). I should add that unfortunately she paid with a credit card at checkout.
No one said anything and the clothed LP even smiled at them. They bought a number of items, and left the store, without any of the products they "tried", and some of those were barely touched. From what I read on the internet, I know this is considered theft. My question is whether Target will end up doing anything about this, when, and if so, what? Will the cops be banging on their door with a warrant? Will they receive a civil demand of any kind?


How worried should my friend be, about what and for how long going forward?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks all. She feels terrible about this and will never, ever do it again- she really just needs some reassurance.

[aardvarc]

We don't have a crystal ball to tell us what LP at any individual store will do. If your friend tampered with FOOD items, there's even the potential for VERY serious tampering charges, such that theft might be the LEAST of her worries. If the FBI decides to bring a federal charge based on the opened food items, it could be weeks or months before any formal charge occurs. They and their crime lab are notoriously backed up. Target itself could issue a civil demand, or they could notify local police on the theft issue (who could in turn notify the BIG guns to determine if any criminal contamination of the food items occurred), or they could do BOTH or they could do NEITHER.

If your friend is smart (and she's obviously NOT), she'll stay FAR away from Target, and not be stupid enough to do something like this anywhere ELSE. We can't give her absolute reassurance. She committed a crime. She NEEDS to be afraid. For how long, we can't really guess. Every day that goes by is one day less. Sometimes that's as good as it gets.

[flyingron]

Don't know about Target but at Walmart the answer is a very long time. I've seen a case where they went back to identify a purchase by someone (not a shoplifting incident) that was used in a later crime months later.

[free9man]

I do know Target's retention policy but I'm not gonna post it. It is a long time and if they find video of someone doing something that isn't caught, they hang on to that video even longer.

Your friend should take this as a learning experience and stop sampling goods that either don't belong to them or are not being offered for sampling.

[BooRennie]

Most stores don't use 'tapes' any more, they use DVRs that record on hard disk drives. So the answer to your question is "Depends on how much HDD space the DVR has and if it's set to circular recording".

[flyingron]

Agreed, but the answer is still the same. It's a long enough time at these stores. Hard disk space is cheap. And if anything suspicious arises they would certainly avoid deleting the video that they would like to retain.

[free9man]

Hard disk space is cheap.

You've obviously never tried to get hard disk space for a CCTV system from cheap district/regional execs. I couldn't get new drives absent a failure at which point I was just sent drives pulled out of an old DVR. Then said execs would complain when I can't maintain the required coverage and retention.

[Mephis]

They never attempted to conceal any of the products they tried, only moving them to different locations...

That is considered concealing