
Quoting
aaron
What a merchant is likely to do will vary by (a) the merchant's policies, and (b) the laws of the jurisdiction where the shoplifting incident occurred.
You previously indicated that you're in Canada. Virtually everybody who participates in this forum is in the United States - a different country with different laws.
To extrapolate to the entire world from one example is not much different from saying, "I went outside the other day and got hit by lightning, so nobody should go outside any more because you'll also get hit." The sample size is too small to support the conclusion.