Medical Student Caught Shoplifting

[sushie]

Thanks LP1186, yeah I was wondering if it was a common practice for an LP officer to ask you to pay for the items, the security guy did threaten to call the cops if I didnt pay for the items. I think he let me off very lightly, as I did get to keep the items that I took! Plus it is not always a bad thing to be caught, sometimes when something petty gradually becomes out of control, it is necessary for someone to awaken your senses. I have definately learnt my lesson, but I am aware that if I did not get caught, I would properly still be the dumbo I was.

I think UK has different store policies because most of UK shops are not international (ie have not branched out to USA etc, ie not like GAP), therefore these shops have less branches compared to US shops, and perhaps less money coming in, maybe that is why their policy are less strict or sophisticated compared to US store policy.


Out of curiosity...

you gave them false information (which i'm suprised you got away with, because it is extremely easy to tell when someone is lying despite how good they believe they are at it),

how can you tell if someone is lying despite them being very good at it? Wouldnt the LP officer expect that alot of people give false information?

I was very calm and collected at the time... I knew I was in alot of trouble at the time, but because I am usually exposed to situations of high stress in my university, I was able to act collectively. (not trying to be egolistical!) Or Maybe the LP officer wasnt really concerned if I gave false information or not as he recovered the costs and helped the shop make some money?

The LP officer seem to know the store workers and floor staff well, maybe he gets a salary from the shop company as well? and is not part of a security company?

Umm... one more thing... my friend works in a branch of their shop... would details of shoplifters be passed onto staffs of the store? Or are they only known to the security officers? What happens to my details? Are they kept permanently on record somewhere? Is there any kind of policy for confidentiality in LP?

And LP1186! Thanks for replying! I wont do it again!!

[LP1186]

I can't explain exactly how I can tell when someone is lying to me, it's just sort of a sixth sense. Just the same as I can usually spot someone who wants to or is going to shoplift as soon as the enter the store and usually after only a few minutes i can tell you what they are thinking about stealing. There's no real explanation to it, it's just something that comes with experience. Many times I know when people are giving me false information, but sense my company does not look up their information on the computer (using similar program as the police use to verify information), I have no way of proving that the information is false, therefore I cannnot acuse them of lying to me. This may be the same for your case. However most of the time we take steps inorder to lower the possibility that someone will lie to us. For example, I may tell them that the I will check their information on the computer and if the information is false the police will be called, eventhough we don't really have the ability to do that. Yes, police/loss prevention/security officers can use deception(in the US anyways) when conducting investigations. It is very likely that the loss prevention personel is a department within the store and that the loss prevention agent is not hired by an outside company. however there are companies that will handle all the loss prevention needs for a company. As for the loss prevention agent knowning the employees, this is normal. It is important that the loss prevention agents, with the exception of those who's main job is to prevent employee theft, knows the regular employees and that the employees know who he/she is. An example of a reason for this would be if an employee sees a suspicous customer, they should look around to see if a loss prevention agent is near by and already watching the customer. If there is a loss prevention agent present, then the cashier should try to leave the area so that the agent could do his job, however if there is not a loss prevention agent around the cashier should then go up to the suspicous customer and start a cashual conversation with them to let them know they are being watched and to help prevent them from trying to steal anything. For example: the cashier may say to the customer "Hi how are you doing? Can I help you with anything?" or "I've noticed you've been looking at DVDs, we have some more on sale over here and i can check your out at the front when you're ready.". LP personel are bound by a confidentiality agreement. therefore, the only people who will know of your incident are, the loss prevention department, you, and anyone you decide to tell. Thus, the only way your friend should know of this is if she happens to join the loss prevention department and find your file somehow, even then she would not be able to say anythign about it to anyone. It is very likely that the loss prevention department would keep your information on file for at least the period that you are banned. The main reason for this is so that if they catch you tresspasing, they will be able to have you arrested because they can prove that you were in fact banned from the store.

[sushie]

Thank you LP1186, I am grateful for your help in answering some questions. I am going to forget about this now, but I will remind myself not to do silly things again, because it is not worth it! =)

I am going to be good from now on =)

Take care!

[LP1186]

That's good to hear!

[PaulE]

Keep in mind Sushie being in the medical field and you get caught stealing you will lose your job. If you are around or have access to drugs you'll be subject to random background checks, when the shoplift arrest shows up on your record you'll end up flipping burgers for a living. I have been in LP for 17 yrs and have arrested a doctor for theft, he got booted out of the hospital......something to think about before you take what is not yours.

[sushie]

Hi Paule, I will bear that in mind.

I been reading alot of posts in this forum, and noted that alot of people are worried that their employers would find out about them being shoplifters. Does the employers get notified? Is that allowed? Isnt that a breach of confidentiality?

[Mr. Knowitall]

Does the employers get notified?

I am not aware of any jurisdiction that notifies employers when somebody is convicted of shoplifting. There may be other ways an employer finds out, such as if a probation officer calls to verify employment.

Is that allowed?

There is nothing to prevent it.

Isnt that a breach of confidentiality?

Court proceedings are public. Criminal records are public records. If the local paper wanted to do so, it could give front page coverage to your shoplifting conviction.

[LP1186]

The loss prevention department cannot divulge any information this would be breaching confidentiality. However like the Mr. Knowitall said, court proceedings and all that information is public. Also many companies do random background checks and will show any criminal charges when they do the background checks.

[Ashley Rose]

[PaulE]