Many stores, public places, and government buildings display firearms law posters on the wall where everyone that enters their place will undoubtedly see it. Some retail stores display their shoplifting policy where customers can see it. But, many of these places though, fail to educate their employees as to their store policy when stopping a shoplifter. Who is responsible of making sure every single employee knows the policy of the store? When is this supposed to happen? At the time of hiring? For many retail stores, preventing shoplifting begins by educating their employees about the policies and procedures they need to follow when stopping a shoplifter.
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Home Depot employees fired after following suspect
PALM COAST, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) – Four former employees at a Home Depot in Florida were fired after they attempted to stop a shoplifter in November.
Jeffrey Miller, 59, George Ippolito, 56, Joe Spector, 29, and Jazmin Kelly, 27, all worked together at a Home Depot in Palm Coast, Florida. On November 19, the 4 employees attempted to track down a customer who appeared to be shoplifting at the store.
However the co-workers did not know that their act to prevent crime went against company policy.
The Home Depot released a statement in regards to the incident: “Pursuing shoplifters in the store or in the parking lot is extremely dangerous and risks the safety of everyone, which is why we only allow trained security personnel to do so. We’ve had instances of serious injury and even fatality in our stores. No amount of merchandise is worth risking the safety of others.”
The employees expressed shock by their termination as Fox 35’s Kelly Joyce reports from Flagler County in the video above.
The suspect has been identified as 22-year-old Brandon Charles Edward Mullins Lowe of Hastings, Florida who allegedly admitted to stealing close to $1,000 worth of tools from the store. Lowe was being held in the Flagler County Jail on grand theft charges.
Police: Shoplifting doubles near holidays
As shoppers hit area stores for the impending holidays, so will shoplifters, say area police.
“It probably doubles during the peak of the holiday shopping season,” said Logan Township Police Chief Tim Mercer, referring to the number of retail theft calls the township’s officers will handle.
Mercer said officers typically get one to two calls each week, and with the increase in retail thefts also comes increases in other crimes related to shopping, such as identity theft, where people are opening up credit cards in other people’s names, and thefts from vehicles.
Most of the incidents of retail theft and other thefts occur at two highly concentrated shopping areas — Logan Town Centre and the Logan Valley Mall, Mercer said.
Stores are reluctant to talk about shoplifting, either out of a fear of calling attention to their stores and becoming targets or because they don’t want to divulge exactly how they deal with retail thefts.
One store manager of a longtime township store, who spoke only if his name of business wasn’t published, said stores take two approaches to dealing with shoplifters — either they try to catch them or they try to prevent them from stealing in the first place.
Five Steps to Recruiting the Right Loss Prevention Professionals
The success of any organization is determined by the talent of its people. In his book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t, Jim Collins put it this way: “People are not your most important asset. The right people are.”
Whether it’s a company, a loss prevention and safety department, or a sports team, the more talented people within the organization, the greater chance it has to succeed. Loading any organization with talented loss prevention professionals requires a comprehensive five-step people strategy.
Recruiting. The first component of this strategy is recruiting. It all starts with a sound recruiting strategy to ensure there is a sufficient pool of applicants.
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