Stop hitting yourself…

This one is short and sweet…

I was working alone and spotted a couple of female subjects. The initial alert was the fact that they were carrying handled shopping bags; this was significant because there were no stores in the strip mall that had those bags.

They both go good and as they leave the store, I exit behind them and work my way around to their front-side. As soon as I flash my badge, one bolts past me deeper into the parking lot. The second one panics and starts to run back in the direction of my store. A moment later, she realizes her mistake and tries to zip past me. She’s carrying the bag with the stolen merchandise in her left hand so I grab her right arm and start to walk her back towards the store.

As I’m talking to the suspect, trying to keep her distracted, I feel her arm tense up for a moment. We take a few more steps and I feel her pace slow down just a bit. I’m so focused on her behavior that I realize I’ve lost track of her accomplice. At this point, I’m a little concerned that I may also have to deal with a third, as yet unknown, person. A quick survey of the area shows all clear and I feel relieved that we’re almost to the relative safety of the store.

I drop my guard for a moment, and that’s when she strikes! In a flash of movement, the shoplifter does three things simultaneously: first, she stops dead in her tracks. Second, she pushes me with her right elbow. And third, she twists her body and tries to hit me with the bag full of stolen merchandise in her left hand….

The solution was simple: Since I had been paying attention to her physical movements, I knew that she was up to something. After ensuring that there were no additional dangers nearby, I had been able to focus and ready myself for whatever was brewing. When she made her move, I took a step to my left and placed myself slightly behind her right back-side. Since I had a secure hold of her right arm, I pushed that arm to her front-side. This resulted in slowing down the swing of the bag and caused her to hit herself in the right arm. I continued to push her arm and caused her body to turn to the left, thus keeping her from swinging at me again. She was immediately subdued and we continued back into the store without further incident. To any potential observers, it would have looked like she hit herself.

This is an example of how important AWARENESS is. It would have been a mistake to assume that because we were heading back into the store, everything was okay. The suspect was not a physical threat to me, but there were items in the bag that could have hurt me. In this instance, it might have been better for me to grab her by her left arm. This option did not initially present itself. When she tried run past me, I simply grabbed her by her closest arm. It was interesting to see her burst of resistance cut short when she smacked herself in the attempt. Most times, the shoplifter ends up being their own worst enemy.