“The Trap!”
For this particularly interesting situation I found myself up against a subject who had as much of a plan as I did. This is the worst-case scenario that an LP agent hope will never happen to them. We always have to keep in mind that the bad guy that we’re watching could be trying to set us up. Sometimes the person that we’re dealing with has had a lot of experience or training with stealing. The more experienced the person is, the more likely it is that they know some basics about Loss Prevention guidelines, and the easier it is for them to trick you. On this particular day, I was again working by myself and I had run into a problem with my camera room, namely, I couldn’t get into it. The lock on the door had finally given out and I wasn’t able to get in. This presented a problem in that I was going to be without my reliable, never blinking, witness for the day…my cameras. While this would cause another LP person to give up, it actually motivated me. So I used my back-up plan. I went to my back office and climbed up the ladder to the store’s observation booth. There I sat, and hoped I would get lucky. I should have been more careful about what I asked for. After a few hours, I observed an adult male enter into the shoe department. As he entered the area, he was giving off some minor signs that he might be a shoplifter, but I wasn’t sure. I thought, “There’s no way that I could be this lucky”. I had never caught someone from an observation tower before so I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. As I watched, he looked around the area and selected a pair of shoes. To my amazement, he removed his shoes, put on the store pair, and placed his old shoes onto the rack. I couldn’t believe he would be that stupid, but there he was, giving off all the signs. I continued to watch and as I did, he moved quickly through the area. I left my position, went to the sales floor and reacquired him as he was leaving the shoe department. He turned a corner and I was close on his heels so as not to lose him before he left the store. I turned the same corner and as I cleared it, he was walking straight back at me. I locked eyes with him and I was sure I was burned. I immediately thought that that he had pulled the shoplifter “double-back”. This is where the bad guy will suddenly turn around to determine if anyone is following them. Well, this time the tactic had worked and I figured that he had won. I was disappointed and figured that since I was “made”, the only thing to do was to go back to my observation tower. I did this and watched as he went back into the shoe department and replaced his own old shoes back on. By this time, I was kicking myself because I figured that there was no way that I would ever get another chance like this. Little did I know how off I was!
Just as I had started to accept the fact that I had jacked up this case, the subject left the area and entered into the men’s active-wear department. Once there, he proceeded to select one workout shirt and remove and discard the items hanger. At this point, he put the item on and started to move about the area. As he did, he removed a zip-up sweater from around his waist and put it on, concealing the store item underneath. As he did this, he was walking up the aisle, straight towards my position so I could clearly see everything that he was doing. As he turned a corner, I left my position and took up floor observation of him. At this point, I could still see the concealed item underneath his sweater. I followed him through the store and he went and sat on a bench right near the store exit. I watched him from a secluded vantage point and he stayed on the bench for a few minutes. I was still amazed that despite the fact that he had apparently spotted me, he was still going through with the theft. After a while, he stood up and proceeded to head for the exit. I followed him out and walked quickly to catch up with him. Once I did, I identified myself and asked him to accompany me back into the store. He complied and we re-entered the store and walked towards the back office. For safety purposes, I always made it a point not to touch the subject unless I had to. This was so the person would not get unnecessarily agitated, create a scene, or inadvertently injure someone. I was confident in my communication skills to talk any subject down and up to this point; I had no reason to believe that this situation would be any different. Boy was I wrong!
Halfway back to the office, the subject decides to get difficult. He stops in the middle of an aisle and starts to get loud. I calmly try to get him to continue moving, but after a couple of attempts, I realize that he’s not going to cooperate. I then resort to a final warning that’s usually reserved for just before going “hands on” on a subject. I warn him that I’m going to handcuff him and I pull out my cuffs. After a few moments, he complies and we continue to the office. We get to the office and thinking everything is going well, I turn to put my key into the lock. At this point, the subject decides that he’s no longer going to cooperate and attempts to leave. I grab him and talk him back under control. Once he appears to comply, I again try to unlock my office door. Again, he uses the opportunity of me being turned away from him and he moves to leave the area. I grab him by his arm and he proceeds to start yelling and screaming. After a few moments of this, a crowd starts to gather to see what all the commotion is. At about this time, I start to get a bad feeling about what I’m dealing with. It’s as though this subject is trying very hard to get me to throw him to the ground and injure him. He’s getting loud and swinging his arms around but he’s not really trying to strike me. My better judgment tells me to be very careful so I fight the urge to get even more physical with him. I eventually get the door open at the same time that I get him to comply with me. He enters the office and takes a seat in the nearest chair. Because of safety reasons, this is not the best place for him to sit so I ask him to stand and move to another sit. At this point, he stands up and actually launches himself across the office, purposely slamming his head into the far wall. I’m shocked at this turn of events because I’ve never had anyone do this before. He sits down in the new chair and starts to loudly complain that I threw him into the wall. By this time I’m sure that I must be dealing with a certified nut case. Despite this, I’m relieved about one thing; all the commotion had brought a lot of spectators, including a manager. This meant that I had a witness to the fact that the subject intentionally hurt himself. The remainder of the situation went pretty much the same. He complained about what I had supposedly done to him and I made sure to not overreact. I contacted the Police, they took him into custody and the situation was over; or so I thought.
The next day I came into work and prepared for another day of interesting situations. My thoughts were still on the last day’s events and I felt assured that everything would be okay. I had contacted by boss after the incident was over and I felt confident that I had done what I had to in dealing with the subject. I continued my day as I normally would with my focus being catching some more bad guys. A few hours into my shift, I’m sitting in front of my monitors observing people as they’re entering the store. In the corner of my view I spot someone who looks familiar to me coming in. I zoom the camera in to get better look and sure enough, it’s my friend from the previous day. As I watch him walking through the store, I see that he’s with some guy and they’re talking. I really don’t think too much about it until they move to the area where the subject had selected the item and start to take pictures. After a few moments, I can see them find a manager and speak to her. Right after that I get a call from that same manager and she’s telling me that the two would like to speak with me. I tell her that that’s not possible and she hangs up and relays the message to them. They leave the store and at this point I, get on the phone and call my boss. I just know that this one’s going to come back and bite me in the ass!
Less than two weeks later I get a call from my boss and he’s telling me that I have to go with him to the regional office. He says that the regional manager wants to speak with me about this incident. So a few days later, we get together and go to the office. Once there, I’m forced to endure a three-hour interrogation by the idiot regional manager. He is telling me that the subject is denying the whole theft. It’s the regional’s claim that I made up the whole thing to cover my butt. He also say’s that the subject is stating that he had purchased the item on a previous occasion and he had a receipt for it. Now I fully understand why the manager is doing what he is. He has to make absolutely sure that I was playing by the rules at the time of the incident. Long story short, I stick to the truth and the company ends up backing me. I learned that even when you have the best intentions it doesn’t mean that people are automatically going to believe you. Also, the bad guys will sometimes do anything they can to get out of trouble. I never heard anything from the shoplift subject after that but I never forgot the lesson that it taught me. “When it comes to shoplifters, prepare for the worst and don’t take anything for granted”.
