Rights Violation or a Complete Jerk?

[Roland]

The truth of the matter is theft costs big companies millions (some billions) of dollars a year.

The majority of all shrink (what they call "loss") is in-house. That applies to EVERY place I have ever worked, including Circuit City, Wilsons Leather, Gamestop, Chesapeake Knife & Tool (nigh-impossible to steal from that place because of the layout, even in a cramped mall store, and doubly so because all of us were armed to the teeth with blades on our person, not to mention an entire array of very usable weapons within arms reach, and several of us trained to use them, although not for security reasons), and Macy's. There's a reason companies like this have excessive amounts of posters for anonymous reporting against co-workers, and the majority of anti-shrink training centering around what NOT to do, rather than what you are allowed to do. I don't know how it is now, but when I was at Circuit City, only managers and customer support personnel were allowed to pursue a shoplifter, and I'm not even sure that extended beyond our doors (i.e. into the parking lot). No other employee was ever allowed to detain a shoplifter, or even attempt such a thing, mostly for OUR safety but also theirs. This policy was also found at every other retail location I've worked at, although at least at the malls there were dedicated security personnel patrolling the hallways, and we had specific instructions to inform them of any suspicious activity rather than do anything ourselves.

Anyway, long point short: most loss comes from employees, not outsiders, and thus most loss-prevention is centered around employees. Again, basic store employees are generally denied any authority to detain or otherwise interfere with a suspicious person, instead relegating all interaction to their superiors or trained personnel. We weren't even allowed to be peripherally involved once we informed someone of our suspicions, for our own safety as much as anyone else's.