Petty Theft At Valley Stores (Phoenix: crime, Home Depot, landlord)

[new2colo]

Over the past seven years I've lived in the Valley, I have noticed that every couple of months I encounter different people or groups of people shoplifting from Valley stores, mainly larger chains. I have noticed people with backpacks stuffing it with an item at CVS and walking out, walking out with an open handbasket of items at Safeway, grabbing cases of beer from the cooler at QT and leaving without going close to the register, coming back and grabbing more cases or beer, and even someone stuffing a package of meat down their shirt at Fry's. I have lived in other places and am well aware that petty theft is in an issue everywhere, but until living here I really never saw it first hand. Have others noticed a trend here or am I just in the wrong aisle at the wrong time?

For those who might wonder, I don't ever try to stop them or run and flag an employee. I figure if the employees of the store don't care enough to keep unpaid items in the store, why should I?

[john3232]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EdxM72EZ94

[JGMotorsport64]

For minimum wage a gas station employee would be better off letting it be. Same with robberies at Circle Ks, I'd just hand it over.

[Potential_Landlord]

From city-data's own crime statistics: theft is down by ~36% from 2001. Similar for all types of crime. I wonder how stores looked like in 2001. The line for shoplifters must have been longer than the checkout lines for honest customers.

https://www.city-data.com/crime/crime...x-Arizona.html

[Sovetsky Medved]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJRN76hxFz0

[KurtAZ]

So this is what we are doing now?

Jane's Addiction

[ajonesaz]

Originally Posted by Potential_Landlord

From city-data's own crime statistics: theft is down by ~36% from 2001. Similar for all types of crime. I wonder how stores looked like in 2001. The line for shoplifters must have been longer than the checkout lines for honest customers.

https://www.city-data.com/crime/crime...x-Arizona.html

**Reported theft is down

All the stores basically have hands off policies for shoplifting now and the criminals know that. If they get away with it, they will keep doing. A home depot employee was fired for just going out into the parking lot and getting a plate number recently.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by ajonesaz

**Reported theft is down

All the stores basically have hands off policies for shoplifting now and the criminals know that. If they get away with it, they will keep doing. A home depot employee was fired for just going out into the parking lot and getting a plate number recently.

That's not new. It has been a lot of years since I worked in retail, but every retail job I had had the same hands-off policy. The focus, instead, is on shoplifting prevention including (but not limited to) interacting with the customers so they know you know they are there, counting what goes in and out of the fitting rooms, and sensor tags.

[Potential_Landlord]

Originally Posted by ajonesaz

**Reported theft is down

All the stores basically have hands off policies for shoplifting now and the criminals know that. If they get away with it, they will keep doing. A home depot employee was fired for just going out into the parking lot and getting a plate number recently.

We also have big surveillance with facial recognition software everywhere. They can find the guys quite easy these days. They can decide which guys it's most profitable going against vs. who to let pass (law of diminishing returns). They are not stupid. A few years from now this type of crime will be extinct.