SHOPLIFTING AT THE MALL, THEFTS IN GENERAL
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Daily, people go to the mall, they steal. Some are adults, some are juveniles, some are parents with their juveniles stealing whatever they can get their hands on. What are they thinking? I am amazed at parents who teach their children to steal, it's a way of life, they think nothing of it, when they get caught, we arrest them, take them to jail, turn them over to juvenile, most of these people are repeat offenders, they get a slap on their hand, they get out, they go back to what they know.
An example of one of these calls ... one night we have two females in their twenties who go into a mall restroom, put on five pairs of panties each and then try to leave the store. They are apprehended by store security, we get the call, go out and upon further investigation find out they have a criminal history that is pages and pages long. One of the subjects when asked if she had any history, claimed only hot checks, of course we later find out, she is out on bond for a capital offense. People not only steal, they lie.
Another example was a lady who had three children with her, filled a shopping cart full, then had her child push the cart out to the car without paying for a thing in it. The same night a man and his wife, put their baby in a stroller and rolled it out of the store and started walking down the street.
It never ceases to amaze me what people will do. I mean really, did those girls need panties that bad or was it just to see if they could get away with it. Have they ever paid for panties or were all their panties stolen property. Probably the later.
In working with incarcerated juveniles, I have met some young men who stated they had never paid for clothes. One young man in particular said his mother and aunt would go steal clothes for he and his cousin, later they began to steal their own.
Theft affects all of us, it's a downhill slide. When someone steals something, the cost of that item has to be accounted for in some way and usually prices are raised so those of us who are not stealing panties have to pay more for our panties to offset the cost of the ones that are stolen. Criminal Activity costs all of us in some way.
I'm not sure why I started ranting about this tonight, I guess I am just venting.
An example of one of these calls ... one night we have two females in their twenties who go into a mall restroom, put on five pairs of panties each and then try to leave the store. They are apprehended by store security, we get the call, go out and upon further investigation find out they have a criminal history that is pages and pages long. One of the subjects when asked if she had any history, claimed only hot checks, of course we later find out, she is out on bond for a capital offense. People not only steal, they lie.
Another example was a lady who had three children with her, filled a shopping cart full, then had her child push the cart out to the car without paying for a thing in it. The same night a man and his wife, put their baby in a stroller and rolled it out of the store and started walking down the street.
It never ceases to amaze me what people will do. I mean really, did those girls need panties that bad or was it just to see if they could get away with it. Have they ever paid for panties or were all their panties stolen property. Probably the later.
In working with incarcerated juveniles, I have met some young men who stated they had never paid for clothes. One young man in particular said his mother and aunt would go steal clothes for he and his cousin, later they began to steal their own.
Theft affects all of us, it's a downhill slide. When someone steals something, the cost of that item has to be accounted for in some way and usually prices are raised so those of us who are not stealing panties have to pay more for our panties to offset the cost of the ones that are stolen. Criminal Activity costs all of us in some way.
I'm not sure why I started ranting about this tonight, I guess I am just venting.
posted by Live, Love, Laugh | 4:02 PM
9 Comments:
While I admit that I was a hooligan as a child it stopped as soon as my mom found out and humiliated me by going back to the store to give it back to them (K-mart to be precise).
On that note, I don't think many people steal because they are in dire need of it, but more the rush of the idea of getting away with it. I mean who really needs that many panties, CD's, DVD's, clothes, or whatever else people are scamming these days.
By the way I love your stories, always amusing!
That is really sad. Doesn't it make you want to go mother all those kiddos with "What the he** are you doing? Don't you know you are going to ruin your life?"
Of course, it makes me want to go give those stupid parents the what-for!
Hi,
Thanks for visiting my blog(s). I love the look of yours.
I shoplifted once, when I was a kid, confessed all to my mother who told me to return the item (a 20 cent memo pad). I did, the clerk asked if I wanted to buy it, I said no and ran home. The trauma was so strong, I never stole again. Yeah, I could've gotten away with it, but my parents instilled a strong conscience in me. Maybe too many people don't have that anymore.
Wow - very sad.
The other day I helped some Postal Inspectors run a felony warrant on a house connected to a HUGE fraud/identity theft ring. Not as cool as it sounds, they're Postal Inspectors, after all.
About forty minutes into the search of the house, the woman there starts complaining that she has to go pick up her daughter from school. So I go, in full uniform with squad car, to pick up this girl. (Ironically, we had staged in the parking lot at the school prior to the search.) I felt really bad for the girl. I tried to explain to her teachers why a police officer was picking her up, and not the mother, without embarrassing the girl. It's not her fault her parents are felons.
Saddest part of all is the five year old boy at the house, playing some computer game based on drug dealing gangsters, who are the heros of the game. I guess I'll be seeing him a lot more in the future.
Speaking of panties . . . My new favorite phrase I saw on a t-shirt: Time to put on your big-girl-panties and deal with it!
Somewhat appropriate for your shoplifters. Ha!
lol! I love that phrase, I have never seen that! It amazes me the females who commit crimes then cry and beg because they are going to jail, the phrase is definately appropriate!!! Thanks for sharing that!!
That is awful that people do that. I would love to have nice things but I do the good thing and wait for a big sale. Can't beat 50% or even 75% off. :)
We never really know what motivates people to do what they will, but I have to say that most likely something was missing somewhere in their upbringing when theft is a way of life.
I believe shoplifting is a couple of things. One, a bid for attention and two, the "rush" of stealing and not getting caught.
Unfortunately, too many times it is treated as something light instead of what it is...stealing! No matter how big or expensive the item, it's still WRONG!
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