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[–] nuworldblue 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Don't call them idiots. We need more people with backbone in this country. Its unfortunate that they lost their jobs over this, but their character is intact at least. I can see the corporate liability argument and it makes sense, but the hidden issue here is that policies like that also encourage and protect criminals who know they won't face resistance from the employees. It makes them bolder and more likely to succeed.

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[–] littul_kitton 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

And that's where you are wrong, and why these people were fired. You are taking about deterrence. Most Americans are either fully deterred from stealing, or drugged, or crazy. There are very, very few people who are going to keep stealing until an untrained clerk grabs their shopping cart. These people are pretty much the unicorns of retail crime.

What does exist are drugged and/or crazy people who if provoked will go on a rampage that hurts bystanders, gets the store's name in the news for months, and cost $10M in lawsuits.

The store has run the numbers and has decided to take a tiny loss of deterrence in exchange for a big decrease in fiascos.

As far as emboldening thieves goes, it is not so important. Good policing works by steadily chipping away at the problem. If you diligently keep trying to catch a career criminal, you will eventually succeed. Frontal attacks on sneak thieves are mostly a thing of cop TV shows.