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Stopped A Robbery In Progress!
Mall Cop Powers Activate!
Well, didn't really get to do anything cool, but this is what happened. One of our smaller stores has been hit twice with personal thefts. You can walk right from their front door across the floor to their back office door which they kept leaving open! Right there is a counter with microwave, fridge, employee purses - yep, purses. Twice they had a guy come in asking about an item kept in the back corner of the store from where you couldn't see the office. He'd then make a call on his phone saying he wanted to check on the coat size with his grandmother or something, keep the employee's attention, then leave saying he'd 'think about it.' The Employee would then find personal items/purse/$ missing from the office. The guy making the call was signaling a 2nd guy outside the store that the employee was distracted so that the 2nd guy could zip right into the office. The employees were told to keep the door shut because of this, but they lost the key to lock it so it doesn't help much. This door is also obviously a very 'no customers' area.'
Well I got a call "This is Store X I'm being robbed!" I RAN down there and found the employee blocking a big guy standing in the doorway of their office. The guy was defensive saying "I was just taking a piss! I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be back there!" Riiight, unmarked door, refrigerator, riiiight. The Employee wanted me to call the police so I did, as well as my coworker. A couple of witnesses asked if we'd caught the other guy - see this guy we had in custody was the actual thief, but when he got caught the distraction guy bolted. We never found distraction guy. The thief begins to leave, and unfortunately because he wasn't posing a personal threat I can't detain him. So I followed him, still on the phone with police. He zigged and zagged (we were pretty much strolling the whole time, he didn't even try to leave property. I think he was all confused that he'd been caught and that I was actually dogging him) from store to store, into the parking lot, etc. The whole time I narrated where we were from 6 feet behind the guy. He got to our biggest store and began trying to lose me in there. No dice. At the back of the store 2 police came-up to intercept the thief, tasers drawn and looking pretty damned bad-ass. My coworker and I right behind the guy jump to the side cause, you know, taser pointing at us! The thief has the "huh, who me?" look and keeps asking "what did I do!?" Of course as he gets on the ground and gets cuffed, I'm just thinking how BAD this looks because of course it didn't look like this guy was doing anything wrong! Weird that nobody, employees or customers, really batted an eye.
Police bring him back to the store where the employee had gotten all the witnesses information for us (You go girl!). The witnesses were awesome and had been sitting nearby when they saw the two thieves approach the store. They said they just had a feeling that something wasn't right, so they watched the guys. The employee IDd the guy, her boss and her husband arrived about that time, and the police to photos of the back room. The Employee explained that while she was helping the distractor and he made that call, she suddenly remembered the MO from the first couple times, so she excused herself to 'look for the item you want in the back' She found the office door open and heard someone inside, so she shut the door and called us quick, which is when the distractor ran. She heard the toilet flush, so the thief was trying to be really convincing! Now the employee looked for her purse which had been in the bathroom and lo, her wallet is missing! Now, I'm sure the guy didn't dump it on the run because I watched his hands the whole time. The police did not find a wallet on him, so it's got to be in the bathroom. The police DO find some cards on him which the employee describes to a 't.' It's proven they're hers, but they have to be kept as evidence for now. I finally found her wallet behind some boxes and lo! What they found on the guy is what's missing from the wallet! Happy ending!
Oh, and the thief had quite the lengthy record AND an extradition order to another state, so bye-bye asshole trying to prey on a small woman's clothing store!
The employee's husband stayed with her the rest of her shift and we offered an escort to her car afterwards. She was fine, just a little shakey, and said I was AWESOME for following the guy!
I wish though, that the store would not put their employees in this position in the first place and would put a damn working lock on that door! Our maintenance guys would probably do it for free.
Well, didn't really get to do anything cool, but this is what happened. One of our smaller stores has been hit twice with personal thefts. You can walk right from their front door across the floor to their back office door which they kept leaving open! Right there is a counter with microwave, fridge, employee purses - yep, purses. Twice they had a guy come in asking about an item kept in the back corner of the store from where you couldn't see the office. He'd then make a call on his phone saying he wanted to check on the coat size with his grandmother or something, keep the employee's attention, then leave saying he'd 'think about it.' The Employee would then find personal items/purse/$ missing from the office. The guy making the call was signaling a 2nd guy outside the store that the employee was distracted so that the 2nd guy could zip right into the office. The employees were told to keep the door shut because of this, but they lost the key to lock it so it doesn't help much. This door is also obviously a very 'no customers' area.'
Well I got a call "This is Store X I'm being robbed!" I RAN down there and found the employee blocking a big guy standing in the doorway of their office. The guy was defensive saying "I was just taking a piss! I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be back there!" Riiight, unmarked door, refrigerator, riiiight. The Employee wanted me to call the police so I did, as well as my coworker. A couple of witnesses asked if we'd caught the other guy - see this guy we had in custody was the actual thief, but when he got caught the distraction guy bolted. We never found distraction guy. The thief begins to leave, and unfortunately because he wasn't posing a personal threat I can't detain him. So I followed him, still on the phone with police. He zigged and zagged (we were pretty much strolling the whole time, he didn't even try to leave property. I think he was all confused that he'd been caught and that I was actually dogging him) from store to store, into the parking lot, etc. The whole time I narrated where we were from 6 feet behind the guy. He got to our biggest store and began trying to lose me in there. No dice. At the back of the store 2 police came-up to intercept the thief, tasers drawn and looking pretty damned bad-ass. My coworker and I right behind the guy jump to the side cause, you know, taser pointing at us! The thief has the "huh, who me?" look and keeps asking "what did I do!?" Of course as he gets on the ground and gets cuffed, I'm just thinking how BAD this looks because of course it didn't look like this guy was doing anything wrong! Weird that nobody, employees or customers, really batted an eye.
Police bring him back to the store where the employee had gotten all the witnesses information for us (You go girl!). The witnesses were awesome and had been sitting nearby when they saw the two thieves approach the store. They said they just had a feeling that something wasn't right, so they watched the guys. The employee IDd the guy, her boss and her husband arrived about that time, and the police to photos of the back room. The Employee explained that while she was helping the distractor and he made that call, she suddenly remembered the MO from the first couple times, so she excused herself to 'look for the item you want in the back' She found the office door open and heard someone inside, so she shut the door and called us quick, which is when the distractor ran. She heard the toilet flush, so the thief was trying to be really convincing! Now the employee looked for her purse which had been in the bathroom and lo, her wallet is missing! Now, I'm sure the guy didn't dump it on the run because I watched his hands the whole time. The police did not find a wallet on him, so it's got to be in the bathroom. The police DO find some cards on him which the employee describes to a 't.' It's proven they're hers, but they have to be kept as evidence for now. I finally found her wallet behind some boxes and lo! What they found on the guy is what's missing from the wallet! Happy ending!
Oh, and the thief had quite the lengthy record AND an extradition order to another state, so bye-bye asshole trying to prey on a small woman's clothing store!
The employee's husband stayed with her the rest of her shift and we offered an escort to her car afterwards. She was fine, just a little shakey, and said I was AWESOME for following the guy!
I wish though, that the store would not put their employees in this position in the first place and would put a damn working lock on that door! Our maintenance guys would probably do it for free.
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