Two Big Lots managers in a town outside Bakersfield, California, were fired after following and videoing an alleged shoplifter in the store’s parking lot.
On April 5, a customer loaded a shopping cart with 17 jugs of Tide laundry detergent and walked out of the store without paying, Fox News Business reported. Lily Oxford, the manager of the furniture section, and another manager followed him out of the store.
Oxford said she wasn’t trying to confront the thief, but instead just retrieve the cart.
“For Christmas, we had just got 40 brand new carts,” said Oxford, who managed the store’s furniture department. “It’s March, we’re down to five carts. So, we are instructed, no carts are to leave that store whatsoever. No matter… customers are not allowed to take it.”
Oxford and the other manager pulled their phones out just a few feet away from the thief’s “getaway car.” This spooked the shoplifter, and the driver of the vehicle said for them to take it all back.
According to Oxford, shoplifters sneak out of the store on a daily basis. She said that this probably happens four to five times a day.
Instead of being commended, the single mother of two teenagers was terminated. On her Go Fund Me page she said she thought she was doing the right thing.
Risk management consultant Mike Jelletich, uninvolved in the case, explained that an employer sees an employee stepping in as a huge potential financial liability — especially if someone is injured or killed.
The National Retail Federation reported in its National Retail Security Survey that crime rings have hired thieves to steal specific items for later resale, practice that surged by 26% in 2021.
In 2021, retail theft cost the industry $94.5 billion. Economists from the Heritage Foundation told Fox News that the rise in retail theft can exacerbate inflation and lead to businesses shuttering stores.
And as reported by Breitbart last week, the city of San Francisco is losing eight stores from its downtown area, including Nordstroms, which has been a staple in the Westfield Mall for years.
Now a Southern California lawmaker has introduced an amendment to Prop 47 in an effort to crack down on shoplifting, as reported by the San Francisco Standard.
In California, Prop 47, which changed theft of goods valued under $950 from a felony to a misdemeanor, was passed by a 60% vote. Typically, law enforcement officials and prosecutors will not focus resources on misdemeanors. The amendment to Prop 47 would lower the threshold of a misdemeanor from $950 to $400.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.