I feel like you are speaking without knowledge, because it usually take an extraordinary amount of blatant repeat theft for the loss protection team to act against an individual. Solo one-time shoplifters have close to a 100% chance of success without being apprehended.
> In a town near me, the store generates ~3000 arrests a year
Of first time shoplifters? I find this incredible, as when I worked Walmart (admittedly eons ago) you had to be a very well known repeat offender to get caught. Everyone else would simply be yelled at to leave at best.
Target (from friends at the time) even had a policy to simply let thieves do their thing and document until they hit the threshold for a felony - at which time they'd take action.
Just that repeat offender list ended up with an arrest maybe every other day or so though.
I find it amazing society has changed that much in such a relatively short time. I know every store/location is different but this stat definitely blew my mine.
Comparing blatant theft of physical property to a possible financial scam, the latter of which the company has nowhere near the context required to make a determination on, seems a bit disingenuous, no?
