Oh, sweet! The NY Times allows us to embed videos.
Check out the video above–I used to shop at some of these places! It’s about how Chinese stores in Flushing prevent shoplifting. They either demand exorbitant amounts of money not to call the police–$400 for a first offense, $2,000 for subsequent offenses–or they plaster pictures of the accused all over their store. Some of the pictures even print the offenders social security numbers (which I guess would allow thieves–identity thieves–to go after the offenders?). Many of these offenders are here illegally, and they don’t want to get the police involved with anything they do, so they often pay up.
I don’t know if I have an opinion on this. I’ve worked in retail before, and I know theft is out of control. People do all kinds of crazy stuff to steal from retailers. That being said, I wonder about the legality of this. It seems way too easy to tag someone as a thief and ruin their reputation. Giving out their social security numbers is a form of reverse theft, and I wonder how they can obtain those numbers and disclose them legally.
When I used to work at a big retailer, I heard that security would make their own arrests. I asked if they could legally hold a person there against their will without notifying the police, and they said they did (haha…notice that they didn’t answer the question?).
Anyone have any answers? Opinions?
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I would suggest a quick scan of texts on false imprisonment. There’s a shopkeeper’s privilege exception, but it’s pretty narrow, and one misstep by security revokes that privilege and you’re handing that thief his/her defense on a silver platter.
I think these stores have an advantage too. Even at American retailers, the people they “arrest” usually aren’t as educated about the system. So they are unlikely to know about recourse against false imprisonment.
I have no idea how effective retail insurance companies are at deterring theft (security requirements, etc), but since stores in the US don’t have to resort to this behavior I’m guessing they’re pretty good at it. Why aren’t Chinese insurance companies doing this work?
Eric,
These ARE stores in the U.S.!
I’m guessing they do this to make a buck. $400 in cash (probably under the table) can pay for a LOT of stolen merchandise!
Youch! Flushing, no Flushing is not in China. Okay, maybe they don’t have insurance then, but I don’t understand how retail insurance works.
If shame in seeing your photo on a wall is deterrence for theft, then the shame brought to an entire business for a false accusation would be just as bad, maybe even dangerous since the business is more public than the accused.
As for illegals being targeted, it’s probably a good signal to the illegal immigrants not to steal. When immigrants come into a country illegally, they inevitably fall under a set of black market laws, which is simply the price of living in a country illegally. I’m sure illegals usually consider this before making the move.
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