SACRAMENTO, Calif. (TND) — A California sheriff sounded off online over the way a national retailer is handling thieves.
Jim Cooper, Sacramento County Sheriff, opened up about an operation his department, along with the head of regional security for Target, in an attempt to prevent shoplifting.
Cooper’s post on X that calls out Target for placing restrictions on shoplifting enforcement has more than 401,000 views since it went online Thursday.
“We don’t tell big retail how to do their jobs, they shouldn’t tell us how to do ours,” it read in part.
The sheriff explained the retailer had asked for help “numerous times.”
“Our Property Crimes detectives and sergeant were contacted numerous times by Target to help them with shoplifters, mostly who were known transients. We coordinated with them and set up an operation with detectives and our North POP team,” stated Cooper.
According to Cooper, Target’s head of regional security told his officers they couldn’t contact and place handcuffs on suspects in the store, and if an arrest was made, the suspect(s) had to be processed outside behind the store…”in the rain.”
Cooper’s called the restrictions “unbelievable.”
We were told they didn’t want to create a scene inside the store and have people film it and put it on social media. They didn’t want negative press. Unbelievable.
Sacramento was ranked at No. 7 among “Top Cities and Metropolitan Areas” in 2022 affected by organized retail crime, alongside Chicago, according to a recently published security survey by the National Retailers Federation.
His deputies witnessed a woman stealing items from a Target store and then return the same items.
He wrote, “Our deputies watched a lady on camera bring in her own shopping bags, go down the body wash isle, and grab a bunch of Native body washes. Then she went to customer service and return them! Target chose to do nothing and simply let it happen.”
“Yet somehow, locking up deodorant and raising prices on everyday items, we need to survive, is their best answer, he added.
The National Desk reached out to Target on Sunday for comment about Cooper’s remarks, but we haven’t heard back since this news article was published.
Source: KOMO News