Target is the only retail corporation police like security position?

[Nick086]

So is Target the only store to have security that will show an irate customer out the door if they are cussing, making threats, and causing a scene? I think they have to call the police if a customer is making death threats to an employee right in their face. I don't think most stores have security doing that except when it comes theft by the customer or the employee.

 

[Amaris]

Re: Target is the only retail corporation police like security positio

When I worked at Ames (I was about 17 at the time), a customer threatened to jump the counter and slit my throat because I didn't have a cell phone he wanted. It was the customers who eventually got him to leave. The Manager didn't really give a shit.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Re: Target is the only retail corporation police like security positio

Their internal security guards are part of the asset protection team, whose primary duty is, well, to prevent thefts or stop shoplifting.

 

[auntiehill]

Re: Target is the only retail corporation police like security positio

Dillard's did and still does, but they also hire off-duty police officers, so they are doubly covered. Amazing how the sight of a police uniform will suddenly shut a person up.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Re: Target is the only retail corporation police like security positio

Yeah, Target was initially just the discount end of Dayton Hudson, and department stores have employed store detectives for ages. It's only the last ten years or so that they have a uniformed presence, but security has always been there. Target was also the first store I remember having hidden cameras and visible fake dummy cameras everywhere.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Re: Target is the only retail corporation police like security positio

I once saw a Safeway pharmacy tech or cashier threaten to jump the counter and attack a customer who had just threatened her. Security surrounded the customer, a manager held the employee back, and everyone waited for the police to arrive.

Same Safeway, a few months later: Some guy with a utility knife ran through the store, chasing someone who either was actually shopping or just ran into the store to get away from him. Blood and police all over the place.

That was the last time I shopped there.

 

[M'Sharak]

Re: Target is the only retail corporation police like security positio

I once saw a Safeway pharmacy tech or cashier threaten to jump the counter and attack a customer who had just threatened her. Security surrounded the customer, a manager held the employee back, and everyone waited for the police to arrive.

Same Safeway, a few months later: Some guy with a utility knife ran through the store, chasing someone who either was actually shopping or just ran into the store to get away from him. Blood and police all over the place.

That was the last time I shopped there.

I remember the Safeway in the Duboce Triangle district in San Francisco having uniformed security when I lived there in 1992-3. It got kind of interesting during the evening hours sometimes.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Re: Target is the only retail corporation police like security positio

^ I prefer my grocery stores to be less interesting.

 

[M'Sharak]

Re: Target is the only retail corporation police like security positio

^ I prefer my grocery stores to be less interesting.

Me, too. There were a couple of nicer and far less interesting grocery stores which were nearer, but they closed for the evening at a fairly early hour so (unless one wanted to make a real excursion of it) there was either Weird Safeway or wait until tomorrow.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: Target is the only retail corporation police like security positio

We used to have uniformed cops in our store, then for awhile we switched to plainclothes security. (Especially since we're open 24/7.) Now I think we have undercover types at all times.

 

[cultcross]

Re: Target is the only retail corporation police like security positio

Dillard's did and still does, but they also hire off-duty police officers, so they are doubly covered. Amazing how the sight of a police uniform will suddenly shut a person up.

Is that legal? Surely a bit of a conflict of interest?

 

[auntiehill]

Re: Target is the only retail corporation police like security positio

Apparently, it is indeed legal and there's not conflict of interest for the police officer. He is an officer and a security guard. He doesn't get paid extra for making arrests, but Dillard's used to prosecute EVERY case of shoplifting--no matter a 5 dollar item or 500. A lot of the officers, however, didn't to bother arresting someone for stealing a single lipstick. They would hand out warnings or take the item back and just "escort" them from the store, which made store's head honcho a bit peeved.

There were also many news-worthy cases where the police went a bit overboard and beat a shoplifter so badly, the man died, and a few cases of an in-store fight with thieves resulting in shots being fired. Dillard's was always being sued or investigated for something---harassment, discrimination, police abuse, etc.

I worked there for years. Not a fun place to be employed, not by a long shot, but the off-duty officers were all great guys and I never had any problems with them. In fact, they would escort me to safe every night when I made the daily deposits.

 

[Sigokat]

Re: Target is the only retail corporation police like security positio

Best Buy in Fayetteville, NC has an on-duty uniformed Fayetteville Police Officer on the premise at all times. The car is always parked right in front of the door as well.

Gotta love ol' Fayette-nam. I cannot wait to PCS from that hellhole once I get home from the hellhole I'm currently in.