18 ms·

The felony theft limit for Texas is $2,500, but their retail establishments do not report massive shoplifting sprees. Clearly there is more than misdemeanor/fel

by tyoma 5y ago

The felony theft limit for Texas is $2,500, but their retail establishments do not report massive shoplifting sprees. Clearly there is more than misdemeanor/felony classification at work here.

Workaccount2 5y ago
I'm pretty sure in CA it's that police do not respond to calls for anything less than felony theft. So it creates a situation where you can walk in the store, grab what you want, and then walk out with out having the police called or anyone legally allowed to stop you.
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  > So it creates a situation where you can walk in the store, grab what you want, and then walk out with out having the police called or anyone legally allowed to stop you. Walmart and Target, among others, reportedly monitor small thefts and let you get up to the felony threshold over multiple incidents before swooping in.
  - everybodyknows 5y ago
    An option not available to small businesses, as the shoplifters have no doubt already learned. Another hidden tilting of the playing field against small business.
    - hpkuarg 5y ago
      Yes, exactly.
    - a9h74j 5y ago
      So will we see a startup: Uber for alternative policing to whom small retailers submit surveilance camera footage, and expect a series of crimes to be merged into a single case?
      - BuyMyBitcoins 5y ago
        That’s actually a pretty compelling idea. Not necessarily the alternative policing part (private police?), but compiling hard evidence against offenders and handing that to the authorities.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
- sneak 5y ago
  "They were robbing the store, and I think one of them had a machine gun!"
  - keeganpoppen 5y ago
    "i think they had some counterfeit $100 bills as well"
    - dcolkitt 5y ago
      “Yes, that’s right. The shoplifted said he was going to use all the stolen merchandise as part of his unregistered securities exchange.”
bko 5y ago
That's a good point. I don't think the felony theft limit is the only consideration the deters organized theft. One obvious difference between Texas and Bay Area is Texas has a lot of guns. > In TX can You Legally Shoot & Kill a Shoplifter? The short answer is…not unless they somehow injure you in the process of committing the theft, making it a robbery. “During the process of committing the theft” would include while trying to escape with the property... One thing that is UNIQUE to Texas is the ability to use deadly force to protect property, even if you are not in fear for your life. Even though I doubt CVS security guards are trained the shoot shoplifters, the preception that this is a possibility would deter low level criminals tasked with shoplifting http://legas.legrandelaw.com/criminal-justice/in-tx-can-you-legally-shoot-kill-a-shoplifter/ http://legas.legrandelaw.com/criminal-justice/in-tx-can-you-...
- pjc50 5y ago
  And what happens if you check the receipt on the body and find out that the item wasn't stolen? How many years do you face for murdering a customer?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
    I can point to where firearms have stopped shoplifting crimes. Can you point to where your scenario has happened? Because I’m all for hypotheticals, so long as we admit the rarity and precedent before saying there is a problem.
    - Hizonner 5y ago
      Difficulty: It would take maybe, shall we say, ten thousand of your "firearms stopping shoplifting" cases to offset even ONE "innocent person getting shot" case.
      - SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
ErikVandeWater 5y ago
My guess is it's the same situation as Seattle; Prosecutors in California refuse to prosecute these cases, meaning the cops refuse to waste time trying to apprehend them. Here's an excellent clip about a famous criminal living free in Seattle that happily expounds on his illegal activity: https://youtu.be/bpAi70WWBlw?t=868 https://youtu.be/bpAi70WWBlw?t=868
- crazy_horse 5y ago
  There are plenty of things about my state that get hated on all the time, and deservingly so, but I'll never get how the West Coast is happy driving productive people away and coddling those that have no intention other than to fuck over society.
  - JumpCrisscross 5y ago
    > how the West Coast is happy driving productive people The evidence for this happening in economically-meaningful numbers is scarce. What we do see happening is those productive people disengaging from that broken society—civically, physically and emotionally.
    - nitrogen 5y ago
      The evidence for this happening in economically-meaningful numbers is scarce. It doesn't take numbers meaningful to California to have a meaningful effect on other states, where housing costs are massively skyrocketing due to an influx of new residents.
      - lotsofpulp 5y ago
        What does that have to do with crime? Could be people just getting priced out. Land in the western US is still more expensive and still getting more expensive than elsewhere, clearly it is in demand even more than it is not in demand.
      - Cd00d 5y ago
valdiorn 5y ago
but in Texas, how likely is the staff or the store owner to be armed, and actually confront you? No way that would happen in California. I keep thinking of this event that happened to me in the UK, where laws are equally useless at preventing theft, and staff are just powerless to do anything about it. I chased down a shoplifter. I cornered him in an alley. He stopped, looked at me, and this brief conversation took place. (and nobody ever believes me, but I don't care; this really did happen) Him: What are you doing? Me: I'm chasing you Him: why? Me: Because you're a fucking thief! Him: (confused)...nobody's ever done that before. Me: (shocked) ... well, I AM, so fucking run! He dropped the bag (which contained mostly expensive meat and cheese and some other expensive-ish items - apparently really common theft targets) - and ran off. I took the bag back to the store. Now, I didn't give a shit about a 100 pound loss to Tesco, but if we've completely given up on the rule of law, I'm not sure that's a society I'm happy to live in.
- nuclearnice1 5y ago
  I love a good foot chase! Given the sentiments of your last paragraph, why did you choose to send the criminal away and return Tesco’s stolen beef?
  - ryandrake 5y ago
    I don't understand putting your personal safety at risk (who knows if he had a knife or something) over £100 of goods belonging to a £20B company. It's not like he stole your meat and cheese as you were shopping. Nobody is going to miss that cheese. Nobody is going to get fired over it. It's really not that important.
    - nuclearnice1 5y ago
      You mention the meat and cheese, but the comment explicitly disavows that motive. P: I chased this guy for law and justice, not meat and cheese. Q: why did you chase for meat cheese?
      - 5y ago
jcims 5y ago
I think CA is an outlier. Super lax enforcement + huge population just puts up big numbers.

by tyoma 5y ago

The felony theft limit for Texas is $2,500, but their retail establishments do not report massive shoplifting sprees. Clearly there is more than misdemeanor/felony classification at work here.

Workaccount2 5y ago

I'm pretty sure in CA it's that police do not respond to calls for anything less than felony theft. So it creates a situation where you can walk in the store, grab what you want, and then walk out with out having the police called or anyone legally allowed to stop you.

ceejayoz 5y ago
> So it creates a situation where you can walk in the store, grab what you want, and then walk out with out having the police called or anyone legally allowed to stop you. Walmart and Target, among others, reportedly monitor small thefts and let you get up to the felony threshold over multiple incidents before swooping in.
- everybodyknows 5y ago
  An option not available to small businesses, as the shoplifters have no doubt already learned. Another hidden tilting of the playing field against small business.
  - hpkuarg 5y ago
    Yes, exactly.
  - a9h74j 5y ago
    So will we see a startup: Uber for alternative policing to whom small retailers submit surveilance camera footage, and expect a series of crimes to be merged into a single case?
    - BuyMyBitcoins 5y ago
      That’s actually a pretty compelling idea. Not necessarily the alternative policing part (private police?), but compiling hard evidence against offenders and handing that to the authorities.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
sneak 5y ago
"They were robbing the store, and I think one of them had a machine gun!"
- keeganpoppen 5y ago
  "i think they had some counterfeit $100 bills as well"
  - dcolkitt 5y ago
    “Yes, that’s right. The shoplifted said he was going to use all the stolen merchandise as part of his unregistered securities exchange.”

bko 5y ago

That's a good point. I don't think the felony theft limit is the only consideration the deters organized theft. One obvious difference between Texas and Bay Area is Texas has a lot of guns. > In TX can You Legally Shoot & Kill a Shoplifter? The short answer is…not unless they somehow injure you in the process of committing the theft, making it a robbery. “During the process of committing the theft” would include while trying to escape with the property... One thing that is UNIQUE to Texas is the ability to use deadly force to protect property, even if you are not in fear for your life. Even though I doubt CVS security guards are trained the shoot shoplifters, the preception that this is a possibility would deter low level criminals tasked with shoplifting http://legas.legrandelaw.com/criminal-justice/in-tx-can-you-legally-shoot-kill-a-shoplifter/ http://legas.legrandelaw.com/criminal-justice/in-tx-can-you-...

pjc50 5y ago
And what happens if you check the receipt on the body and find out that the item wasn't stolen? How many years do you face for murdering a customer?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
  I can point to where firearms have stopped shoplifting crimes. Can you point to where your scenario has happened? Because I’m all for hypotheticals, so long as we admit the rarity and precedent before saying there is a problem.
  - Hizonner 5y ago
    Difficulty: It would take maybe, shall we say, ten thousand of your "firearms stopping shoplifting" cases to offset even ONE "innocent person getting shot" case.
    - SV_BubbleTime 5y ago

ErikVandeWater 5y ago

My guess is it's the same situation as Seattle; Prosecutors in California refuse to prosecute these cases, meaning the cops refuse to waste time trying to apprehend them. Here's an excellent clip about a famous criminal living free in Seattle that happily expounds on his illegal activity: https://youtu.be/bpAi70WWBlw?t=868 https://youtu.be/bpAi70WWBlw?t=868

crazy_horse 5y ago
There are plenty of things about my state that get hated on all the time, and deservingly so, but I'll never get how the West Coast is happy driving productive people away and coddling those that have no intention other than to fuck over society.
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  > how the West Coast is happy driving productive people The evidence for this happening in economically-meaningful numbers is scarce. What we do see happening is those productive people disengaging from that broken society—civically, physically and emotionally.
  - nitrogen 5y ago
    The evidence for this happening in economically-meaningful numbers is scarce. It doesn't take numbers meaningful to California to have a meaningful effect on other states, where housing costs are massively skyrocketing due to an influx of new residents.
    - lotsofpulp 5y ago
      What does that have to do with crime? Could be people just getting priced out. Land in the western US is still more expensive and still getting more expensive than elsewhere, clearly it is in demand even more than it is not in demand.
    - Cd00d 5y ago

valdiorn 5y ago

but in Texas, how likely is the staff or the store owner to be armed, and actually confront you? No way that would happen in California. I keep thinking of this event that happened to me in the UK, where laws are equally useless at preventing theft, and staff are just powerless to do anything about it. I chased down a shoplifter. I cornered him in an alley. He stopped, looked at me, and this brief conversation took place. (and nobody ever believes me, but I don't care; this really did happen) Him: What are you doing? Me: I'm chasing you Him: why? Me: Because you're a fucking thief! Him: (confused)...nobody's ever done that before. Me: (shocked) ... well, I AM, so fucking run! He dropped the bag (which contained mostly expensive meat and cheese and some other expensive-ish items - apparently really common theft targets) - and ran off. I took the bag back to the store. Now, I didn't give a shit about a 100 pound loss to Tesco, but if we've completely given up on the rule of law, I'm not sure that's a society I'm happy to live in.

nuclearnice1 5y ago
I love a good foot chase! Given the sentiments of your last paragraph, why did you choose to send the criminal away and return Tesco’s stolen beef?
- ryandrake 5y ago
  I don't understand putting your personal safety at risk (who knows if he had a knife or something) over £100 of goods belonging to a £20B company. It's not like he stole your meat and cheese as you were shopping. Nobody is going to miss that cheese. Nobody is going to get fired over it. It's really not that important.
  - nuclearnice1 5y ago
    You mention the meat and cheese, but the comment explicitly disavows that motive. P: I chased this guy for law and justice, not meat and cheese. Q: why did you chase for meat cheese?
    - 5y ago

jcims 5y ago

I think CA is an outlier. Super lax enforcement + huge population just puts up big numbers.