Uncaring Security Personnel at JCPenney

JC Penny's needs to start getting some community spirit ... read these
horror stories


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AND there is more if a person wants to look.

Didn't anyone ever teach you never to leave your purse unattended in
public? Heck, my Grandmother brought me up that way. NEVER leave your
purse unattended!! Security is only employed to protect the company
against theft. Though I agree that if they had indeed witnessed it,
they should have detained the suspect and contacted the authorities to
deal with it. I am sorry to hear this happened to you, but you must
take responsibility for your own negligent actions.

Rent. A. Cops. probably make like $8-$10 an hr, so why should they
risk their lives to get back *for you* more money then they probably
have in their own wallets?

Repeat after me: Rent A Cops only work there.

Does someone scoop $400 bucks out of your purse? Was it wadded up,
and left on top? That's funky! I'm not completely buying this story.
And store security is not involved in personal theft. I believe
there's some liability to it. Or something like that. Next time you
have hundred dollars bills poking out everywhere, scream bloody murder
and I'm sure some Price Charming citizen will come to your rescue.

Sorry about your situation, but unfortunately,store security is not
responsible for a customer's personal belongings or money being
stolen. That is something the police have to deal with.

I'm sorry that a large amount of money was stolen from you, but who
leaves their purse unsupervised for even a moment? Not me. It
doesn't even sit in the grocery cart.

I work for a major retail company in Loss Prevention (Security) and we
have limitations on who we can and cannot apprehend. We also have
strict rules about when we can call the police. Reading your complaint
and if that is what truly happened, according to our rules all we can
do is write up an incident report and try and get a picture of said
suspect to hand over to te police if we did in fact get the theft on
camera. We could not stop that person or call the police for you. We
are limited to our stores assets to protect, not that of our customers
unfortunately. It is because of petty law suits in the past that we
are held to such strict guidelines and we cannot bend them for anyone
as much as we would like to at times. Sorry to hear about what
happened. This time of year everyone needs to be extra aware of their
surroundings.

I've read and re-read your letter. What it sounds like to me is that
he stole $400 cash from you, not your wallet. They found him, but
could not prove that anything he had in his posession belonged to you.
("they couln't 'identify what he stole'").So they could not hold him
for the police.

I know it sucks, but that's the risk with cash. I'm pretty sure they
were only doing what they could within the confines of the law. I
think Adam explains this better than I can. Anyway, you may feel safer
in the future using a debit card and carrying minimum amounts of cash.

I'm wondering if, at any time, you actually asked anyone for the
police to be called. When you contacted the police, did they say
they'd file a report and/or look at the tape? For security to call on
their own may have given the impression they were somehow culpable. I
don't see how them taking information from you equals detention.

:) seriously, I would have.

how you KNOW that they have this person on surveillance?

Most Assets Protection departments don't share that kind of
information with the public.

And if they truly had him on tape, they would have had probable cause
to stop and interrogate him. The fact that they allegedly followed
him, but made no contact makes me think they had nothing except for
your word and couldn't detain him without violating HIS rights.

And just WHAT were you doing wandering around the mall with a wad of
cash in your purse.

Not that you would have, but it could have been a set up between you
and a "thief" to try to get money out of JC Penney's.
Also security is not allowed to do much other than walk around trying
to prevent theft from occurring.

"When I complained to the Asst. Manager, I was treated rudely in the
public area (no privacy to discuss the matter)"

Did you complain in a public area?

If so, what were YOU thinking? If this is a matter to be discussed
off the floor, then you need to say "I have a private matter... is
there someone private we can talk?"

I happen to think that they COULD have done better, however. While
they aren't required to protect their customers, it's the right thing
to do to assist in calling the police.

JCP will not reimburse you no matter if they have the thief on
suvellience or not. +
And, JCP should be a bit more cooperative and turn the survellience
tape over to the local police department for follow up.

I know we should not have to worry about our hard earned cash being
stolen by anyone but it happens more and more often especially at this
time of year.

Hopefully this thief is well known to the area cops and they will
catch him soon.

But I would definately call a local tv station and their "call for
action" dept to complain about JCP and have them answer to the public
as to why they are not concerned about their customers safety as much
as they are about their merchandise.

Not long ago a customer had money stolen from them while in the
dressing room. There was no video that showed the theft - the company
only had the word of the customer that it had happened. You guessed
it, they ended up paying the customer what she claimed to have lost
because she was on their property and that is where the loss happened.
I couldn't believe it.

In this case, I might agree that JCPenney has some responsibility to
the customer. Since she was in contact with security and since they
were following the man, she probably assumed that they were helping
her and would have contacted the police themselves. Perhaps if they
hadn't detained her and hadn't taken it upon themselves to act, she
would have called police. Yes, this could have been a scam and they
acted (apparently) upon the assumption that it was. This may have
allowed the criminal to get away while the honest person was
inconvenienced. If that is the case, then I think they have some
responsibility to "make her whole".

I agree with the people below. This is a police matter. JCPenny
doesn't owe you a penny, and from what you describe the employees did
just what I would expect.

Take this as a learning experience and guard your stuff more carefully
next time.

Linda,

How was it you were detained?

In all likelihood they thought this was a distraction theft and
weren't going to let you out of their sight just in case.

Average citizens much the same as security officers
( non swarn officers ) do not have the right to detain.

How did the perp get it out of your purse that should have been in
your possession?

Had you at anytime prior to this incident asked JC Staff to take
prossession of and protect the content of your purse?

You won't be reimubursed plus you should not be privy to what, if any
action, JC Penney meters to their associates.

Please stop back and let us know what JC Penney says.
BillR.

They have no business in personal affairs, because they are afraid
people like YOU, will sue them. Did you contact the police? Did you
yell for help? Or did you wait for security to contact you? Stop
being such a victim, and help yourself. There is alot here that you
could have done, instead of being a helpless woman.

I can see where they are coming from, they have no business in
personal matters such as this. You should have called the police.

And your requests for the particular employees involved to be fired
and for THEM to compensate you for your loss is ridiculous.