According to a Walgreens executive, security guards at drugstore chains with a theft plague have been instructed not to confront shoplifters once they leave without paying.
Walgreens, which operates 240 stores in the Big Apple, including Duane Reade, has been tormented by robberies to the point where stores have had to place items corresponding to toothpaste behind the lock and key.
The network has hired unarmed guards and off-duty cops – but they do not deter.
“[Security guards] they’re not there to protect the product,” said Joseph Stein, director of product
“They’re there to de-escalate [a situation] and to protect the customer and employees, he added.
Walgreens employs security guards from Allied Universal, Stein said, adding that the chain also employs off-duty law enforcement officials “who’ve different powers” than unarmed guards.
“Once you’re five [thieves] at your shop on a mission, it’s five against one. And that is not responsible behavior [to try to stop them]Stein said.
A spokesperson for Walgreens said in a press release: “The security of our patients, customers and team members is our top priority. Allied Security and all unarmed security personnel we employ are to function a deterrent.”
This will likely be news to shoppers who’re surprised to see thieves overtly walking out the door and security guards seemingly doing nothing to stop them.
“Recently, evidently when there is a theft in a store, the security guards in the store are only supposed to watch it occur and wait for the cops to arrive (long after the robbers have left). I keep seeing these videos of somebody unarmed walking into an Apple store or Walmart or whatever, putting their phones of their pockets and just walking out without stopping,” a Reddit user wrote last month, garnering 179 responses.
Stein has make clear one other irritating problem for each shoppers and retailers who’re besieged by rampant crime of their stores.
Stein said that if drugstore chains didn’t shut down toothpaste, razor blades and other popular items, there can be nothing on the shelves to buy.
Shoppers say they’re annoyed by the hassle of finding a retailer who can unlock this stuff, but with retail crime skyrocketing across the country and stores being attacked by shoplifters on a each day basis, locks are one among the simplest ways to keep goods on store shelves for a very long time . legitimate customers, retailers say.
“The locks work,” Stein said. “Once you see a sealed toothpaste, nobody wants it, but when we do not, the product won’t be available for purchase. And in the event you don’t close it [the thieves] know they’ll come back.”