Attention Home Depot Employees: They really will fire you if you attempt to stop a crime in progress. That’s what happened to 24-year-old Dustin Chester. He worked at a Home Depot in Murfreesboro, Tennessee until he caught and restrained a thief who he caught prying open a soda machine with a crowbar. Now he’s unemployed.
From the Tennessean:
“When he ran, I ran after him,” he said. Chester caught the thief and restrained him in the parking lot until police arrived.
Chester was shocked to find out that for managers and most employees, catching and detaining thieves is against company policy.
“The district manager told me that we are supposed to let thieves walk away; it blew my mind,” said Chester, a one-time employee of the year.
…
Chester said there was no loss prevention officer on duty during the Aug. 20 incident and that in his seven years, he’d never heard of the company’s policy.But even if he had known how the company wanted him to act, it wouldn’t have made a difference.
“He had a crowbar, and what if he had come inside and gone after customers or the employees working at the registers?” Chester asked. “I’d rather have him coming at me than going after any of the customers.”
Home Depot’s spokesperson responded that “Safety was the primary focus of our company,” when asked why Chester was fired.
Poor guy. The Murfreesboro police spokesman Kyle Evans told the Tennessean that citizens should concentrate on identifying criminals rather than tackling them in parking lots.
“Property isn’t worth getting hurt over — merchandise can be replaced and people can’t,” he said.
This isn’t the first time Home Depot has fired workers for trying to stop a crime. If you work there, you really should just let people steal. Stopping them will cost you your job.
Home Depot employee looking for job after stopping alleged thief [Tennessean]
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Every retail outlet that I’ve worked in, and for that matter just about every retail outlet I know the policy of, has rules against or at least strongly discourages people from chasing shoplifters.
However, I don’t think most places would actually FIRE someone, especially an employee in good standing. I “chased” a shoplifter outside once, but it was a very different situation. She was running as fast as she could back to her car, and I only followed her onto the sidewalk to get her license plate number. My job doesn’t pay me enough to even consider for a second chasing an armed shoplifter. If someone comes in acting suspiciously, I follow them and provide “excellent customer service” until they leaved. If an armed robber were to come into my store, my only question would be “would you like those stolen goods in a paper bag or a plastic one?”
Er, until they leave, that is.
@cedarpointfan: Target is the same way. The security guards you see at the door are not allowed to touch you. They have to call the AP Executive for the apprehension and if they arent there then there isnt anything they can do about you stealing except call the police and hope they arrive before you leave.
One time at target i watched a guy put a very expensive cd player in a big mall bag. i told TPS (security) about it, and poof they let him walk out the door with it.
Actually, the HD employee did screw up by not using appropriate force — such as a crowbar, riding mower, machete, firearm, circular saw, etc. “Officer, I’m not sure what happened, but somehow his hand met the circular saw after he was trying to break into the Coke machine with a crowbar. Funny how karma works, isn’t it?”
Just because Dustin claims he was unaware of the policy does not mean they did not cover it with him. It’s probably in an employee handbook that he was supposed to read (and he likely signed something saying he did). There have been all kinds of policies at places I’ve worked that I’m sure I’d forgotten, or in the heat of the moment would not remember. I find it hard to believe that he did not know, or at least did not have reason to know (the handbook he should have read) that this was the policy. Again, heat of the moment people don’t always think “What’s the policy on this again?”, but that doesn’t excuse the violation of it. I think it sucks that he got fired for “doing the right thing” as far as many people are concerned, but the kind of liability this opens the company up to is too much for them to bear. What if they kept him on, and he did this again, but with a customer that was mis-identified as a thief, and he injured them? Unfortunately, this is just one of those situations where the result sucks, but it makes sense and HD is not in the wrong.
I work for Lowe’s and they have the same policy. Essentially, if you see someone steal, tell a manager so they can call the police while you stand there and watch the thief get walk out the door.
Essentially a thief can walk in pick up a $200 power tool set and skip out the door merrily. If they refuse to show a receipt we have to let them walk. I recently transfered over to Tool World. Everyday I find torn packaging and missing items. I find it amazing that we can even make any profit with how things are.
Every retail company I’ve worked for said that you’re supposed to watch them and call the police. You’re not supposed to engage the thief at all, you’re a clerk (a civilian), not a security officer. What if the thief pulled a weapon? Companies can’t have vigilantes getting themselves and others hurt.
Yeah I know how this goes. I worked at a Kohls department store for over a year.
I “had to” let over 100 thiefs walk away. Yeah over 100!! All of them where kids and young adults. They all knew we could do nothing. It spread like wild fire! Pretty darn stupid!!
@KIRZEN2007: Heck, this is Texas. A good chunk of the customers have guns and concealed-carry licenses.
Dustin should be running the store right now & making a commensurate wage as well… and the sissy-Mary manager who didn’t bother to do anything on Dustin’s behalf is the schmuck who should have been sacked.
Well Dustin, good people like you are always welcome in the US Military.
You kick ass.
oh yeah, eff Home Depot.
Oh… and Dustin wasn’t remotely attempting to be a vigilante as far as I’m concerned (but I’m from Texas, and we handle bad people a bit more suitably)
So here’s a blurb about Citizen’s Arrest –
“Citizens and police may detain any person who they have probable cause to believe committed in their presence a felony, breach of the peace, physical injury to another person, or theft or destruction of property. The key distinction between an arrest and a detainment is that the detainee may not be transported without their consent.”
If Dustin were to “detain” said crowbar-wielding dingbat he’s perfectly within the law to do so… why must Ho Depot take it upon themselves to make employee policies that are the exact opposite of the law?
(I know, I know, to not get people hurt and all that good stuff. Remember that I’m from the Lone Star State and we have nice ways of dealing with this sort of thing. If you disagree, that’s cool and all… I’m just saying…)
If he doesn’t have a police badge, he’s a vigilante. He didn’t detain, he restrained, as in physically held him.
@thepounder: I wouldn’t take much stock into what Wikipedia says, especially poorly sourced and written articles like Citizen’s Arrest.
And while it’s easy to say “he should have read the employee manual”, it seems HD didn’t do a good job of stressing the importance of the policy, considering it was grounds for immediate termination.
I’m sorry… I still say bah. He’d be applauded where I’m from. No matter really, it’s of no consequence at this point seeing as he was fired, right?
Too bad though.
@spinachdip: People always say that when they disagree with Wiki articles. Just like I say it’s bupkiss when Colbert mentions some Wiki entry and suddenly there’s a thousand changes to it. I understand what you mean though.
In TX, the Citizen’s Arrest thingy works fine, if I recall correctly… too tired to go look it up at the moment.
@thepounder: I don’t mind Wikipedia articles that have been properly sourced and peer reviewed, and they’re useful when for providing overviews. Neither is the case here.
I’m not so much disputing the article’s veracity as much as its relevance to this discussion. And given the murkiness of probable cause, the potential liabilities, and the fact that the guy is an agent of a store that specifically doesn’t want to chase shoplifters, the right to make a citizen’s arrest, if such a thing exists, means very little in this case.
Well, at my family’s company, both my little brothers have their concealed carry permits, and usually have a 9mm, .45, .22, .308, and compound bow on hand. I guess you could say our policy on criminals is “Don’t Miss”. As for this case, the only thing this “don’t be a hero” policy does is create a prey society where the criminals can simply picks whatever victims they want. Now if every time someone broke into a car or grabbed a womans purse they were tackled and had their teeth kicked in, perhaps people would think twice.
@nardo218: The law makes no distinction between detained and restrained in Citizen’s Arrest situation. The common marker of measure is that you can only stop them for felonies, not misdemeanors or that third type of crime (name escapes me, like moving violations)
So its a big free-for-all at Home Depot then?
HOT DIGGITY!!!
Apparently, people can be replaced. This guy was.
The fault is not Dustin’s or the Home Depot policy. The fault is management for not adequately training there employees on what to do in this critical situation. I’m sorry, but reading an employee handbook once a year (if he was even required to do that) does not excuse management from training there employees properly, especially on life-and-death situations like fires, criminals, and emergencies.
@eslaydog: You’ve got to stop pasting that over and over again in the comments.
home depot is right, if that idiot got hurt stopping the thief, he would have sued home depot. he should have just called the cops, when i worked at best buy and we saw people stealing, they would confront them, but never would the try to restrain or chase them, thats the cops job. merchandise is never worth getting hurt.
Also, if you remember from the TigerDirect article, stores cannot restrain people. While it is fun bashing Home Depot, I have to admit, they are right on this one.
This old news. If Home Depot chooses to give away their property to thieves, then that’s their right. If they tell employees not to stop them, and the employee does, then the employee should be fired. If the employee didn’t know any better, then they should have read Consumerist!
@mbrutsch: Ummm, sure, it’s Home Depot’s right to accept loss… but I’m sure that they’re insured to a certain point. I wonder what their insurance company thinks of this policy?
It makes sense to encourage employees not to engage a thief–only a trained professional, like a contracted security company or law enforcement, should. What if the employee got hurt? Then HD could be both liable for the injury and responsible for workman’s comp.
I’ll tell you why stores have this policy: insurance companies require it. I ran a retail store for a chain for 4 years during and after college. If we didn’t have an explicit policy prohibiting any sort of restraint or pursuit of shoplifters we could not get insurance period. No insurance, no lease. No lease, no business.
And risking getting injured or killed because some lowlife is stealing a hundred or a thousand or ten thousand or however much merchandise is just plain stupid. Product is replaceable.
@silverlining: The insurance companies love this policy. Paying out $10,000 for stolen goods is a lot cheaper than paying out hundreds of thousands or even millions in personal injury claims.
Keep in mind first and foremost that any successful retail business builds an expected shrink cost into their pricing. Our store expected to lose about 3-4% of sales to shrink each year and our prices were adjusted to pass that cost along to the consumer.
I am not so surprised about this. My mother works for Ann Taylor (clothing company), and they pretty much have this same policy. My mother has watched thousands of dollars worth of clothing getting stolen, and she could do nothing about it. And then to make matters worse, as a manager of the store she gets criticized for not preventing theft from occurring. Ridiculous! How can they prevent loss of merchandise when they can’t actually prevent it?!?!?!
@tcm22: I guess the Tiger Direct employee was lucky the customer wasn’t carrying a crowbar.
@Smashville: Maybe the drink machine was still open. Someone who says they’re Dustin’s dad, vchester, says that the cashier yelled for Dustin when she saw the guy at the drink machine. It’s unclear whether he already had the crowbar out or pulled it out after Dustin showed up.
From the comments on the newspaper’s web site:
See, I was on the company’s side for having the policy about not chasing thieves (although firing
Dustin was too harsh). Particularly in this case since the suspect had a weapon on him.
But firing someone for calling the police? Are you serious? Do they not let their employees do anything to stop theft?
The wussification of America continues…
Now with 100% more corporate sponsorship!
Goooooo criminals!
You should never confront a thief. You already know they are criminals, but you don’t know just how crazy they are. By confronting them on something as small as theft of property, you could help escalate it into an assault case. The thief could panic and pull out a weapon.
Police are trained to handle criminals, the general public is not. I for one feel safer that some employee isn’t going to escalate a situation that results mine or anyone else’s injury.You can still get a description and observe the criminal as you wait for police to arrive. It is important that he is caught, not that you stop him. Don’t play hero with other people’s lives.
@overbysara:
Screw that. Why should I use MY crowbar and possibly scratch it when I can just use of Home Depots and then keep it as a souvenir.
@cedarpointfan:
if you’re a fanbois of a certain comany’s [numerous] storefront(s), the answer is NO
same with MANY places. I’m sure Dustin’s intentions were genuine and honest, but in the world we live in, the thief could have easily turned it around 180 degrees and had a true payday with the theft.
I worked LP (loss prevention) at UConn’s computer/bookstore while I went there, and the main rule to follow was that we should NEVER physically obtain anyone…generally the people we caught did everything we asked them to. Chances are if they ran we could ID them from PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom) high-powered cameras-really sick and fun technology
@cedarpointfan:
Correction to your first question (read it wrong):
YES; and it’s quite an incredible majority to be precise
I’d say firing him was a bit over-the-top but the policy is as about as customer oriented as you can get. Why all the outrage… I guess you just can’t win with some people. Good work on the part of Home Depot to me to discourage their employees from carrying out vigilante justice. I don’t know much about retail, but I’m assuming they have some sort of theft insurance so they don’t need their employees risking their own safety and that of others. How many employees does Home Depot have? This one guy is no doubt pretty annoyed to have been fired (and again, I think he should have disciplined instead of outright fired) but he is STILL ALIVE, and his coworkers should feel relieved that they are not expected to risk being stabbed, shot or mistakenly responsible for hurting their customers, during the course of what is probably a minimum wage job. I must say, I am puzzled that you at the Consumerist are being so negative. Firing him was excessive, but the policy protects customers from getting a beat-down by accident, and protects employees from physical harm.
i’m sure it’s been said, but i think just about all of corporate america has policies like this one. it’s all about safety and liability. and yes, it sucks, but the rules are there to protect the employees.
i do find it hard to believe that after 7 years, he’d never heard of the policy. it’s one of the first things i’m always taught at any business. also, most people i know who work retail are always shocked at how we can never physically detain shoplifters, and if they refuse to stay based on a “could you please empty your pockets” request, must let them go.
@EtherealStrife:
You actually want people to be hurt for trying to do the right thing? It might not have been smart for Dustin to try to stop the thief, but saying you wish he was hurt for trying to prevent crime is just absurd. Remember, the thief was the one who committed the crime, not the guy who tried to stop him.
People get fired for stopping shop lifters, either physically or accusing them of stealing, to prevent lawsuits.
Its horrible to say but if “crowbar bandit” sued HD because an employee “assualted” him, he would probably win the case.
When I worked at Circuit City, it was same policy. I had to stand and watch as two guys came in with a drill and steal every iPod on the floor. We got their license plate and their faces on camera, but I was still pissed cause Honestly a “Hey what the fuck do you think you are doing” prolly would have stopped the huge loss to the store.
Every retail store has this policy. As a retail worker, why bother? Is your minimum wage job worth getting punched in the head for? Is your job worth getting stabbed for or shot for?
Someone up above said to yell stop thief so that a customer could tackle him. I don’t care about Home Depot’s problems. Why would I help out, so I could get stabbed instead?
Some guy breaking a Coke machine isn’t worth getting riled up unless it’s your personal coke machine. This guy is some big manly man who wanted to be a hero by protecting the honor of a Coke machine.
I’m not saying you should never help out, but there’s no point doing anything unless a human being is in danger. Won’t anyone think of the Coke machine?
@tcm22:
He didn’t detain a SUSPECTED thief, he detained a KNOWN thief.
Not showing your receipt isn’t even probable-cause for suspecting a theft. Prying open a drink machine with a crowbar is pretty obvious.
@Elviswasntmyhero: So, is he a hick-in-training because he is from TN, or because he is wearing a ballcap, you ignorant dolt?
Here’s an interesting article regarding the whole “citizen’s arrest” legality. Particularly the part about the ninth amendment: [www.constitution.org]
On a humorous note, my partner made a citizen’s arrest when we both worked at a bookstore. There was a music section, and she was in charge of it. The crook had taken so many CDs and stuffed them in his pants that he could barely walk. He tried to get on a bus, but she yelled out to the driver that the guy was a thief, so he just closed the doors and drove off.
She chased the guy behind the store, in front of a daycare center, all the while yelling that she was making a citizen’s arrest. He finally gave up, and she realized that though he couldn’t get away, she’d have a hard time restraining him. So she told him that if he gave the CDs back, she’d let him go. He had to pull off his pants to do so, to the great amusement of the parents who were waiting for their kids to get out of daycare.
Meanwhile, I’m in the breakroom, eating my lunch. She kicks the door open, arms full of CDs (several hundred dollars worth), and yells, “I caught that son of a bitch! I caught him and made him drop his drawers!” LOL.
So, even though I wasn’t happy she risked herself, I couldn’t help but laugh at the story. It would be even more funny if you saw her, because she does *not* look like the type taht would chase down a crook.