In a related manner.



ABC News’ Suzan Clarke and Alyssa Newcomb report:

Safeway has fired the security guard who interrogated a 4-year-old girl for alleged shoplifting after he saw her eat from a bag of apricots and put the bag back on the shelf.

The girl’s father apparently hadn’t noticed what his daughter had done and was taken aback when he was stopped by security on his way out of the Everett, Wash., store.

The guard then interrogated Savannah Harp, 4.

The girl’s mother, Alissa Jones, said the guard proceeded to tell Harp’s father that the tot was banned from the store and that it would be pressing charges.

“He told them, ‘Your daughter stole and she’s banned from the store, and we’re pressing charges. And she needs to sign this form saying she understands she can’t come into any Safeways,’” Jones said, according to ABC News Seattle affiliate KOMO 4 News.

Savannah, who can’t read or write yet, was forced to scribble on the piece of paper.

“It’s pretty troubling. It’s not like she even knows what she was doing,” Jones said.

Safeway officials expressed outrage over the guard’s treatment of the little girl and issued a formal apology to her family. The division president offered to take the little girl around the bakery to show her that the store was not a scary place.

“In this case, neither our policy nor commonsense seems to have been followed,” Safeway said in a statement.

The California-based supermarket chain recently came under fire in a similar situation. A pregnant woman who was shopping with her husband and 2-year-old daughter in a Safeway in Beretainia, near Honolulu, was arrested and charged with theft after she ordered two sandwiches for a total of $5, ate one while she shopped and forgot to pay for them at checkout on Oct. 31.

Nicole Leszczynski, 28, and her husband Marcin, 33, were new to the state and had gotten lost on their way to the grocery store. When they came upon the Safeway, she was famished, the Associated Press reported.

The pregnant woman, a former Air Force staff sergeant, said she was embarrassed about the lapse and offered to pay for the sandwiches, but managers wouldn’t allow it.

Instead, the couple were handcuffed, searched then released on $50 bail each, and their daughter was temporarily taken away by the state Child Welfare Services, the AP said.

The incident caused furor across the nation. Safeway dropped the charges and apologized to the woman. The company also said it would re-examine its worker training polices, the AP reported.

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/safeway-security-guard-fired-interrogating-girl-company-faced-184214252.html

I say start doing Phyc profiles on these Mall cops, if within the business they are employed they have the power to detain then these folks should be professional.

As is often the case security guards are power hungry little Eichmans
with little or no education and paid slightly above the minimum wage. They totaly lack in any professionalism and are simply hired goons

Actually in one of the articles it says the security cameras didn't catch this, which I find wierd being Walmart normally has about 95% coverage and all enterances and exits are covered.

I have NEVER had a bad stop(Stopped someone who wasn't stealing or destroying merchandise) and I have made a few people bleed, but never like that and it was always in an extreme situation where they are literally fighting me but honestly I have never made anyone bleed like that but you never know the guy could have been on blood thinners or just hit the ground wrong $hit happens.

Would I have stopped the guy? Probably not, but then again I also dont know all the details.

actually, the little girl would be a GOOD idea if the parent had been 'in' on it and it was to startler her out of stealing again,,,

the context made it inappropriate because the parent was not(or at least its not mentioned if they were) included, and it appears from the article the 'threat' was not a bluff,,,


as to the woman eating the sandwich, I think offering to pay should have been enough to forego actual handcuffs...

Yes scaring and beating (spanking) children is not necessary in my opinion.

I've met people who hit their kids to discipline them but they ignore their dog who is totally in need of obedience training.

its not necessary for ALL children, its very necessary for some. our family believed/believes in discipline as a way of protecting and teaching our kids about the future realities of life they will face amongst people who may not care about or love them as much as we do.

and the pets ABSOLUTELY get disciplined as well, as we dont place them above our children...

Well good for you, I'm happy for you. I hope it works out according to plan.

May all of your children grow up to be nice people.

Thats definitely weird.....the only reason Wal-mart wouldn't release a tape or say that is that they have culpability in the incident itself. Otherwise, they would release it immediately.

lol, thanx

so far only one has grown up and he is a very nice person who wont be breaking any laws or getting roughed up by any overly assertive cops in his lifetime,,,thank goodness

I dont know ANY Loss Prevention people who would go along with doing that to scare a kid, to mych liability and its just not right.

I dont doubt you dont know any. I do know those who will 'go along' with a parents consent however. There is no liability in explaining what happens to thieves if it is the truth. Its REALISTIC and right to teach a child about consequences in the real world.

No not wierd. Based on their policy the only people they can give copies of the CCTV footage to are the police and District Attorney. Actually most companies have that policy.