A sheriff recently alleged that Target prevented his deputies from doing their jobs.
A California sheriff accused retailer Target of preventing deputies from apprehending shoplifters despite Target stores requesting help to curb a rise in retail crime.
“We don’t tell big retail how to do their jobs, they shouldn’t tell us how to do ours,” Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper wrote on X in a post last week.
Elaborating, he wrote that “recently, we tried to help Target,” according to the post. “Our Property Crimes detectives and sergeant were contacted numerous times by Target to help them with shoplifters, mostly who were known transients. We coordinated with them and set up an operation with detectives.”
I can’t make this stuff up. Recently, we tried to help Target. Our Property Crimes detectives and sergeant were contacted numerous times by Target to help them with shoplifters, mostly who were known transients. We coordinated with them and set up an operation with detectives and… pic.twitter.com/2TJCXApGMs
— Jim Cooper (@SheriffJCooper) November 9, 2023
But he alleged that Target’s head of regional security told the sheriff’s office that deputies can’t contact suspects in the Target store or could not handcuff them inside the store. Target then allegedly told deputies that if they arrested a perpetrator, they had to be processed outside behind the store and “in the rain.”
“We were told they didn’t want to create a scene inside the store and have people film it and put it on social media. They didn’t want negative press. Unbelievable,” Mr. Cooper added.
Deputies, he said, saw a woman on camera bring in her own bags and “go down the body wash isle” before grabbing “Native body washes.” After that, the woman “went to customer service to return them,” he wrote.
“Target chose to do nothing and simply let it happen,” the sheriff continued. “Yet somehow, locking up deodorant and raising prices on everyday items we need to survive is their best answer.”
The Epoch Times contacted Target for comment Sunday. The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based retail giant has not publicly commented on Mr. Cooper’s post.
The sheriff’s complaints about the firm’s shoplifting policies comes as a number of retailers, including Target, have been locking up more items behind glass or using other means to prevent shoplifting. Over the past several years, there have been a rash of social media videos of large groups of people rushing into stories before taking items and running out.
