With the rampancy of retail theft burgeoning due to ludicrous legislative acts essentially making it a free shopping (shoplifting) excursion, many businesses locked the door for the final time…a sign they felt hampered and defenseless against marauding kleptomaniacs.
Despite this, law enforcement agencies and crimefighting personnel maintained a stance publicly avowed when they swore to uphold covenants of police service and protection of life and property.
‘Don’t Steal in Seal’
One such agency determined to deal with sticky-fingered people who think everywhere they go they are somehow entitled to a free buffet…is the Seal Beach Police Department in California.
Heck, they even generated a banner on the agency’s social media sites, warning crooks that their thieving ways will be duly enforced by police officers making arrests and transports to detention facilities where dining on bologna sandwiches and milk is for the taking.
(Photo courtesy of the Seal Beach Police Department.)
Although a large grouping of cops donning riot gear is not necessarily how they would show up at calls regarding shoplifters, it gets the message across that this agency means business despite the state lawmakers making it easy on retail theft aficionados.
Even though the ridiculous retail theft laws in California have been boldly advertising (inviting) thieves to take a load of merchandise under a certain amount, effectively removing the smash from “smash and grab,” allowing the grab and go behavior, cops with the Seal Beach police force defer to their oath to serve and protect both lives and property.
They have wisely used the widespread and free advertising venue of social media to elicit tips by putting surveillance footage of theft suspects on blast. It worked in a recent retail theft that occurred at an antique shop in their jurisdiction, along with an intriguing storyline…
(Photo courtesy of the Seal Beach Police Department.)
This is the write-up SBPD posted about the incident:
“Antonio Canova’s statue ‘The Three Graces’ is a Neoclassical sculpture of the mythological three Charites, daughters of Zeus —identified on some engravings of the statue as, from left to right, Euphrosyne, Aglaea, and Thalia— who were said to represent youth/beauty (Thalia), mirth (Euphrosyne), and elegance (Aglaea). I don’t know what any of that means, but it sounds awesome.
(Photo courtesy of the Seal Beach Police Department.)
“What isn’t awesome is that on Saturday, an $800 version of this sculpture was (allegedly) stolen from Alamitos Antiques on Main. It was all captured on video. Technology these days…
“Someone may want to let our suspect know that she’s featured on this page and after I post this, she’ll be featured on our Instagram page. That means that over 50,000 accounts who follow these platforms will see her, and if she’s local or even recognized by someone, one of those 50,000+ followers will probably DM me or call our Detective and let him know who she is.
“I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to be featured on this page like this…. especially once I hit the ‘Post’ button. Posts like this get shared, re-shared, and re-shared some more. Gotta love social media, right?
“If you recognize this person, call Detective Jacob Otto at 562-799-4100 ext. 1109. You can be like one of those anonymous tippers if you want.
“If you know this person and don’t want to call us, tell her to return the sculpture to Alamitos Antiques. An apology may also be a good idea.
“Or…if you have her phone number, send her a screenshot of herself with the caption, ‘OMG! Is that you on Seal Beach PD’s page?’ Hopefully, that’ll sway her to do the right thing and turn herself in to us, or at the very least, return the stolen sculpture.
“Remember folks…Don’t Steal in Seal!”
Guess what happened after posting that saga on the Seal Beach PD social media sites…
It worked, rather mysteriously!
“With all of the cases our Detective Bureau handles, enlisting the help of the community makes the process of identifying suspects much easier. A common myth is that we can solve a crime if we have it on video. It takes much more than that.
“Our post about the missing ‘Three Graces’ sculpture was shared with over 100 accounts and reached over 22,000 people. Local news outlets who follow this account and our other accounts picked up the story as well. We received some solid leads from our community and others outside of our community and with those leads, we identified a suspect.”
Coming Clean
Having been in those duty boots, successful resolutions from investigative work (including help from the community’s constituents) affords equilibrium in every cop’s tour of duty and all the rollercoaster rides throughout hours of serving in environments shared by evildoers.
This is a prime example of See Something, Say Something, with a twist…
“The suspect, or someone who knows the suspect, called our Detectives and left a voicemail, indicating that she would arrange payment or restitution for the sculpture (voluntarily). We later learned the business received payment overnight for the sculpture, along with an apology note.”
Off scot-free?
Although the theft suspect learned of her infamy and amends were made discreetly, it does not end there.
With the antiques retailer receiving restitution for the stolen statue, Seal Beach investigators didn’t necessarily close the case:
“Even though this was done (which we confirmed), we’re still actively investigating this incident and similar incidents to make sure we don’t have any additional businesses who were victimized.
“With that said, we wanted to thank everyone who assisted us with this investigation including those who reached out to us with good suspect information. Once we’re done with our investigation, we’ll send it to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office for review,” reminding everyone, ‘Don’t Steal in Seal’.”
Thievery and Trespassing
Generally, if a retailer is victimized by thievery and exercises the right to prosecute shoplifters, that is the route undertaken by law enforcement officers, transporting arrested parties to county jail. Usually, trespass warnings are verbally issued by a retailer’s management member whose authority prohibits a suspect from returning to the store.
Suppose they are stupid enough to walk in where they are legally forbidden. In that case, they are automatically arrestable for “Trespass After Warning” if they are observed by a store employee familiar with the suspect’s history of shoplifting there.
On that note, my department additionally supported retailers by offering a Trespass Warning program which permitted officers to warn against trespassing. Per state statute, arrest for trespassing occurs after a bona fide warning is issued; a police report is required, indicating when, where, to whom, and by which officer a trespass warning was activated via the Trespass Warning program.
Businesses were provided a decal advertising the Trespass Warning partnership with police and its requisite placement in the merchant’s front window, unobscured and clear for all to see. District attorneys and the courts recognized this feature and statutory requirements, resulting in successful prosecutions.
Unsurprisingly, some trespass arrestees decided to go to trial and contest the charge, claiming “It wasn’t me! I was not there!” The report-writing officer’s testimony was bolstered by photographs of the defendant, his/her thumbprint, and video footage captured by the cop’s in-car camera system (body-worn cameras were not yet available back then but duly serve these interests nowadays).
The judges would conduct trials, hear testimonies, weigh evidence, and look at the defendant as if to say, Game over!, followed by adjudications.
The Trespass Warning program was primarily instituted to enable cops dealing with loiterers and prowlers at closed businesses, when merchants were sound asleep during midnight hours.
This aligns with construction sites posting statutorily required No Trespassing signage that stipulates felony impacts (“Trespassing on a Posted Construction Site”) once bypassed by anyone during the dead of night, giving midnight shift officers like me the probable cause to investigate unauthorized presence (superintendents and project managers do not visit construction sites at 3 a.m., for example) and related crimes such as theft of appliances and building materials.
(Photo courtesy of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.)
Similar to the small storefront businesses partnering with local police (implementing Trespass Warning signs mentioned above), some construction companies partner with law enforcement agencies in whose jurisdiction the acreage they are developing is located.
Like retail theft impacting the bottom lines of merchants, thievery from construction sites may be factored into the price tag of the home when it is finished and put up for sale.
Retail theft has always been a thorn in the sides of merchants, constituting trespass stipulations against those caught shoplifting (which increases products’ prices due to losses sustained by businesses).
Hence, we implore police officers to seal the deal against those who steal…since we are all inherently impacted!
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