Quote:
Originally Posted by John F
I believe fjtorres is correct, at least here in the U.S.: the police won't get involved unless the customer walks through the door with an item. I occasionally put things in my coat pockets for convience, pay for them before checking out, and the police have never been called.
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As I said, grab you when you walk out the door. In Canada, until you remove the item from their premises, no crime has been committed and the police will not get involved. Of course, store security may be keeping a very close eye on you just to make sure you don’t get too far.
Edit: While what I wrote above is generally applied in Canada, there have been cases where the perpetrator was heading towards an exit and away from the cashiers and was stopped by store security. This behaviour was considered sufficient to establish that they were not planning to pay for whatever they have in their hand or concealed on their person. To quote section 494 of the Canadian Criminal Code:
That aside, one friend of mine used to have a nasty hobby. if the alarm went off as he was exiting a store, he would starting running and duck around the nearest corner. This was a real hoot to him until one day, a store staff member who had been a university level sprinter caught him and tackled him to the ground causing some nasty injuries to both parties (full contact sports are not meant to be played on concrete?
). He attempted to sue for compensation for his injuries but lost. Basically the court ruled that his running would be considered as sufficient evidence under section 494(2) as the store staff were acting as representatives of the store owner in their actions and no evidence of excessive force was given.
Regards,
David