Your View

Those stupid things go off everywhere they get to be really annoying, but i agree with most people who say no one real listens.

Last year, every day walking in and out of chapters to get coffee i set off the alarm, it got to the point where the security gard just smiled and said one day will figure out what the hell the problem is, but at least they know your on your way for your coffee.

Turns out it was my ipod case (something to do with the magnet and the system, i never real understood but somehow if the ipod was off no alarm)

Could a problem of these detectors be in a person's physical make up?

Could a person have a staple or bolt in their body or a piece of steel doing it?

One of the things they check for before an MRI is the possibility of ANY metal in your body.

I know they have trouble with an ECG trying to get a correct reading because my skin condition screws up the magnetical field.

I interfere with with electrical fields and get shocks off metal.

I have gone into stores without a purse even and still set off alarms.

Could this be what's happening to others too?

Online shopping does not always provide relief from the hellish klaxons.

My postal outlet, at which I have to pick up my parcels, is located in a pharmacy guarded by those alarms.

Most online retailers don't disable the electronic tags before shipping.

So everytime I pick up an online purchase, I grit my teeth as I head for the exit.

Thank God the manufacturers of those abominations haven't teamed up with the Taser Corporation for a tag 'em and bag 'em solution to shrinkage.

Store security staff do not have the right to hold and detain anyone on mere suspicion. They are not peace officers and their qualifications are as often as not the need for a job.

As for the Charter of Rights and Freedoms being an act to aid criminals let me put this issue in perspective.

The charter actually protects you from illegal and criminal actions by retailers and their paid goons.

No one has any responsibility to give up five seconds let alone five minutes to cater to the stupidity of security staff.

The problem is most people when confronted like this are often embarrassed and liable to go along with this abuse to avoid a public confrontation.

It's better to take a stand, a very loud public stand so that everyone knows exactly what is taking place.

Yell for someone to call 911, resist, make a scene and when it is over don't accept the retailers cheesy apology.

Only a police officer can legally detain you. A "citizen's arrest" does not protect the staff nor store from criminal charges.

But you must stand up for your rights in the strongest terms you can.

SE of Winnipeg, while I appreciate the abuse to suffered at the hands of those sales people, your argument is not the same as being wrongly detained.

Any retailer has the right to insist you leave its store just as you have the right to never shop there again and to encourage others not to by telling them of the abuse.

You just accomplished the latter by your post and I thank you for it.

If a company wants to hire guards from an agency that hires morons they should be ready to deal with the repercussions when there is a human rights violation filed against them.

I wouldn't think twice about it if I was brought to the 'back room' by mistake.

You can't detain or search someone based on suspision alone, you need proof. It's simple.

Patrick, you are missing people's point completely. Spouting off sections of the charter are completely meaningless if a grade 10 dropout who has joined mall security decides he is going to detain you.

This business about suing these "large pocket companies" is complete nonsense. How often do you hear about companies being charged with kidnapping? Yet daily in Canada there must be hundreds of suspected shoplifters taken to the "back room" some guilty, some by mistake. They are fully aware they can get away with it.

I have personally witnessed a man walking away from a Safeway, when a guard tackled him from behind in the parking lot, holding his head against the ground. Did he steal? Who knows he wasn't running, just slowly walking away, like you suggest.

Oh Russ... people like me?
Here are Sections 8 and 9 of the Charter.

8. Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.

9. Everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.

So with you saying..."he has legal grounds to make a civillian's arrest and hold you on the premesis until the arrival of the authorities."
You couldn't be more wrong...
Russ you're obviously talking out of your ...ahem... behind.

Reading Neil F's future shop story reminds me of a story of my own.

About 12 years ago, I was looking for my first computer. I was a teenager at the time and I had finally saved up of the insane amount of money that was needed in those days to buy my 486/SX Windows 3.1 system.

A brand new Future Shop opened in my area and they hadn't installed one of those thief alarms yet.

As soon as I walked in I was followed by the salesmen, which is to be expected as they work on commission. I walked up to the computers and one salesman came up to me. I expected him to help me find the right computer for me, but instead, it went something like this.

"We haven't installed our security system yet, and we are uncomfortable with you walking around in this store. I'm going to have to ask you to leave or else we will call the police."

I told him that I had a genuine interest in buying a computer for school but that wasn't enough. Two more salesmen approached me and they all physically removed me from the store.

I complained to the corporate office over the incident. The salesman never got reprimanded, and I never got an apology.

So there's your alternative to no alarm system.

I worked in retail all through high school and university, and this is what you need to know when an alarm buzzer goes off:

1) Store or mall security can do absolutely NOTHING unless they have SEEN the commission of a crime with their very eyes/cameras. There is no substitute for this requimrent. They know this, you should, too.

2) Electronic security devices are a deterent only. They are an inherently flawed technology that often issues false alarms due to problems with magnetic fields, or they don't work at all.

3) After you have left the store, there is not a single thing that a store employee or store security can do (unless of course, you did in fact steal something and the store security saw you do it).

4) It is often worth your while to take the extra 30 seconds to allow the store to deal with the situation. If for no other reason, de-magnetizing that errant security tag will save you the same hassle in the next store you go to.

Another problem with these machines, is crooks know how to beat them. You don't think the teenager in Old Navy knows to cut off the magnetic tag in her jeans, while she is in the change room?

All it takes is to keep scissors in her purse, and she has beaten the system. I had a pair of jeans I bought, when I got them home had some plastic tag clipped on. All it took with 10 seconds with a pair of pliars, I am sure an experience thief can get these off in the store, if I had no problems.

I didn't need the special "key" to remove the clip that they use in the store either. I am sure experience theives, no the tricks for each device.

Just as with those ubiquitous, useless, constantly blaring car alarms (which have never prevented a car theft because miscreants will still steal the vehicle, and people do their best to tune out the noise), retail store alarm systems should be shelved, period, until the bugs, which have been part of their history, have finally been corrected.

They do not do what they were intended to, and there is already far too much careless, clamorous, bad-for-the-soul ambient electronic noise in our cities.

I am one of those people who simple ignore the beeping most times. I do this because I know my rights and they include NOT having to submit to a search (by the way, this includes those annoying "May I check your receipt?" requests).

Every time someone voluntarily allows them to search their bag/person/body cavity the victim gives away their rights. It also lets the searcher think that they HAVE the right to search.

If the store wants to search my shopping bags they can charge me with a crime in which case the proper authorities can search my bag because that is the LAWFUL way to search one's 'valued' customers.

I set off an alarm on my way into a store in Helsinki a few years ago - I couldn't figure out why, and everyone was looking at me. I eventually had to unload my entire bag and pass the contents through the alarm one by one - the culprit turned out to be a Finnish-English phrasebook that I had bought here in Canada before the trip.

It had a certain type of sticker that had somehow become remagnetized between Edmonton and Helsinki (maybe in the airport x-ray machine?). Or perhaps the settings on machines in foreign countries are different than here in Canada.

It was a humiliating experience, especially as my language skills were minimal - and I had the feeling everyone in the store was thinking "damn tourists".

The trip improved after that, fortunately, but the experience was extremely unsettling. There's definitely a presumption of guilt with those machines and the noise they make.

Theft is a HUGE problem in stores and is one of the main reasons we, as comsumers, have to pay more sometimes.

You can't take 2 minutes to resolve the siuation? It's a good thing those beepers don't detect idiots because most of you would never get through one without it beeping all the time.

Just a tip for those of you who were caught "shoplifting".

Some clothing stores (GAP and Old Navy for sure) have security tags in the clothes that look like a piece of fabric that says "Remove before wearing".

They swipe it at the store counter to demagnetize it, however as soon as you wash the item with the tag, it re-magnetizes. So the next time you walk into any store (Shoppers always reacts to the tags) the alarm will sound.

It may not be anything you are carrying, but something you are wearing that sets of alarms everywhere you go.

Edward, you're confused on what a right means.

"Authoritarian governments and autocrats have relied on thinking like this for centuries"

How do you figure?

The fact that the security system went off, coupled with the running away and ignoring store employees makes you look guilty.

I know you're probably one of those socialists who is against corporations, and takes every chance to bash them for whatever the subject is, but simply put, you're wrong.

I'm not sure where these anti-corporate people get off posting anything on the internet really...

"Metal detectors at airports, surveillance cameras at gas stations, cameras in ATMs, sensors at store exits, etc. etc. have grossly invaded our privacy and we meekly accept it as a necessity in the modern age."

What do you suggest? Trust everyone?

You don't have to accept this. All you have to do is to avoid going to stores, ATMs, gas stations, airports etc.

Your privacy will never be invaded again!

As a teenager everything and everyone embarrasses you, so working at (can you believe it?) SIMPSONS in Yorkdale, I was super cautious when it came to having items in my hand (even a 5 cents candy) and receipts.

As I left the store during business hours heading right into the face of the mall, the bell rang or buzzed.

I stopped and even though I did not take anything, my image, and that 1 second first impression of the bell and me from any passerby just went out the door.

A new security guard quickly remarked to another, "Caught another one eh?" After looking in my bag replied, "Oh no this one's a good one". Did I say 1 second first impression? I meant 1 minute, from the buzzer, to the security guard's smile to his response to signalling me that it was "o.k".

It wasn't o.k. those moments were taken from me.

Now when it happens,(and it seems to happen frequently--beginning to think it's automatic) I don't care, because I know I can't control it, and of course the most important thing: I didn't take anything.

Hi, I once got a beautiful wallet from my sister as a gift, I used everyware but I " beeped" everywhere I went with it , the clerk forgot to remove the security thingy hidden inside my brand new wallet and so I was "A shop lifter suspect" for moooonths ha,ha,ha!, I just got a kick out of it!, dont get to serious about the security machines, most of the time they are not right and the employees knows it, there are way too many things to worry about than this little buggers.

Happy Shopping everyone!

If the staff do not remove the alarm tags on something have been paid for, and the false alarm sounded, go back to the cashier desk, refund everything with reason for refund: unpleasant shopping experience.

Go somewhere else where paying-customers are not treated as thieves.

If sufficient sales returned due to unpleasant shopping experience, they will come up with a more efficient way to catch shoplifters.

*Patrick*
It's... ahem.... "individuals" like you (for the sake of political correctness in order to have my comment posted) who are turning Canada into the joke it's becoming. "Know your rights"??? The charter protects ONE people group... CRIMINALS.

What ever happened to niceties and courtesy? Does having "rights" excuse you from going that extra mile and taking 5 minutes to clarify with the store clerk that all is in order?

Theft is RAMPANT, with Vancouver having the highest break in rate in North America per capita this year... maybe we could all pitch in and help weed out the bad apples instead of doing exactly what they would do by keeping on walking.

Lastly... if the loss prevention officer has reasonable grounds to believe that you have stolen property of his employer, then he has legal grounds to make a civillian's arrest and hold you on the premesis until the arrival of the authorities... just like he has the right as an agent of said employer to eject you from the premises if the employer doesn't wish you present.

In short... GET A LIFE.

Assuming one hasn't shoplifted, one has three choices:

1) argue that one is not guilty until proven so, and not show contents of the bag, and insist upon police being called if they really believe it's a case of shoplifting;

2) continue walking, because most often no one responds;

3) show the contents of your bag, because catching shoplifters helps keep the price of goods down, and we probably don't want any electronic tags hanging off our stuff anyway.

I generally do 3; often do 2; and, on occasion do 1, especially if I've been treated badly by staff, or if the equipment is known to go off regularly (e.g. staff ask if you've just purchased something at store XYZ, or if you work at company ABC).

Unfortunately, shoplifting accounts for a significant part of a shop's costs (and therefore our price), so if we can work with the shopkeeper, it benefits us all.

Gee, from the sounds of some of the respondents, I guess I should be royaly pissed off when this happens. While I agree with those who pointed out that we just don't react to alarms anymore, I've never felt that I've been "victimized" by these machines or the staff assigned to "monitor" the exit.

You know you're not guilty, so why the big deal? We have enough stress in our lives to worry about the small stuff.

Life's too short to be diving off the high board over something so trivial. If it curdles your milk, don't stop. And if you've been mistreated by store staff, get your money back and never shop there again.

"The fact that you condone walking away and ignoring store employees makes you look guilty."

EXCUSE ME, but it is my RIGHT to do so! Who gave the employees of mere private corporations the right to exercise stop and search that the police don't even have?!?

NO, I will NOT comply! Too many people have fought too hard for rights, for us to give them up so easily, in fact it is the civic duty of EVERY citizen to resist such erosion of rights!

Garet of Winnipeg wrote: "The fact that you condone walking away and ignoring store employees makes you look guilty."

Authoritarian governments and autocrats have relied on thinking like this for centuries; it keeps them in power...not that I'm implying that the WalMarts of this world are seeking to run the planet...are they?

Happy Christmas, everyone.

I managed retail stores for more than 20 years and I can tell you that far more stolen merchandise is going out the back door than through those stupid security gates. And much that is stolen never gets to the sales floor.

And the single largest group of theives we had to deal with were always the mall security guards.

Has Tom been shopping at the Zeller's in Conestoga Mall in Waterloo? Or Old Navy in Guelph? Those two places always seem to have their 'shoplifter detectors' beeping whenever I use to shop there.

Eventually I got annoyed to the point where I no longer shop there.

Simply put, its a cheap way of catching shoplifters and 99.9% of the time just inconveniences the customers and staff working there. Business owners and management need to revise their shoplifting investigation methods.

One of the big box stores I regularly shop at has an alarm detection system, however, most of the time there isn't a human anywhere nearby to monitor it!

It gives a loud buzzer noise when it thinks there is a problem, then just counts quietly until someone pushes a button to say that the issue is dealt with.

However, there is rarely anyone there who knows how to work the system! So I walk through, it goes off (just groceries, nothing special), I pause, no on e is around and I keep going. Useless to have a system if you aren't going to monitor it!

I take exactly the approach the Mike from Toronto does. If they ask to check my bag, I let them know that I will comply - but if they've "apprehended" a innocent victim of their quirky machines, everything is going back for a refund. Almost every time, they wave me through.

These machines are so unreliable, the sound of a buzzer can hardly be considered probable cause to believe the victim has shoplifted.

Incidentally, I always refuse to allow the greeter at Wal-Mart to apply their famous happy face sticker to my bags. I specifically asked a store manager one time if this was an absolute necessity. If so, I would choose to shop elsewhere. He told me just to politely refuse the sticker and there would be no problem.

Like many others, I'm tired of being treated as a shoplifter by default, and having to prove my innocence later.

Do what I do. Calmly walk back to Customer Service and return everything you bought, then go somewhere else.

I've been in stores plenty of times, and have laughed heartily, presuming that the person who got caught, wasn't guilty at all.

I have always said, why don't they just change the recording to "HEY WE CAUGHT YOU SHOPLIFTING". I have been "caught" myself - and was more amused than embarrassed because (a) I know I didn't take anything, and (b) I could care less what the rest of the shoppers think. I keep right on going out the door.

If someone wants to chase me across the parking lot because they think I scoffed something, they can knock themselves out. And a warning to those that do... you'll have bit off far more than you can chew with this gal... and its got nothing to do with martial arts, trust me.

I hate those thing.And I certainly disagree with Garet who says "the proof they need is the fact that the alarm went off".

I think it could be considered an accusation,but the fact that they go off even when no infraction has occured,it seems to me,makes it clear it cannot be considered "proof".

We all pay higher prices to support the loot shoplifters make off with.But surely there are better ways to monitor this technology.I've been embarrassed by this so called "proof" on several occassions.And I can assure you,I don't appreciate the attention.And the lack of suitable apologies for being "falsely accused".

Maybe merchants should suffer some sort of penalty,or offer some compensation to those innocents they accuse.I'm sure if they accused you verbally,or in writing,of being a shoplifter,a court would award damages.

Perhaps I'll try to work up the nerve to follow "Moses" advice the next time.It might make me look guilty,but I won't have the public humiliation of a public search because some idiot didn't do their job,or their technology is defective.

Neil, I do not know martial arts. I know my rights. Like I said if they bring you in... go with them but make it known that you are not going on your own accord. Places like Walmart don't want their name in the same headline as the word kidnapping, cus that is essentially what it is.

You are right about the training and wages for security guards, but loss prevention can make a good buck doing what they do.

Most of them are also in the process to become police officers and already know what they can and can't do under the legislation they enforce.

Garet...
Right, but looking guilty doesn't mean you are guilty, so why stick around and waste your time because of their error?

What more do they need.... hmmm, how about something that was actually stolen instead of suspicion alone.

What if there are 10 people all leaving at the same time? Are you going to sit and wait for your turn for them to make sure you were honest when you were in the first place? I'm not. If you are, have fun with that.

Thanks for the wonderful advice Amanda and Patrick, they can't touch me. So what do you do, when 2 security guards grab you in a wristlock, I am sure both of you are martial arts experts, but most of us aren't.

The fact that they can't legally touch you means very little. Also most security guards have very little training and make minimum wage.

Thanks for the advice though, if I ever get grabbed by 2 men, I will use a karate move.

This is so easy to solve. I've had one of these annoying sensors go off more times than I care to think about. My solution was finally to do this. when I'm approached by staff at the store, I say the following 'If you check it, it's yours and I offer them the bag(s)/item" stops them in their tracks every time.

at which point I tell them, 'I'm frankly tired of being treated like a thief'. If they check and find everything is in order, I follow them to the cashier, so item(s) can be swiped again, as soon as item has been swiped, I ask for a refund and take my business elsewhere.

I am never rude to the staff, they're not the boneheads who made the decision to treat us all so shabbily.

Patrick, the proof they need is the fact that the buzzer went off. The fact that you condone walking away and ignoring store employees makes you look guilty. What more do you need?

I ran into a Moronic Human Alarm at my local grocery store last week. I returned the recycling (pop bottles etc) and got my coupon to be cashed in at the cashier. It was for a whopping $2.60. The problem was that I was still holding an empty bottle of some foreign beer that they couldn't recycle.

No big deal I thought; in fact I tried to share the humour and minor embarrassment with the MHA. But no, I was loudly pronounced as some kind of "ne'er do well" who should not be in the store drunk and with beer in hand - right in front of horrified onlookers.

I'd have preferred the electronic beeper over this indignity.

I'm a little surprised that this is even an issue. In the last five years I can't think of a single time that one of those alarms has gone off in a store I was in where anyone took any notice of it whatsoever.

Like car alarms, these alarms are just plain ignored. When one goes off I assume that it is someone's securitiy pass or library card, not that the person is a thief.

As for Alex and Zoe's comments, Alex is right. You don't have a legal obligation to stay. If the police are there, they can search you if they have reasonable cause, but your average future shop guy can't touch you. Most of the time they do because people let them get away with it.

As for being held and traumatized for five hours, Zoe, the lawyer you talked to likely meant that your case wasn't worth it, to you or to him. Quite frankly, litigation is extremely expensive and claims are always more complicated to prove than you think. It' not that they are allowed to do that to you just that it's not easily stopped.

That beign said, shoplifting affects consumers at the most basic level. Prices are increased to cover losses suffered by retailers. I think the best approach (because I know I didn't shoplift) is to be friendly and show the man your receipt.

There is nothing in my purse that anyone would think I stole. Nothing remotely worth seizing, except possibly my blackberry, but they can have that!

It is just unfortunate that stores even need these measures in the first place. The commonality of theft and the need for stores to take expensive measures to try to deter theft, is a perfect picture of our societies inability to mature.

I must unwillingly admit that it is younger individuals who are at fault for the majority of these offences. Then, when combined with the career criminal makes for the need of a indiscriminate thief trap.

Slightly off topic but still revelent to the story,-- I once lived with a couple who I'll call Bonnie and Clyde who shoplifted from the Zellers in Ft. McMurray on a regular basis.

I went to see the stores' manager and told her of their MO, which was to take shopping bags from one of the empty tills and simply fill it up on their way around the store and then walk out with the bags full. No detectors ever went off.

I told the manager to at least take the shopping bags away from un-opened tils and gave her the name of my roommate and her physical description. She was never apprehended and the bags were nevr taken away as I suggested. Weird eh?

I kept setting off the alarm at my local Shoppers that I went to every day or so. A young clerk finally ask me one day if my jeans were from Old Navy. She informed that their jeans had a waifer-thin chip stitched in the waistband to prevent theft.

My jeans were from Old Navy so when I got home I checked and there it was in a little canvas pouch that read "remove before washing" with a little dotted line to cut it out. Maybe the staff at Old Navy could tell people instead of the staff at Shoppers....

If the buzzer/alarm goes off and you did nothing wrong, just keep walking. If they try to stop you, say that you've paid for your purchases and keep going. If they physically stop you, that is assult. If they force you back in the store, call the police yourself and press charges, big companies have realyl big pockets.

The onus is on them to prove you stole something, not you to prove you didn't.

Know your rights!

I have a shoplifting story that blows the rest away. Future shop, Surrey BC.

I am dvd shopping with a buddy of mine we are both 30 year old males. I am a single accountant, he is a married doctor.

As we are leaving the store, the buzzer goes off. Its from the kid in front of us, he has a xbox game he didn't pay for, but since the buzzer went off as a group of us went through, we hung around to make sure that wasn't any problems.

The kid stealing was 16-17 and he said "my dad paid for it" and comes over to me!

I say "I am not your dad kid" but it is too late security has physically detained me, my friend, and this kid. We are taken to a back room and interviewed. In separate rooms!

I show my ID that I am 30, and very unlikely to have a son of this age, unless I had him when I was 13 years old. This logic is not accepted, my interview continues. I am then told the police are on the way.

How much trouble I am in, because my buddy has admitted the group of us do this all the time. Somehow my rich doctor friend, has admitted the 3 of us, are a xbox game shoplifting ring?

Meanwhile the same story is being told to my friend, that I had cracked and confessed! Eventually the police come, the officer has the brains to realize this kid, who turned out to be 19, wasn't infact my son.

We were let off, to go after an hour ordeal. Nothing from Future shop, not even a sorry.

My wife and I set those things off about half of the time when we're leaving stores. We figure it's probably just her keys.

So we just keep walking through while it's beeping and don't make a big deal about it. Never once in ~100 times has a clerk asked us to come back.

Just ignore the beeping. Those things are like car alarms - nobody pays attention to them anyways.

I work in a very high-security office. Everybody requires an electronic card-key to get EVERYWHERE in the building.

A few years ago, when we were all issued a new batch of these card-keys, it was almost immediately noticed that a chain of local stores had security gates that were sensitive to our cards.

I've always kept my card-key in my purse when it's not on my person and I very quickly became tired to setting the thing off everytime I passed through the door of these stores, either entering or exiting.

But I wasn't nearly as tired as the staff of the stores. Since my high-security office employs up to 1500 people during peak times, you can just imagine how many times those damn buzzers went off on a daily basis.

It got to a point where the cashiers would just look at the "offending" person, say "do you work at *******?", and then just wave us through.

Had I been a less honest person, I could easily have robbed that store blind every single time I visited.

I actually hear those things going off all the time in stores and a lot of the time no one goes to check the people, the people stop look around then continue to walk out (usually in malls)

My experience with that happened a few years ago. I bought a jacket from Mountain equipment co-op (a very nice mountaineering jacket) and I recall a couple of times walking out of a store and hearing a beeping noise, i thought nothing of it until one day while I was at a HMV music store, I walked out with my wife and the beeper went off!

They called me in and searched me. We eventually narrowed it down to the jacket (which was completely empty) they let me through.

When I got home I got out a pair of scissors and cut open the tag inside the jacket, what I found sewn inside was a detection packet, i cut it out and I no longer had beepers going off when I walked out of a store.

What I figured out though was that I usually carry my cellphone in that pocket and it must have de-scrambled or re-activated the tag in my jacket.

No harm done, but when you're in that store and a beeper goes off people look at you strangely and immediately start stereotyping you as some type of thief.

I read a report from the USA that said that stores have more theft from their own employees than from the public.

I guess it makes sense that if you feel your employers is ripping you off then stealing a few things will even it out.

I wonder what stores like Walmart are doing to stop theft from their own employees who use employee-only entrances and exits ?

I have been in the library and the bells kept going off even when rescanned.

The same with stores.

A car two years ago was stolen while people watched from our apartnment's parking lot because everyone ignored the alarm.

Back in the 1970s, my social worker kept setting the plane's airport alarms off in B.C.

After removing her keys, then her shoes, etc., by the third time through, with the security and police standing there, it was decided it was her braces on her teeth, the train track kind, that was the culprit!

Alex from Edmonton above said::

""Unless a staff member specifically sees you steal an item and places you under citizen's arrest (which is a huge risk, because if you aren't found to have stolen anything they can be sued)""

Well I was shopping at Zellers a few years ago and paid for EVERYTHING at the cash. When I walked out, a big black man grabbed me saying that I stole something... I DID NOT!! He held me for 5 (FIVE) hours before the cops came... verbally abusing me all the time along with another guy.

I wasn't allowed a drink of water or to go to the bathroom or get my inhaler from my bag.. I was panicking and couldnt breathe but they just laughed at me.

When the cop finally got there he too verbally abused me (saying yeah I heard it all lady) untill I YELLED at him to "shut the f**k up and listen to me" When he heard my side he freaked on the guy who arrested me and called store manager.

NOTHING was done to the guy and I didnt get even an apology. I called a lawyer as I wanted to sue then so bad. he said I didn't have a case.. what the hell is that? They can abuse me and hold me for 5 hours and they get away with it.

I still have nightmares about it and when I walk past the store I start to shake.

If anyone reading this has any advice for me, if you know of a similar happening... please let me know. I am hoping that a lawyer sees this and tells me that I do have a case and I can sue them. My email is zoes.place@yahoo.ca
and I'd appreciate any help you can give.

Thanks!!!

i worked in a small clothing store in a mall for two years. those things go off all the time, sometimes because cashiers forget to take the things off, sometimes because some stores sew in magnetized sensors that cannot be removed, and sometimes because the thing is possessed.

when it goes off, it's rarely because someone has stolen- so be happy it goes off so that you don't go home with a jacket with an ink tag attached to it.

people will only think you're a shoplifter if they see cops chasing you down the street. sheesh. i like to think people have better things to think about.

Alex, with suspicion, or, say the alarm going off, they can search you. I'm not sure where you got your legal information, but I suggest a new lawyer.

These things aren't a big deal. Sometimes things don't get demagnatized. So you have to spend an extra minute or 2 sorting things out.

I've set those off three times trying to carry a microwave out of Zellers. They were very nice about it, as I had just purchased it from the cashier right next to the scanner.

She tried to put to through the degouser three more times, as it rang each time...then she just waved me through..grinning.

Library books from an interlibrary loan picked up in town set most theft alarms off, as did UPEI text books. Since I shop at the same stores all the time, more or less, and live in a smaller area, I usually just get a big grin and motioned to the nearest degouser to try and figure out what made it go off *this* time.

I know that shoplifting is a big problem but I personally resent the fact that the store that just accepted my money now scans me to make sure that I'm honest. I've never triggered an alarm but I always hold my breath as I pass through the "Gates of Hell".

We live in a world where we are constantly under suspicion and considered to be potential crooks, terrorists or something equally vile until some electronic system proves our innocence.

Metal detectors at airports, surveillance cameras at gas stations, cameras in ATM's, sensors at store exits, etc. etc. have grossly invaded our privacy and we meekly accept it as a necessity in the modern age.

What does that tell us about the level of morality in our so-called "enlightened" society?

Big Brother has definitely arrived and he's hooked on growth hormones.

These machines are complete scams!
Stores want to be able to check people when they like.

Teens, people of colour, people who look poor, whatever.
If they just had a person do it, people would complain of profiling, racism, and so forth.

But when a machine just decides you might be stealing, its very neutral. It gives the store permission to search you. I often wonder if there isn't someone watching on camera hitting the button, when they see someone they think fits the profile of a thief.

I know when I am shopping after work in my suit, I never get buzzed. Weekends in a tracksuit, I do quite often.

The one I have the most "fun" with is Wal-mart. I have lost track of the number of times I have had goods swiped and the alarm still goes off. So what's the point of swiping them if the alarm still goes off????

I have reason to believe that alarms have lost all meaning.

For my examples, I have plenty:
Car alarms. Who really cares, anymore? They go off when a speck of dirt touches it.

Fire alarms. I'm convinced that unless a co-worker comes in screaming "FIRE!" everyone will ignore it. I've entered a building while the alarm was going off just because it seems to always go off.

Our office did a test on fire alarms and most forgot it was going to happen. The first alarm went off, most in my department looked at each other then went back to work not even removing their ear phones.

The alarms at stores. Really, unless you're missing some marbles, walking through security devices will catch you. I think these catch more innocent people then guilty people, however.

I've read that in WW2, England, Air Raid sirens were often ignored as they went off every night.

My point, is I think alarms have lost all meaning. Better alternative? No idea, but I find most alarms are simply annoying, not helping. I guess it's better cautious then anything but, we seem to be ignoring them more and more.

The important thing to note in this story is that people are under no legal obligation to stop when one of these devices goes off.

Unless a staff member specifically sees you steal an item and places you under citizen's arrest (which is a huge risk, because if you aren't found to have stolen anything they can be sued), you can simply keep walking. If they politely ask you to return with them to the cashier, you can politely decline.

I think more Canadians should be exercising this option. Stores are not police stations, and they do not have authority to be randomly stopping and searching people as they see fit.

First off, I'm not a lawyer and I have never played one on TV. That being said...

I don't beleive a shopper is legally required to be stopped and searched if one of those alarms goes off.

Having worked for a retailer who didn't have that system but did have shrinkage problems, we were told we were not allowed to stop a customer unless we saw them pick up an item, saw that tehy always had the item and that they left the store with the item.

If we stopped someone who didn't have a "stolen" item, we could be charged with assault (if we touched them) or confinement (if we told them they were not allowed to leave).

Since then, when I have set off the alarms (and I don't steal - it is wrong), I just keep walking. I have had only one clerk follow me into the mall. When she demanded I stopped, I told her no and kept on my way.

To this day, I regret not meeting her demands - the lawsuit would have helped pay for that day's purchases.

hilarious article, tom!

in response to SE's comment above, i know what you mean about the first two words of the alarm's spiel. every time i'm in line at checkout and i hear it go off, i pay close attention and still can't tell what it's saying.

sometimes it sounds like "caution!" but i have a friend who swears (jokingly?) that it's saying, "stop it!"

i actually just phoned my local walmart to ask if they knew what their own theft-detection device was saying, and the lady i spoke to, although polite, claimed she's never heard it go off. i'm inclined to think that's a load of bull, but it's xmastime so i felt guilty for calling about something so frivolous.

here's hoping some other cbc reader can clear up the mystery for us!

I truely hate these things. Seems they go off way too often. Nothing more insulting, then being stopped by a security guard when you have done nothing wrong, with everyone looking at you.

But play hardball back!

I was at safeway, had 1 bag of groceries, alarm goes off. Not even sure why? Do they put magnets in our apples? I show the guard my receipt, not good enough, I am to go back to the cashier.

I ask for the manager, and demand a refund for the $14 of groceries. I get the refund, they can restock. As I leave the store again, the alarm goes off again. I am in pocketless shorts, and a gym shirt, nowhere to hide anything.

This time the security guard is somewhat agressive in blocking me in. Long story short, my Esso gas station Easy Pass swipe keychain, was setting off their machine.

There's a big chain store here with that system. It goes off regularily.

Apparently not all of the Cashiers' inventory tag neutralizers work properly and some items have to be rescanned to fix the problem.

I usually don't pay any attention to it any more and just keep walking out the door. The store has quit even bothering to patrol the doors for anyone who sets it off. It's become just another waste of electricity.

I suggest that if the alarm goes off, the individual is searched and nothing is found that that individual be given a $50 gift card for their inconvenience.

The stores might then take more time fine tuning their security devices and training their check out clerks.

The key fob to my Intrepid sets the alarms ringing in every Shoppers Drug Mart I go into. I don't know why, and it dosen't happen anywhere else.

My work keys don't like the Wal-Mart security scanners either, so I just hold my bag open for the "greeter" to see prior to heading out the door.

"SE" those first words out of that machine,(at least at Wal-Mart) is "I'm Sorry"...we apparently forgot to remove....
"I'm Sorry," like that computer program is going to make me think that a real person is talking to me....Sheesh.

SE:

I believe the voice is saying "Pardon us..."

Just a few days ago after buying a gift at one store I set off alarms at another 3 but strangely not at a fourth and all in the same mall. I was actually far too busy to even stop to worry about it and figured hey, let them chase me if they want... but no one did.

I’m thinking these things are about as effective as car alarms.

Tom doesn't seem to realize the "shrinkage" he refers to represents multi-million dollar losses, which is not something retailers can simply shrug off due to Andy Rooney-style whining about inconvenience.

Don't like it, then shop on-line.

I was beeped while entering a store earlier this week, as I had some gifts from another store which went through their de-beepers, yet apparently were incompatible with this big box store's beeper system.

No problem, after choosing my merchandise, I advised the pleasant cashier I got beeped while entering, and showed her my merchandise, which she simply ran through their de-beeper while it was still in the bag and sent me on my way with a smile.

I still tip-toed out as I left.... but no bells rang. Still, I recall having the sensation after successfully escaping the store that I should run for it...

I was once given the full questioning and cavity search because I set off the alarm walking IN to the Bay with my school bag with a library book inside. Explain that one.

Also, if anyone in this forum can please tell me what the first words that voice is saying... "_____ _____ apparantly we forgot to remove the inventory control tag from your purchase..." It sounds like, "Hard knock". It's been bugging me for a while.

It would be interesting to know how effective these systems are at actually preventing theft.

Where I live, the Walmart store is the most annoying. You cannot enter or exit the store without hearing the alarm. It goes non-stop. The staff are not able to check even half the people exiting the store while the alarm is sounding--there are simply too many people.

I saw an amusing photo on the Internet the other day of a middle-aged woman at a coffee bar. She's wearing a nice dress, and the photo (shot from behind) clearly shows a garment "theft prevention" device attached to the collar in plain sight.

Looked like some sort of over-sized snap closure. Aside from being amusing, it was evidence of how ineffective--albeit annoying--the systems are.