“Dear Red Phone, Why do people steal so much from Walmart? Seems like there’s reports in the paper every week about people stealing all kinds of items, big and small, from Walmart. I hardly ever hear about thieves hitting up Target or Costco. Are their loss prevention people sleeping on the job? I guess if you want to steal, Walmart is the place to go.”
Dear Walmart Watcher, Red Phone checked in with the Gilroy Police Department on this one, since the Walmart on Camino Arroyo is definitely a popular destination for theft.
Just the other day, on Aug. 31, Red Phone saw in the Gilroy Police report that a man pushed a full shopping cart out of Walmart without paying. The loss prevention officer approached him and the man left the cart and drove away. At least the officer got his license plate number.
The Gilroy Police Department is required by state law to accept a citizen’s arrest initiated by the public, said Sgt. Chad Gallacinao.
“This includes arrests made by loss prevention personnel or other employees at our local retail locations. Our local retailers, throughout the city routinely experience theft/shoplifting issues and place people found to be shoplifting under arrest for theft,” he said.
