HAve you ever witnessed a crime?

[BrianL]

When I worked at Blockbuster a lady tried to walk out with a bunch of movies in her purse. She set off the detector. The crazy thing is that not 5 feet behind her was an in-uniform police officer walking up to check out his movies. We gave them a 2-for-1 discount when in uniform, and he immediatly reached for his handcuffs. The crazy thing is that he brought her to the back room while he waited for on-duty officers to arrive, and had me watch her for a few minutes (she was cuffed to a chair) - I was like 16 at the time! She tried to smoke a cigarette, and she told me that, "He said I could!" No, he didn't. He came back in the room and was pretty mad about it. It was interesting because he interrogated her a little and I got a feel for how he could tell she was lying.

 

[RogueX]

Not the crime itself, but my daughter and I noticed a high school student crossing the street at an unusual spot (mostly off ramps with little space for foot traffic). Something seemed off about his walk and appearance, but I didn't think anything of it after a few minutes.

A few hours later his face was on the news as a missing teen and then a hours later became wanted as suspect in the murder of a high school teacher.

 

[china mom]

Many times - I was a police officer.

 

[KingLlama]

I saw someone put ketchup on their steak once, so YES.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

Many years ago I was in the bank when it was robbed. I was at the teller and a man walked behind me to the teller’s window next to mine. I thought to myself “He’s going to rob the bank”. I don’t know why I thought that other than having a sixth sense, I guess. Then, I thought “You watch too much television”. I felt strongly enough about it though, that I didn’t look at him. Well, he walked away and I noticed the teller step back and lean against the wall. Then, I was told what happened. The bank was locked and I could not leave. The FBI came and interviewed me, but I wasn’t much help. I really didn’t look at him.

I was getting cash for a Disney trip the next day. I was at work and was taking a quick break to get the money. Unfortunately, I had to call my co-workers to tell them I wouldn’t be back for a while. I was locked in the bank because it had been robbed.

Back in the 1980's I worked for 8+ in banking as a teller. We had our yearly robbery videos we were required to watch. One of the most important things stressed was GET THE ROBBER OUT OF THE BANK! In other words: Do what they request, don't try to delay the rob. I'm relieved to read your situation wasn't any worse.

 

[Sinder]

Does being the victim of a crime count, if so then yes I was witness to a crime.

 

[Micca]

I witnessed what they did to the Imagination pavilion at Epcot. CRIMINAL!

 

[antmaril]

Back in the 1980's I worked for 8+ in banking as a teller. We had our yearly robbery videos we were required to watch. One of the most important things stressed was GET THE ROBBER OUT OF THE BANK! In other words: Do what they request, don't try to delay the rob. I'm relieved to read your situation wasn't any worse.

Thank you. Yes, I believe the bank employees handled it very well. I didn’t see a gun, but he may very well have had one and said so in the note. It ended well, thankfully.

 

[Meglen]

Working at a grocery store. My very first day of my very first job. I was a bagger and I noticed commotion happening. This women stuffed steaks in her pants. The police were already on site (assuming manager called before confronting her". The police walked this women to the car closed the door and walked back into the store... Well this women kicked the door open with her hands cuffed behind her back and RANNNNN down the parking lot. Man it was crazy watching these cops tackle this lady.

 

[bcla]

Sure. Mostly theft. Maybe shoplifting. Saw someone breaking a window and stealing T-shirts from a store display on the night of the Rodney King verdict riots. Other than that, I never witnessed any life-threatening crimes. I did see someone pull out a gun once, but that was more like he was showing it off to a buddy. But it was clearly an illegally concealed firearm unless he happened to have a CCW permit or was a police officer, and something told me it was more likely he was a gang member with an illegally obtained/possessed firearm. I just kept on walking.

 

[bcla]

It really depends on what's considered a "crime". There's so much that may technically be illegal under different laws but is generally not enforced, such as smoking weed as was mentioned. It's still considered a federal crime regardless of state law.

 

[mikehn]

Im sure many of us witnessed ourselves commiting crimes, but hopefully nothing too serious. Once upon a time I was a bad boy.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Quite a few but watching a man get carjacked with his baby girl in his arms just before it was made a felony because they were so common was something else.

 

[JLTraveling]

I saw a purse snatching at Underground Atlanta one NYE. It was so crowded and the guy disappeared into the crowd before I got much of a look at him. A few people pursued him, no clue if they ever found him and retrieved the purse.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

That would get a clerk fired here. They just let shoplifters go here in California because the voters decided thefts of under $950 are not worth prosecuting.

Not true at all. The proposition declared that thefts of under $950 were misdemeaners. That isn't a figure just plucked out of thin air. In fact, it is well in line with peer states. In Nevada for example, that line is $1200. In Oregon it is $1,000. In Arizona it is also $1,000. In Washington, that figure is $750. Furthermore, said misdemeaners are punishable by up to 6 months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine. Now If the cops or the DA decide that they do not want to do their job, that is on them, not the voters. And a DA just got recalled recently partially for not doing his job in that regard.

 

[RangerPooh]

Around 2001 I was volunteering n the finance department collecting ticket booth and beer station money at a local large scale food festival in my hometown. I moved throughout the festival with armed law enforcement officers moving from station to station enroute back to the finance office. At one point the LE steps in front of me and told me to stay put. Apparently something was going on. I can't recall the details now, but I think someone had pulled a knife on someone nearby and there was a brief pursuit. Sadly it was not unusual for this to happen, as bad people will find a way to sneak in weapons, even though there was a check point...I also volunteered at one of those check points...the confiscated knife box was never empty. Mostly pocket knifes, but still.

 

[Mysterian]

I saw an attempted theft with a scuffle and an escape outside of a grocery store. Female shoplifter running out of the store before being grabbed by a store associate (I believe that's a universal store policy no-no?), when suddenly a car races up to the curb, a scuzzy boyfriend pops out. "Get your hands off of her!" then he grabs her (again with the lady-grabbing) and gets her into his vehicle. They speed off, and a geriatric fella next to me mutters a curse word at the car.

In the 80's, a guy exited the base BX (military base department store) with a cassette tape. Remember when tapes were in those long cardboard boxes with the big plastic theft-deterrent cases? He pulled it out from his jacket, broke the casing, dumped it into the nearby trash and loudly exclaimed "Alrighht!". More than likely he was on camera at some point, so it's possible they nabbed him and his REO Speedwagon tape.

And finally, many instances of Crocs.

 

[Mysterian]

It really depends on what's considered a "crime".

 

[tvguy]

Not true at all. The proposition declared that thefts of under $950 were misdemeaners. That isn't a figure just plucked out of thin air. In fact, it is well in line with peer states. In Nevada for example, that line is $1200. In Oregon it is $1,000. In Arizona it is also $1,000. In Washington, that figure is $750. Furthermore, said misdemeaners are punishable by up to 6 months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine. Now If the cops or the DA decide that they do not want to do their job, that is on them, not the voters. And a DA just got recalled recently partially for not doing his job in that regard.

The fact that DA's won't prosecute in California is totally true. Yes the San Francisco DA got recalled, but he is a nut case. Our DA is pretty practical, why go through the cost of prosecuting a misdemeanor when the voters tied the Judge's hands on sentencing. Why spend $10,000 to prosecute a case where the theft was $950 or less? Domino effect. DA won't prosecute so law enforcement won't book, store security won't detain because law enforcement won't book. And then there is the liability issue. Some steals $950 of merchandise, and gets hurt (or an employee gets hurt) and the store gets their $950 back but ends up settling the injury claim for $100,000. Chasing a shoplifter her now is often grounds for getting fired.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

The fact that DA's won't prosecute in California is totally true.

That's not what you said.

You said (bolding mine)

That would get a clerk fired here. They just let shoplifters go here in California because the voters decided thefts of under $950 are not worth prosecuting.

You said the voters decided thefts of under 950 are not worth prosecuting which is completely false as I showed above. The voters decided thefts of under $950 are misdemeaners that can get up to 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

As for getting the clerk fired, Chasing a shoplifter was grounds for getting fired 40 years ago long before the current standard for felony theft came into existence. The reason is they value YOU more than they value a couple hundred bucks worth of stuff. Not to mention a gunfight at the OK corral in front of customers tends to drive said customers away. And that is as it should be.

Again if a DA chooses not to do his job because he thinks it's too much of a bother or because he's more interested in running to the national news network with an anti California agenda for a sound bite, that is 100% the DA's fault and not the fault of the law. And again, California's current threshold for felony theft is on par with peer states. In fact 23 states have a standard of $1,000 which is pretty much the same as California's (actually $50 more lenient a standard for the shoplifter) 16 states have an even higher (more lenient on shop lifters) number than 1,000 and as of 2020, only 9 had a lower figure than does California for felony theft. And none of those states DAs seem to have a problem with doing their jobs.