The story some of you have been waiting for.

[momrek06]

DH & I just finished watching Jay Leno and he had on the director/writer/producer/actor Kevin Smith....and while chatting with Leno mentioned that as a child his parents took him to WDW alllll of the time and he said he stole everything he could get his hands on in the different gift shops..... .....it was a rather odd conversation..... BUT that he was never caught and his parents said nothing to him about all the items he would steal......

Where were the CM's back then

Where was the Mayor back then

Where was Security back then

Where were the O.C. Police back then


Odd.

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Disney increased their contract with Orange County to $65million a year, and now considers walking perps down the parade route part of the entertainment budget.

Two birds with one stone! Entertainment, and save the mugs!!

 

[blondeheroine]

DH & I just finished watching Jay Leno and he had on the director/writer/producer/actor Kevin Smith....and while chatting with Leno mentioned that as a child his parents took him to WDW alllll of the time and he said he stole everything he could get his hands on in the different gift shops..... .....it was a rather odd conversation..... BUT that he was never caught and his parents said nothing to him about all the items he would steal......

Where were the CM's back then

Where was the Mayor back then

Where was Security back then

Where were the O.C. Police back then


Odd.

Smith is 37, I believe, so it's fair to assume they didn't have the hidden camera technology they had then and that it was a bit more lenient back then.

I'm not saying you don't make a valid point, but I think it's fair to say that probably everywhere in the late 70s and early 80s had less capabilities as far as tracking shoplifting.

 

[powellrj]

anyone remember the post from a couple of years ago about the guy who was a police officer and his companion or him was arrested at DTD? I looked for it, but didn't find it to see if there was ever an update from them. Maybe we could start an arrested at disney stickey at the top to warn people about the mainstreet perp walk.

 

[ducklite]

I've had to run out of a store quickly for any number of reasons over the years. And I've ALWAYS put my merchandise down someplace before I did so.

Unless things have drastically changed lately, Disney doesn't prosecute for theft under a certain thresh hold--which is higher than those items would have been. They just kick the thief off the property.

They also handle things MUCH more discretely so as to not ruin the magic for other guests.

This story sounds like quite a fishtale to me.

OP--yeah, I'd say so to your face. I don't mince words and I call it like I see it, both in cyberspace and in person.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

anyone remember the post from a couple of years ago about the guy who was a police officer and his companion or him was arrested at DTD? I looked for it, but didn't find it to see if there was ever an update from them. Maybe we could start an arrested at disney stickey at the top to warn people about the mainstreet perp walk.

Yeah, that was another story that had as many holes as Swiss Cheese.

Anne

 

[annegal]

anyone remember the post from a couple of years ago about the guy who was a police officer and his companion or him was arrested at DTD? I looked for it, but didn't find it to see if there was ever an update from them. Maybe we could start an arrested at disney stickey at the top to warn people about the mainstreet perp walk.

It was this past February, poster was ecurto, but that thread apparently was removed entirely from The DIS.

That story I did believe the man was arrested, however. While shopping at World Of Disney at Downtwon Disney, the clerk gave them a shopping bag, told them to just fill up with merchandise, and & then check out. Mr Policeman (on vacation) thought the clerk meant, when they were finished shopping all over DD!!! So they filled the magic shopping bag, went from shop to shop & were busted & arrested.

 

[Lucky4me]

They do have a contract with OC police. They do arrest for any theft, could be for $1. They do charge $500 bail, take you to jail, fingerprint, strip search and throw you in a cell. They do keep you there for several hours and stand you in front of a judge.
A friend of mine was falsely accused of stealing a $5 necklace. She bought it for my dd, put it on her and then tossed the bag and receipt. As she walked away from the garbage can, three plain clothes security came up on her and told her she was under arrest for shoplifting. She and we could not believe it. We asked if she could get the bag and receipt out of the garbage. They said NO. We asked if we could go with her, they said NO. They were rough, mean and told us we better walk away NOW or we would all be arrested. My 5yo was hysterical when they took her "Auntie" away. It was horrific. The case was later dropped as they did not have sufficient proof. That was after she had to pay a lawyer in Orlando $2,000.

It happens whether you want to believe it or not and yes, it is a racket. Most innocent people are in such shock, they do just go along quietly. My friend, while in shock, was not so quiet. She was angry and justifiably so. She had stolen nothing. They had to drag her out.

It's been six years since this happened. She goes to Orlando all the time, but has lost her zest for anything Disney and I don't blame her. It took me awhile to get past it myself.

 

[momrek06]

It was this past February, poster was ecurto, but that thread apparently was removed entirely from The DIS.

That story I did believe the man was arrested, however. While shopping at World Of Disney at Downtwon Disney, the clerk gave them a shopping bag, told them to just fill up with merchandise, and & then check out. Mr Policeman (on vacation) thought the clerk meant, when they were finished shopping all over DD!!! So they filled the magic shopping bag, went from shop to shop & were busted & arrested.

Yes, that was a really odd story. This (as I recall) happened in like Dec and he posted the story in Feb/Mar as he was just so distraught over the entire episode he could not post any earlier. His S/O was a NYC Police Officer and lost his job and had been on the force many years. They were going to have to go back for trial dates etc. It really was so far fetched. The S/O was the one with the shopping bag. He said a CM said shop shop shop and just come back here when you are done...Ecurto and his S/O thought the CM meant they could cover all of DTD and then come back to the Emporium to pay for the items. WHAT!

BTW: Where is Ecurto...he never came back after that Thread was "closed/locked/deleted"!!!!!

 

[ducklite]

They do have a contract with OC police. They do arrest for any theft, could be for $1. They do charge $500 bail, take you to jail, fingerprint, strip search and throw you in a cell. They do keep you there for several hours and stand you in front of a judge.
A friend of mine was falsely accused of stealing a $5 necklace. She bought it for my dd, put it on her and then tossed the bag and receipt. As she walked away from the garbage can, three plain clothes security came up on her and told her she was under arrest for shoplifting. She and we could not believe it. We asked if she could get the bag and receipt out of the garbage. They said NO. We asked if we could go with her, they said NO. They were rough, mean and told us we better walk away NOW or we would all be arrested. My 5yo was hysterical when they took her "Auntie" away. It was horrific. The case was later dropped as they did not have sufficient proof. That was after she had to pay a lawyer in Orlando $2,000.

It happens whether you want to believe it or not and yes, it is a racket. Most innocent people are in such shock, they do just go along quietly. My friend, while in shock, was not so quiet. She was angry and justifiably so. She had stolen nothing. They had to drag her out.

It's been six years since this happened. She goes to Orlando all the time, but has lost her zest for anything Disney and I don't blame her. It took me awhile to get past it myself.

Unless something has changed in the past year or so, this is simply not the case. I just asked my next door neighbors who was a higher level merchentainment manager at WDW until she became a SAHM. She agrees with my assessment of all of these stories, there's something wrong with this picture. There's more to the story, or things are being grossly exagerated.

Anne

 

[jodifla]

Unless something has changed in the past year or so, this is simply not the case. I just asked my next door neighbors who was a higher level merchentainment manager at WDW until she became a SAHM. She agrees with my assessment of all of these stories, there's something wrong with this picture. There's more to the story, or things are being grossly exagerated.

Anne

Again, there was a news story four or five years back about WDW being EXTREMELY aggressive prosecuting shoplifters....I keep looking for the link, but I can't find it, even with a LexisNexis search.

It really stuck out in my mind because it seemed so unDisney....prosecuting young teens to the max.

 

[Aidensmom]

Apparantly WDW has something against people from NY. That is where everyone who has an arrest story is from.

 

[ducklite]

Apparantly WDW has something against people from NY. That is where everyone who has an arrest story is from.

Anne

 

[dbmarie]

Apparantly WDW has something against people from NY. That is where everyone who has an arrest story is from.

I knew I shouldn't have moved back, now this just proves it .

 

[Lucky4me]

Unless something has changed in the past year or so, this is simply not the case. I just asked my next door neighbors who was a higher level merchentainment manager at WDW until she became a SAHM. She agrees with my assessment of all of these stories, there's something wrong with this picture. There's more to the story, or things are being grossly exagerated.

Anne

This happened six years ago. I was there. I saw the whole thing. I saw her walk out of the shop, give dd the necklace, throw out the bag and get arrested. They made me take the necklace off my daughter and give it to them. Had I refused, I would have been hauled in too. This is no exageration.
Maybe not everyone gets treated as roughly as my friend did because she did put up a big stink, but it happens daily and you can bet a few of the arrests every day/month/year are of innocent people. They can't be 100% on everything they do. I'm not surprised your neighbor said that. They do keep it as quiet as possible. It's not good PR for Disney and we know how Disney protects their reputation. She probably really believes these are untrue stories.
In my case, she would be wrong.

 

[Missy1961]

Apparantly WDW has something against people from NY. That is where everyone who has an arrest story is from.

Thank goodness I'm very careful when I shop at WDW...they might arrest me because I'm from NY!

 

[Lucky4me]

So I just did one google search and came up with this. It's long, but worth a read. The last few paragraphs refer to what we're talking about here.
It's from 1996-this has been going on a long time. Disney gets away with it because they can.

http://www.langston.com/Fun_People/1996/1996BUF.html

I wonder if all the people in this article were from NY?

 

[DisneyfeverTN]

They do have a contract with OC police. They do arrest for any theft, could be for $1. They do charge $500 bail, take you to jail, fingerprint, strip search and throw you in a cell. They do keep you there for several hours and stand you in front of a judge.
A friend of mine was falsely accused of stealing a $5 necklace. She bought it for my dd, put it on her and then tossed the bag and receipt. As she walked away from the garbage can, three plain clothes security came up on her and told her she was under arrest for shoplifting. She and we could not believe it. We asked if she could get the bag and receipt out of the garbage. They said NO. We asked if we could go with her, they said NO. They were rough, mean and told us we better walk away NOW or we would all be arrested. My 5yo was hysterical when they took her "Auntie" away. It was horrific. The case was later dropped as they did not have sufficient proof. That was after she had to pay a lawyer in Orlando $2,000.

It happens whether you want to believe it or not and yes, it is a racket. Most innocent people are in such shock, they do just go along quietly. My friend, while in shock, was not so quiet. She was angry and justifiably so. She had stolen nothing. They had to drag her out.

It's been six years since this happened. She goes to Orlando all the time, but has lost her zest for anything Disney and I don't blame her. It took me awhile to get past it myself.

Why didn't you get the bag out of the trash can as soon as they walked away? It should have been at the very top. That's what I would have done.

 

[Lucky4me]

We spent about 5 minutes arguing with security while they led us to a back area behind the shop where no one could see or hear us. When we walked back out, the can was empty.

 

[FSUGrad97]

We spent about 5 minutes arguing with security while they led us to a back area behind the shop where no one could see or hear us. When we walked back out, the can was empty.

Most retail stores have a copy of all of the day's sales - why didn't you or your friend ask to see the store's copy of the alleged sales?

I have bought a ton of things from Disney and have NEVER had any kind of problem - but then again, I am from FL and not NY.