re: Home depot fires employees for trying to stop shoplifters

Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart, all the big box stores have loss prevention associates that work there. Home Depot calls the asset protection specialists. Every place is a bit different how they run it and what they do. Some places they monitor camera systems to observe the thefts and try to stop them once they see them. Other places they are in plain clothes and walk the store all day pretending to shop and watch for shoplifters. Some places have round the clock folks doing this, some have just 1-2 who work regular shifts and the store is “unprotected” when they are off. Regardless of how it’s done, you can bet every store has at least one.

Customer theft is a much smaller percentage of loss than most people think. The biggest amount of loss by theft is actually from employees in those types of stores.

In May 3 people were shot at Home Depot when a suspected shoplifter was detained. Police were called but the guy was not searched and he shot the Home Depot loss prevention guy and 2 Dallas police officers. One died and I think the 2nd one is still hospitalized. This could have a lot to do with the policy.