HyVee, a large midwest regional grocery chain, has gone public with plans to stock more than just great produce and outstanding quality meats in their stores in 2022. They also plan to add armed, uniformed security. Five or ten years ago, it would have been unthinkable to see armed security in grocery stores outside of high crime areas in large cities.
But times have changed since the widespread rioting in 2020 and the spike in violent crime that continued through 2021.
At the same time, plenty of Americans will no doubt do a double-take when they see armed security walking the aisles of their neighborhood HyVee.
The good folks at HyVee acknowledge that the program is more about visual deterrence to theft and violence than actually protecting the store’s assets and customers from violent crime. Nevertheless, it serves as yet another vivid and in-your-face reminder of the increasing violence found in American cities.
USA Today has the story:
Hy-Vee’s helpful smiles in every aisle will now also include those from Hy-Vee-trained, potentially armed security guards.
The West Des Moines-based grocery store chain announced in a statement that it was creating a retail security team to have security officers trained by the company in its stores throughout 2022.
Hy-Vee already placed several officers at locations, Hy-Vee spokesperson Christina Gayman said Wednesday. In a video the company released along with the statement, security officers appear to be armed with guns, pepper spray, tasers, handcuffs and body cameras.
Asked if the new Hy-Vee guards will have guns or the other equipment that appeared in the video, Gayman said only that security officers will have “the same tools that third-party security guards and off-duty law enforcement officers working in a security capacity in our stores already have.”
There’s even a video . . .
We all know unarmed security draws little to no respect from many folks, especially the professional criminal class. Obviously dressing their private security guards in uniforms that look a lot like police uniforms is intended to command some respect. At the same time, HyVee is subtly trying to soften the image by featuring a couple of women security officers in their promo video to USA Today.
There’s a HyVee where I live that I frequent. While I thought we lived in a bucolic central Illinois community prior to 2020, the riots that happened here in Bloomington-Normal quickly disabused me of that notion.
Since then, I’ve seen a disorderly drunk in handcuffs knock two of three cops escorting him out of a store to the ground and seen people accosted in parking lots. So maybe some extra armed security is potentially a big plus. While HyVee’s prices already tend to keep away most of the riff-raff, having an armed presence might further drive ne’er-do-wells to “shop” at other stores – places without overt security.
At the same time, like many, I suppose it will take some getting used to, seeing uniformed, armed security in my midst as I’m grabbing some apples and milk.
Curious.
Trying to conjure up the type of person who will put themselves between me holding a bag of chips, and a perp with a gun drawn. And how much such security officer would demand in salary for protecting me at the store. Looks like a new element of increased shopping costs.
One of my first thoughts, too. Although it may well be that the reduction in loss, and in attendnt insurance premiums for physical losses and greaty reduced chance of things like riots, store burglaries, shootings, etc, could nearly offset the additional salaries incurred for the security teams.
I go about armed everywhere I am anyway, but the obvious phyysical presence of armed/trained certified security in any venue does greatly reduce the frequency of costly “incidents”.
“…but the obvious phyysical presence of armed/trained certified security in any venue does greatly reduce the frequency of costly “incidents”.”
Perhaps, but cop-like uniforms may also be screaming, “Shoot me first”.
Which could provide escape time for the proles.
Well, it seems to me undercover won’t work. Hire a few Air Marshals to wander around filling a cart, and they’ll be made within an hour. I mean, how long can you wander around a grocery store before you begin to appear suspicious? So, it’s uniforms, or train and arm the stock boys & cashiers. Remember, the dim pols want to defund the police and then blame the retailers for the resultant crime sprees. Shopkeepers pay insurance premiums that are based on calculated risk. This is just math.
Unless they can shoot shoplifters running away with stolen good in hand, does it matter? No. Doesn’t matter at all. They are still going to shoplift, only now they are going to say, “You going to shoot me over this? I didn’t think so.” And then run off. And they are right. You can’t shoot them.
“You can’t shoot them”
gonna have to some day. they’ll destroy all legitimate business in your area if you don’t. and don’t think being a hundred miles away from a major city is any protection – flash mobs are organized now and they’ll scout your safe country store and then clean it out in a single minute.
I’ve been standing on my soapbox saying we need to add “defense of property statutes” to all of the self defense laws in this countries.
I am starting to get less “lol’s, ya right, never gonna happen” than I used too.
This started years ago and is just growing. Until we can defend our stuff simply because it is “our stuff”, this will just keep becoming more of a problem.
Defense of property is alright – but like I said to ANONYMOUS above – you don’t get to shoot some kid in the back for shoplifting a candy bar. Dude breaks into your house, he’s dead, no questions asked, as far as I’m concerned. Carjacking? Yep, no problem. Armed robbery? Shoot him dead. Stiffarm robbery? Go for it. Some arse is breaking into your car? Gotta give that a little though. Notice, my list of crimes has gotten less and less serious. At some point, it is definitely NOT alright to kill a person over property. Candy bars are out, cokes are out, a frozen dinner is out. I probably wouldn’t kill a man for stealing my lawn mower, or the planter in the yard. Somewhere around the cutoff for “grand theft” is probably where I would start shooting. Lesser crimes call for an arsewhipping and/or some jail time.
paul we are not talking a “kid with ONE candy bar” here
We are YELLING about the organized groups that shop lift in mass or go out and steal $949 EXACTLY in some states to avoid the big charges (no joke some of them scan barcodes and tally up the steal to make sure its under!) and MOST of these folks shoplift a DOZEN TIMES PER DAY!
these are the rats that must go
Last I checked, most jurisdictions allow nonlethal force in defense of property.
“paul we are not talking a “kid with ONE candy bar” here
We are YELLING about the organized groups that shop lift in mass or go out and steal $949 EXACTLY in some states to avoid the big charges”
spot on. either the looting is stopped or the looters will eat it all – and then us.
I don’t like the idea that real cops can shoot petty criminals in the back just for running away. That is a large part of what started all the rioting in the first place. I’ll agree that police and everyone else should be able to shoot to prevent bodily injury, kidnapping, and some other very serious crimes. But, you don’t get to shoot some kid in the back for stealing a fricking CANDY BAR!
Things really have to change, with or without the Marxist rioters trying to tear the country down.
It’s not just running away. It’s running away to avoid arrest for either the commission of a felony or to avoid arrest on outstanding warrants. Most of the cases you have read about in the news leave out that little detail, that the shootee had outstanding felony warrants and was running to avoid not being able to exercise his get out of jail card.
OR, another biggie is the perp shot had a firearm and Oh, No, Mr. Bill he had a felony conviction and that still in some stats is a go-to-jail-without-passing-go card.
The crap you read in news sources is so slanted it might as well be Pravda or some other communist rag.
Police are already prohibited from shooting “petty criminals in the back just for running away.” A 1985 Supreme Court case, Tennessee vs. Garner, held that the police may not shoot at a fleeing person unless the officer reasonably believes that the individual poses a significant physical danger to the officer or others in the community.
all that has to be done IMO is the city/state and fed agree to reduce crime a dozen BIG time shoplifters have to drop dead
they have to agree, this many dead and no more and ZERO lawsuits allowed by family
its harsh but in some cases like COmiefronia its WAY PAST TIME!!!
Taser.
“Taser! Taser! Taser!”
*BLAM*
No, the guards aren’t likely to shoot shoplifters, but they will act as a deterrent to theft and many other crimes. Most thieves are risk averse and will target less well protected retail establishments rather than risking a potentially fatal confrontation with an armed security officer.
They can’t do that. It’s racist to prevent rioters and looters from damaging your business.
It’s also one more thing to drive up grocery prices. The customer is the one paying for security. The customer is the one paying for the looters. The customer is the one paying for the rioters. The customer is the one paying for the fuel costs. The customer is the one paying for the fertilizer costs. The customer is the one paying for the money printer to go brrrrr……
Somebody ask Malcom Gladwell at what point does customer tip over to looter.
Shire-man,
While your comment is obvious sarcasm, there is actually a significant element of truth in it.
How long before the race hustlers demand that we “cancel” HyVee stores for being racists and opposing “equity”?
(For those of you who have been living under a rock, race hustlers have been pushing the notion that businesses are obligated to let minorities rob and loot their businesses as “restitution” for the “inequity” which allegedly exists in our nation.)
the rotten hustlers have already tried mightilyto cancel ChiFilA, Hobby Lobby, and In n OUt Burgers for years… all that has done is draw positive attentioin ot those outfits, boosting all of them to higher performance ratings than before. Let them try and cancel this company.
ANy wagers on how much longer it twill take brfore HEB and other similarlysituated stores to follow suit.
“It’s racist to prevent rioters and looters from damaging your business”
it is.
embrace it.
The customers is paying forty-six billion dollars for farmers subsidies.
Very little of which ever gets down to the actual farmers. The Dairy subsidies brought the price of milk paid to the farmer up about 10 cents per hundred pounds.breaks down to about a cent and a quarter per gallon. Of course Con Agra and Mid Am Dairys made bank.
I wonder how long it will take for one of those smash and grab mobs to descend on Hy-Vee to test their new security people. Do they have permission to shoot, or are they just security monitors?
My thought as well. I don’t know if mobs are as much a problem in the Heartland as they are in major metros, but a simple flash mob of perhaps a dozen unarmed thieves calmly walking into a store and then popping into action by running out with each carrying several items would be interesting.
Remember that security guard in a San Francisco Walgreens a few months ago who videoed a thief filling up a trash bag’s worth of stuff and simply walking out on his bicycle, and did not intervene because the thief wasn’t presenting a weapon and Walgreens therefore forbade any physical interaction with the perp?
And more recently, how about that crazy chick with the pickaxe who threatened anyone who got in her way? Will the guards draw down on her?
IMHO, anyone who commits crimes of this sort need to be taken down and locked away. Enough of this leftist “but muh systemic raycism” nonsense allowing criminals to do this. But imagine if somebody uploads video of one of these new guards cracking skulls or getting in over his/her head when confronting a mob. It’ll be a PR nightmare for the grocery.
Just let everyone carry. Guns everywhere. And if someone threatens someone else, let the community handle it…decisively…to send a message to anyone else thinking of stealing.
And that is why Walgreen’s closed 17 stores in the San Francisco area. They just withdrew from the market. That’s all well and good, but I foresee a couple fo things happening. One, major retailers will go strictly on line and not have any brick and mortar stores. Or, there will be a blockaded entrance where only a set number of shoppers are allowed in the store at one time. Exits limited to entrances. I don’t know how that kind of arrangement will pass fire codes, but something along that line. Haven’t spent too much time thinking about it but just the general idea. That is already happening in Mom and Pop convenience stores in high crime areas in Kallyforniya. I can see major retailers adopting it too.
I can see FedEx, UPS and USPS trucks all having a ride-along shotgunner just like Wells Fargo in the 19th century on their stage coaches. Won’t be a double barrel, it will be something like the 16 shot shotguns that are in the market place now. Maybe a turret in the top of the truck with a 240 mounted on a ring mount.
Oh good grief. My comment I just posted is “awaiting moderation” yet again?
Those Amish and Mennonites have made going shopping unsafe.
You can wear a uniform, carry a gun, etc. but if you’re not allowed to act what’s the point! They will be tested, guarantee!!
“They will be tested”
no, not until all the non-patrolled businesses are destroyed.
I am kind of surprised at HyVee’s decision to staff their stores with armed security guards.
Although I could care less since I am my own “armed security guard”. The huge advantage of being your own “armed security guard” is that you have protection everywhere you go.
I wonder if people will ever realize that they cannot rely on governments and large corporations for their well-being?
“I wonder if people will ever realize that they cannot rely on governments and large corporations for their well-being?”
if these looters destroy all your stores, where will you shop? fact is you need to rely on government to protect businesses in general.
Ridiculous. Businesses have always depended on themselves and private security to protect their property. Businesses don’t count on the government to protect their property. They can’t and they never have. Whether or not a business has private security has nothing to do with government services, only the cost of that security versus the cost of theft.
ahistorical. businesses have always defended themselves from individual looters, but have never been able to defend themselves from mass organized looting gangs. formal government with formal laws, formal police, and formal jails are needed for that.
I’m sure the females have it under control if they don’t get shot with their own guns…..
Hah!!! This is funny.
Ive known a number of female law enforcement personnel who are not only a crack shot, but absolutely fearless in the face of conflict. They have proven able to hold their own and come out on top.
I heard very early in life that women are better shots than men. I’ve not seen or heard anything to convince me otherwise. If it comes to shooting, I wouldn’t mind having women at my side. If it comes to a brawl, then I’d rather have some large men at my side. And, to hell with Hollyweird’s portrayal of women throwing men around by the dozen.
That said – if the chick wants a security job, let her have it. I don’t want it!
I was a NRA certified handgun trainer for a couple of decades. It is my observation that as a general rule, women have better hand-eye coordination than men Bearing in mind that the only true general rule is that there is no general rule.
On the other hand, in a brawl, yes, I would rather have several large brawny guys backing me than several large brawny women. I admit. I am a male chauvinistic pig but science proves that men as a general rule (see above) have better upper body strength than women.
With the first “diverse” perp HyVee’s security hauls out of a store in cuffs, the cries of “racism” and “white privilege” will be deafening. What stores like HyVees are likely to do in the long run is encourage online ordering and pickup. Much easier environment to control. The days of in-person shopping are numbered.
There are plenty of us who will never adapt to online ordering. I want to SEE and FEEL that produce. I don’t shop from a list, I shop from what is there in front of me. Visual identifiction is critical to my buying decidions. I also want to see what other options are there on the ickle shelf, comparing cut, package size, ingredients, price, usefulness of the empty packaging, and sale pricing when it is there. It has irked me signficantly that major chains have offered to do your shopping for their custmers, picking, cashiering, boxing/bggin, and making it availble in a special lane or even delivering to your door… at the same price I am paying for their wares. That means they have increased their margin/markup to pay for the added labour and packaging and related costs. WHich means I subsidise the free shopping for those guys. I rarely shop at places with such services.
In store shopping will be for the wealthy. Middle-class schmucks like the rest of us will be ordering online and picking up.
I am afraid you are correct. That will be the wave of the future and the past. In the early days of telephone and no chain supermarkets, it was not uncommon for the housewife who didn’t have a car or even a license to phone the grocer, order merchandise and an enterprising young boy would deliver the groceries using his wagon to haul them in return for some change for the service.
Those days are gone because one must have a work permit in most places for a young lad to perform a service and he must get minimum wage and workers’ compensation coverage and all the governmental fees and taxes for employees that various bodies collect.
My local Walmart has armed guards. And no one breached the store during the 2020 BlackLootersMurder “mostly peaceful” protests(now with pallets of bricks!😎). I’ve been to the so-called bucolic central ILLannoy area. WT he!! are you talking about Boch? Peoria is a hole. Steator sux. And most areas are hit miss. Rust belt/methland…
FWW, come down to my neck of the woods, South of Route 16. It’s a whole different Illinois.
“the cries of ‘racism’ and ‘white privilege’ will be deafening”
will need to be answered with something more deafening.
“The days of in-person shopping are numbered.”
I just brought home a newly purchased clothes dryer. I live within an hour’s drive of two metro areas that are a million or more people each. I couldn’t find a store other than a scratch & dent place that had any reasonable number of dryers in stock. Everything is now ordered online, or locally, with delivery about a week later, by a third party distributor.
Five or ten years ago, it would have been unthinkable to see armed security in grocery stores outside of high crime areas in large cities.
Five or ten years ago, it would have been unthinkable to see armed security in grocery stores outside of Mexico and Central America.
My experieince anyway.
But I carry my own policeman pick-a-back everywhere I go.
The main advantage of the store providing their own police force is the deterrent to criminals. Tney will see and know that there is armed resistance to any shenannigans they might contemplate. Of course, some will take that as a challenge…. simply target the rent-a-coppers first, then you have your way clear for whatever evil you wish to perpetrate. Until an armed private citizen customer happens along….. and does his duty.
“Until an armed private citizen customer happens along….. and does his duty”
you’ll risk arrest and prosecution and jail time and civil judgements to defend someone else’s store?
Security in grocery stores in Mexico is usually a single person contract. While the store may pay him something, many times he has his own uniform, baton, pepper spray and watches the parking lot, watching cars, loading groceries and getting tips. Where they need tough security(like bars the American HS and college kids go to party), the hire Mexican cops or Federales to moonlight(you do NOT want to mess with them).
The same for the people bagging groceries. There might be 4 or 5 older people(that bring their own folding chairs, that help bag your groceries for tips 5 or 10 pesos($.25-.50) is a regular tip and older people take turns(2 or 4 hr shifts). This means everyone eats(I am sure they get first choice on day old goods)
Interesting they went in house rather than contractors.
Idea just occurred to me…a PCC sized, magazine fed, Fire & Forget, fully auto Taser for (mostly) peaceful riots and store security. It would necessitate a 30-second “ride” instead of the current 5-seconds to allow officers to approach, cuff and control. I kindly offer Chicago and Minneapolis as product R&D venues.
I seriously doubt that armed security guards will engage snatch & grab individuals and definitely not mobs/gangs. They have no police power, are poorly trained, paid minimal wages and are frequently terminated if they use their firearms. Where’s their motivation to use deadly force for any reason? Don’t depend on them to provide any protection, defense, etc. Carry your own protection; be your own security guard.
I can certainly see many soccer moms shopping there because they feel safer with the presence of armed security. While I just look at them and think “Mall Cop”, I am sure there are others that do not. The uniform makes me laugh, but when I see a yellow tee shirt with “SECURITY” written on it, I have a little more respect. I have seen these guys at sporting events and concerts. They wear cheap tee shirts because they can just replace it quickly and not worry about the blood from the people that give them trouble.
Most states have a citizen’s arrest law on the books. Anyone can make a citizen’s arrest. The big problem is in enforcing it. That problem is solved with several armed guards enforcing the citizen’s arrest. In Kalliforyniya a sworn peace officer must issue a citation upon demand by a citizen for a citizen’s arrest. Many cops will try to talk you out of it, but it is a felony for a sworn peace officer to refuse to issue a citation upon demand by a citizen.
Harrumph!
During the “mostly peaceful protests of 2020” in the Twin Cities, the local HyVees managed to have shipping containers brought in and set up about a foot from the display windows the entire length of the store complex (half a city block in length) in a matter of HOURS of being apprised of the riots. It was also rumored that they had armed personnel available to respond to arson at their company filling stations across from the store sites. They are an Iowa company, and I believe they told the respective state governors that they didn’t plan on standing idly by while the rest of the metro area burned to the ground.
Armed guards are both good and bad. Most people when they see heavily armed police wake up to the fact very quickly that this particular store is in a bad location with a lot of rough characters that have been robbing it. Result is they drive further next time and do not come back to that store.
WTF does “heavily armed” even mean in your deranged little mind? FFS dude, a pistol and an AR are both “small arms” in any military man’s mind. More, a pistol and a rifle are standard fare among hunters, hikers, outdoorsmen of all persuasians.
When you idiots say “heavily armed”, I’m thinking, at bare minimum, an oversized squad of men carrying 5 to 20 rifles, a shotgun or six, lots of grenades, and AT LEAST a fricking MORTAR! Some anti-aircraft shoulder launched missiles would be good, maybe some anti-tank missiles, and some bare minimum demolition charges.
You idiots watch too much television, watch too many movies, and read too much mainstream media.
Let’s try this out: You see some cop on the beat, armed with an automatic pistol, 3 to 12 reloads for that pistol, along with a billy club (baton, whatever) and a taser. Is he “heavily armed”???? Absolutely NOT! He is merely “armed”.
I like the cut of your job, soldier!
Why have uniformed security? Just get your staff to tool up and keep it concealed and keep an armory in the back for when the big riots come in. Was just shopping at my local oriental grocery mega mart and it’s pretty clear the family and friends running the show are ready for whatever comes their way. Rooftop koreans dont mess.
First time a guard shoots a protected person it’s over.
What’s on the badge? Why does security even have a metallic badge?
Evidently they need those stinking badges.
It’s the red stylized “H”, the trademarked company logo. It stands for ” Huzzah “, recognized as an impolite GFY used during the Revolutionary War period. It has been replaced in more modern times by ” Hoo-rah”, a bastardized jarhead expression.
Most big box places I shop at have armed security. The only thing that makes this newsworthy is it appears the security guards are equipped and hired by the store. Must be a compliance nightmare on top of all the other bullshit a grocery store has to deal with.
HyVee is gonna have a very big problem the first time their ‘cop’ stays inside while a little old lady is beaten down and robbed on the way out to her 1985 Monte Carlo…
“The good folks at HyVee acknowledge that the program is more about visual deterrence to theft and violence than actually protecting the store’s assets and customers from violent crime.”
Customer: “Help, hes going to kill us!”
HyVee Security: “Hey! you guy with the gun, go away!”
Customer: “Its not working! Help!”
HyVee Security: “Ok! I mean it! Look at me and be visually deterred or else!”
Bad guy with gun: “Or else what?”
HyVee Security: “Sorry Ma’am, we’re here just for show and our guns are fake.”
Hy-Vee security job description > https://www.hy-vee.com/careers/#/search/results?keywords=retail%20security
give it a second to load – click on either “Retail Security Officer – Full Time” or “Retail Security Officer – Part Time”
for example….
“Education and Experience:
High School diploma or equivalent. Prior experience in law enforcement (with POST or equivalent certification), military service or corrections. Good standing from previous agencies. Valid driver’s license required. Must be eligible or already permitted to carry a firearm.
Physical Requirements:
Must be willing and physically capable of apprehending theft suspects.
• Must be able to perform the following physical activities: climbing (limited), balancing (limited), stooping, crouching, reaching, prolonged standing, walking long distances, running, pushing, lifting, and speaking without impediment (easily understood).
Good hearing and vision is required.
• Must be able to demonstrate proficiency with duty weapon. Will be required to pass designated handgun qualification course.
• Must be able to demonstrate proficiency in defensive tactics. Will be required to pass designated defensive tactic course.”
In the criminal justice system, grocery store crimes are considered especially heinous. At Hy-Vee, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious crimes are members of an elite squad known as the Hy-Vee security force. These are their stories.
*DUN-DUN*
(smile)
What fucking idiot would do this job?
Is your life worth the risk for an armed security job for a grocery store? You wanna risk your life over stolen baby formula?
“What fucking idiot would do this job?”
Judging from the pics with the article and the video, apparently white or racially neutral looking people who smile a lot.
Test. Fuck WordPress.
Interesting that I can say that but not anything that is actually useful.
The piss poor interface WordPress uses these days make me wonder why I bother.
“Interesting that I can say that but not anything that is actually useful.”
well, stop and consider for a moment – do you have anything to say that’s actually useful?
😉
Probably not.
Yes, he does, .40 cal.
Strych is a highly respected commenter on TTAG, and one of the sharpest individuals you will ever come across…
Hey strych9, How’s it going? Were those fires near your place?
WordPress has a weird trigger word list. We should keep a running tally when we figure out the word. I recently discovered they moderate [a place to gamble] and social -pause- ist.
This is more of a formatting thing I think. WordPress hates anything that might be *excessive* HTML formatting and apparently is pretty bad at determining what that might be. Quotation marks are something WP really, really hates.
As for the fires, um… depends on your definition of *near*. As the crow flies, to the very edge of the fireline… maybe 14 miles? Hard to tell, I’m really not sure where the fires physically stopped and I haven’t been over there other than to drop off a shitload of charity stuff early-morning the day after before the sun was up. The area’s under pretty tight restrictions in some cases because the whole thing is, if I understand it correctly, a giant arson investigation.
Which, if true, makes sense since the original story that morning/early afternoon made zero sense.
I got held in moderation jail. My entire comment that had to be moderated was as follows.
‘Citation, please.’
‘Citation, please.’
not held in moderation for me
I have observed that some moderation is random. there is nothing in the post that warrants it, rather the poster simply is being harassed.
I haven’t been modded in a while. My posts often just disappear. The page refreshes but the comment never shows up.
Usually you can go back and edit it (often repeatedly) to find the cause and remove it.
I simply don’t find that worth my time to do much any more. WordPress has always had internal bugs in comments but it’s pretty clear at this point that they’ve cranked both censorship and anti-SQL injection algos to 11.
With regards to the latter, the link below will give you some ideas of what may be tripping a *poof* of a comment where it just doesn’t post and no reason is given. These are pretty basic but, for example, use of the quotation mark character repeatedly ALWAYS trips WP’s *poof* feature. So if you’re using multiple quotes or adding them as if using air quotes or specific references and do it, so far as I can tell, totalling more than five quotation mark characters, the post simple disappears. The same is true of other characters like equal signs, greater/less than symbols and carrots.
But you can have fun with hieroglyphs and not trip the system.
𓁔𓂔𓂀𓆅𓏎𓅤𓎎
https://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_injection.asp
They need to license the use of lethal force against shoplifters of this won’t do hardly anything. That is the only way this crime wave ends.
If you think the professional liability of police (who have a big blanket of immunities) is huge; wait until these guys and gals start getting sued.
oh they won’t, the company will.
Shooting someone over property is not justifiable homicide in Nebraska, not even in your home. Anyone claiming otherwise must not have been paying attention in conceal carry class.
First, I live in a rural part of the Poconos in north east PA. Rural as in soybean and corn fields. Early in the pandemic, both of our local grocery stores had armed security at the doors. At first, it was to limit how many people could enter to maintain “social distancing”. Later it was to keep the peace when folks fought over who got the last package of toilet paper, chicken legs, sanitizer, etc. Both stores kept their armed security for about a year. With inflation and supply problems, I expect to see the guards return as folks start scrambling for ever reducing supplies.
What’s the ROE? If it’s the usual “observe and report”, don’t waste the money!
Has our society devolved to the point that grociery stores need armed security? Are bands of looters now targeting the meat counter? Is the libility risk worth the possible cost of the theft?
A store I used to go to in St.Paul, MN. used to have armed security. Didn’t seem to deter the street people from shop lifting or prevent much crime. They stopped the practice when the rent a cop they had got shot and nearly killed. The employees managed to lock themselves behind the Pharmacy section door. Kept the perp from getting the drugs he wanted as well.
I learned later that I not only knew the guard, but the perp as well.One of the local wino’s. Where he got a gun is anyon’s guess. Must have had a good week panhandling.
The store did what I did with the bar. Hired off duty, uniformed police officers.
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