As crime continues to rise in many areas of the state, one store manager from Rutland told True North Reports how things are going on the outskirts of the state’s third-largest city.
TJ Clifford, manager of Ace Hardware in Rutland, says shoplifting at his store experiences retail theft in waves.
“It’s died down a little bit, Clifford said. “Up where our store is located it’s kind of out of the way, [and there’s] not a lot of foot traffic. It’s not as bad as places that are easy to walk to. Last year we had a good three-month span of people stealing power tools and stuff like that.”
He also talked about what happens after someone is apprehended stealing.
“We just turn them over to the police and whatever happens happens, we try not to get too involved,” he said.
Clifford commented that it seems there are a lot of repeat offenders.
SOFT ON CRIME?: Some store owners in Vermont say there should be serious penalties for repeat offenders when it comes to retail theft.
“Well, we always no trespass them [request a no-trespass order] so at least they can’t come back in,” he said. “I mean, when they get out they usually get out within a couple of weeks and they are back doing the same thing in a different store.”
If someone is even suspected of theft, Clifford added, they may get a no-trespass order against them.
In Vermont, if thieves keep their hauls to $900 or less, that’s the key to avoiding serious legal trouble, WCAX reported.
“In Vermont, if the value of the stolen items is under $900, it’s considered a misdemeanor, which rarely results in serious criminal prosecution,” WCAX reported.
Last year, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden, introduced a bill that would have allowed for repeat offenders to have the sum of their thefts count towards the $900 mark — meaning if the person steals more than $900 among multiple incidents then that person would still face harsher charges. That bill is not currently being reconsidered.
No new vigilantism recently
When asked if he had witnessed incidents in which citizens attempted to arrest shoplifters without law enforcement, Clifford said he had not seen anything lately. He did, however, have a customer once offer to chase someone leaving the store with stolen item — but he insisted on not risking further trouble.
“He asked if he should chase him and I was like ‘no, it’s not worth it, don’t get yourself hurt over something stupid,'” Clifford said.
In December, VTDigger reported on an incident at the Rutland Home Depot that resulted in a struggle and an arrest.
“There was that incident that happened at the Home Depot,” Clifford recalled, referring to a vigilante arrest caught on video and played on Facebook over 50,000 times. The suspect, who attempted to steal a shopping cart full of power tools, ultimately was arrested by police and charged with grand larceny.
Other areas seeing crime up as well
Kelly Devine, of the Burlington Business Association, told WCAX in December that Burlington is seeing an uptick in retail thefts, and that there’s a feeling out on the streets that these crimes can be committed without fear of serious recourse.
“There seems to be word on the street that if you want to steal something, there are no consequences,” Devine said.
The public losing its patience
On social media, one Twitter user took aim at Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George for going too soft on criminals in the county.
I'm really sick of people who don't know anything about #btv lecturing us on what we see everyday. And I'm sick of having a prosecutor who seems to think it's ok to steal a car if you're going to live in it. @SarahFairVT are you offering your car for people to sleep in? #vtpoli https://t.co/2z1lqRA2xP pic.twitter.com/L6X3i94uTT
— @pehenne@sciences.social (@pehenne) January 18, 2023
In a Twitter post in January, the Vermont ACLU urged oversight of police to avoid the potential for wrongful arrests and prosecutions.
We urge state legislators to establish meaningful police oversight and accountability protections so that all community members have their rights respected and are safe from abuses at the hands of law enforcement. #vtpoli https://t.co/munwRO7eqB
— ACLU of Vermont (@ACLUVermont) January 18, 2023
Michael Bielawski is a reporter for True North. Send him news tips at bielawski82@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @TrueNorthMikeB.
Back in the late 70’s I had a good friend who managed a record store in Philadelphia. One day he chased a thief out of the store. The guy turned around and shot and killed him. All for a lousy record. Not sure they ever caught him.
Maybe instead of the legislature thinking of ways criminals can get away with theft they should make laws that support the businesses in preventing it like tasing the offender which would offer entertainment to the honest customers and the ability to retrieve the stolen items and photo the criminal for a thief board posted where all can see it. Between the shock ‘n shame it might just change the thief’s attitude about his/her profession. No tax increase needed, no cost increase for the honest consumers a beneficial law. The tazer also would need immunity from suit for the thief’s criminal activity.
This is all being allowed to get worse and worse because just like the Patriot Act followed 9/11, they’ve got a big ‘Solution’ for the billions of dollars in retail theft too.
Ultimately they want a cashless society and to chip us all..
So the worse this retail theft gets, the more we will demand solutions- and boy have they got one for us.
Get ready to live like a dog chained to a tree.
The best think we can do is demand Police get back to Policing the way they have done successfully for over 100 years now.
It’s either that or we’ll all arm up and shoot the criminals that threaten us. There is always that.
Over the weekend I read anout a lady , down in the South…in 2022 she opened an affordably priced restaurant/cafe. In the first six months she was smashed and robbed six or seven times…violently, and that put her staff and customers at great personal risk. She wanted to stay, but got no sympathy at Gov’t levels. Her solution was to stop accepting ANY CASH. She only takes credit cards now…and she put a sign outside that said NO CASH HERE….credit cards only. That halted her armed weapon crime wave…but then she was accused of “racism”…because some Blacks don’t have credit cards and the restaurant won’t accept their cash….What goes around comes around.
…if demanding to see a picture ID is racist, then surely a business having a credit-card-only policy is downright white supremacist…
To avoid hurting anyone’s feelings, you should instead have policies that put your customers and employees at risk of bodily harm like dealing in cash. It’s the right thing to do…