Bogus shoplifting
I worked in the grocery business for 50 years. I have seen many shoplifters, from the very poor to the very rich. The recent incident at a Walmart store, where a young black mother of two was thrown to the floor and arrested for “attempting” to shoplift, is ludicrous. In any store, you are not legally a shoplifter until you have actually crossed the threshold of the exit door with unpaid items.
Whoever in that Walmart store made the decision to call the police, when no crime was committed, has in fact committed an offence of their own: racial profiling.
And are our police officers in such terrible condition that not one, but three, are needed to deal with a mother with two small children?
Those who’ve seen a mother with a child in a store know all too well that they simply cannot push a stroller and a large grocery cart at the same time. So they use the stroller as a cart and place a few items in and around a toddler. When they arrive at the checkout, they then unload all the needed items, pay for them and leave.
No laws were broken, no theft occurred, while the mother was shopping. Walmart, your security staff and your name has been shamed along with our police force, pure and simple. I suggest you all get a good lawyer.
Alex Leonard, Beaver Bank
Excessive force
Re: the recent incident involving a shopper at a Walmart store in Halifax. It is an open question whether the three police officers overreacted in investigating said shopper. No doubt this lady became defensive and became physical with one of the officers, but it is deplorable that such force was applied to cause her a broken wrist, a black eye and other injuries. If and when the problem was reported by Walmart security and several employees, the situation should have been addressed at the exit doors, not inside the store.
Unfortunately, this event will make national news in Canada and undermines the effort by HRM’s new chief of police, who is acting in good faith and attempting to reconcile and correct past injustices.
Helmuth Wiegert, Dartmouth
