Totally not exciting, but my I'm in law enforcement so I'm naturally curious about crime and stuff. I asked the guy checking the receipts at Best Buy one year if them being at the exits help with crime and how do they handle shoplifters. He said it does but policy states he can't touch shoplifters. They can't physically restrain them. They can try to get the product away - for example, they had someone run out with an xbox earlier that week and all they could do was try to knock it out of the shoplifters hands as he was hitting the exit. They can't follow them or anything. This was 5-6 years ago so things may have changed. I thought that was crazy.
My sister worked for a store as a manager and they had something similar as far as policy - except they couldn't prosecute. All they can do is ban them from the store. I know Harris Teeter is the same way.
I hate thugs. You're a lot like me. I have been known to follow people in situations like that. I've had to learn to take it down a notch now that I'm pregnant otherwise I would have followed them to the very end. Haha!