I-Team: GGC professor suggests self-checkout lanes to blame for his shoplifting bust
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- Опубликовано: 22 дек 2022
- by Randy Travis
Aired December 21, 2022
LAWRENCEVILLE, GA. - A criminal justice professor busted for shoplifting suggested in a lawsuit other factors are to blame for his criminal troubles.
The FOX 5 I-Team first reported last year about the arrest of Dr. Bruce Carroll, who also happened to be the faculty chair for the Criminal Justice program at Georgia Gwinnett College.
Gwinnett County police charged Carroll with felony theft by shoplifting. He’s accused of stealing $629.02 worth of items over several visits to a Target near campus.
In his lawsuit filed against the Board of Regents in early December, Carroll said he was suspended without pay in April, even though he said he was put in a diversion program that would result in the charges being dropped.
He claimed he was suffering "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" due to a "traumatic life experience" around the time of his arrest and "does not remember all of the details."
But the lawsuit said "multiple criminal defense attorneys have publicly warned consumers not to use self-checkout lanes" and provided a story link to a TikTok from an attorney in Arkansas.
"As a criminal defense attorney I advise most people to steer clear of self-checkout," Carrie Jernigan told her 1 million followers. She said retailers are getting hit hard by organized gangs of shoplifters.
"These big box stores are not going to spend their time and resources in deciding whether you stole it on purpose or it was as mistake" Jernigan said. "They’ve lost all sympathy, and they’re taking a tell-it-to-the-judge approach."
No matter what your job really is, chances are you’ve also filled the unpaid role of store cashier.
Self-checkout lanes are everywhere, designed to move shoppers through faster while also making labor costs cheaper.
If Carroll’s theft case was accidental, it sure happened a lot. According to police, he pilfered 19 items - during eight separate visits to Target - all through the self-checkout lanes.
Overall Target reports shoplifting cases have increased 50 percent since last year, costing them $400 million.
"It’s a huge problem," said Dr. Doug Bowman, professor of marketing at Emory Goizueta Business School.
He said shoplifting has risen to epidemic levels thanks largely to the increase of self-checkout.
"For a lot of people it’s easier to steal from a machine than it is to steal from a human," he said.
Grocery store chain Wegmens even discontinued its pay-as-you go app - which allows a customer to scan items with their phone - because so many people were going instead of paying.
Even though he’s not worried about using self-checkout, Bowman agreed not all unpaid items are a crime.
"There’s a lot of honest mistakes," he said. "You and I are not trained to scan products, right?"
But even if the obvious answer is to hire more cashiers, Bowman believes retailers will opt to redesign self-checkout areas - adding more supervisors and cameras - to deter store crime.
"I don’t think you’re going to see them abandon them in the near future," he predicted.
Carroll’s attorney Julie Oinonen did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Board of Regents said they do not comment on litigation and would provide no answer as to Carroll’s job status.
In his lawsuit, Carroll is asking for back pay and compensatory damages for "the pain and emotional distress, humiliation, and loss of reputation imposed upon him" by his unpaid suspension.
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What can you expect from self checkout? It's a field day for all shoplifters
I use self-checkout because I see 5 or 6 Walmart employees standing around doing nothing on their phones and avoiding customers with 2 check out lanes open and 10 people in both lanes.
Very true
He’s unable to effectively use a self-checkout, is he able to tech college courses?
has NOTHING to do with self checkout. accountability people
Emotional distress why he is even driving ,killer on the road
Oh come on, u but that much and dont notice they dont ring up? Hes lying.
PTSD Doesn’t make you steal. He’s a thief pure and simple. A clown 🤡 on top of that.
you could have a product in your hand, get triggered and disoriented and go for safety. But if you are prone frequently like this guy to doing that, you accommodate yourself by having a companion or ordering online....i wonder how many times he didn't get caught.
@@110311DONTWANTCHANNE If he's having the same PTSD episodes while he's teaching .... and other functions in his life, ok. If not he's a thief
Yeah.... he's a professional victim
It could never be personal accountability
Nope it never is and it seems to be the root of a lot of problems we are having right now in society. Excellent comment 👍🏻.
I’ve been using a self checkout for the last ten years. I work hard and I make sure I pay for every single thing in my cart
because you're not very smart
When you are a victim, nothing is your fault.
Right ❤❤
He's guilty
Best defense is an offense but what a liar he is they have cameras and the Ptsd claim is bogus
Self check out is the best thing to ever happen at Walmart...
Yes 😂👍
one time is an accident, but 3 or more times its actually stealing
his audacity is crazy 😂 you’re the thief yet he gets a sit down interview? this would not be happening if he was a poc
I’ll be honest, I’ve been frustrated at the machine and just threw it in my basket
The South Park episode continues
I forgot something in my shopping cart,🤷🏿♂️🇯🇲👍🏿 but I was too embarrassed to go and bring it back
They need to weigh you even if you go to their restroom.
I'm homeless, I ain't shoplifting.
Wait until you get more desperate..
It's just getting harder and harder to survive...
@@Network126 dude I've been homeless for 8 years. What you call desperation I call weakness.
Thief
the problem with the walmart here where i live is most of their cashiers are either new or the slowest they have, so you stand there waiting or self checkout , and nope i haven't steal anything because of that, shame on people who use this as a excuse to steal.
IMO Walmart cashiers work 8 hours and get paid for about 4 hours after taxes and fees like paying into insurance. So any cashier you see may just be so new, that it will take them a bit longer to learn to go a bit faster.
Also remember customers do not know cashier codes like Check BOB to make sure it is empty. BOB stands for "Bottom Of Basket"
A cashier after complete scanning every item, the register shows a pop up. "Did you Check BOB? and is BOB empty? Yes/No buttons.
It's a reminder to check under the shopping cart. Most people forget there is stuff on the bottom of the basket. Like a large amount of water or a 50 pound bag of dog and/or cat food.
Shame on you for crapping on Walmart workers
@@zackamania6534 i never said it's their problem, i just don't get why they don't pay a little more for faster and experienced people and leave those sloth doing those other jobs on the back.
Slow service has never made me steal anything.
Criminals teaching criminal justice classes 🤣🤷❌. Just like the prisoners running the asylum
He's sorry that he got caught 🤣🤦💯👎. Call it like it is
He should go after this news station too because they just accused him of “pilfering”!
Cancel self checkout and put cashiers back, give them back their work. Some customers will always be evil.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
SCO is not a labor saving device. It allows the store to redirect the labor, such as online grocery (pickup/delivery) efforts
❤❤❤
It’s because everything is so expensive and people are broke
Exactly. I'm homeless in my car full of mechanical problems trying to work rideshare and delivery gigs. You do what you gotta do..
if you need to be 'trained' to scan products, you shouldn't be unsupervised......I've had SCOT double charge me a couple times.....I forgot an item ONCE, but found it before I left the parking lot and went back in and paid.
I use self check out because I never have that many items. The check out system does make mistakes.
Duh. Fewer employees mean fewer employees keeping tabs on what is going on around the store.
ok, so this guy willfully did it and he is blaming the system? even if he had PTSD before his arrest...that doesn't excuse stealing, people with PTSD know right from wrong..even if something happens and they have a panic attack and accidentally leave without paying ONCE, they fix it...they don't keep stealing
Lol they put self check out to cut costs but increased costs. That lawyer needs to stop. Once maybe, twice he may have made a mistake. But 9 times? I get mine delivered or I pick up.
Surprised he got away with it so many times at target, after watching that one takedown comp that came out years ago you’d think they’d be chasing em down… guess not
That's basically copaganda. Just like Wall Street banks are too big to jail.
I take from Self check out every day
Sell checkout is for thieves and EVERYBODY knows it. I'd rather wait for a human to help me, bag my groceries and ask me how my day was. My cousin works for Safeway for loss prevention and he said people have a technique to stealing. They scan 2 items and pretend they're scanning 50 more. He said that not one employee checks the receipt. They just walk out. I'd rather wait for an employee than go to jail. Those machines DON'T work half the time anyways and you still have to get someone to help you.
I think we should ALL refuse to use self check out if there is a possibility of going to jail for making a mistake. About 6 months I had put a cake under my cart because I didn't want it to get damaged. I got out to my car and realized I had forgotten to pay for it. I went back in and paid. I could have been arrested for a simple mistake. After seeing this I will not be using the self check out any longer.
Great job with this story. Gotta get those DEI numbers up, even if you have to reach for it.
You couldn't find someone of his complexion leading a criminal conspiracy?
Okay, but six hundred in merchandise seems a little schetchy. I understand people can make mistakes. I have realized that after getting out to my car that I forgot to scan an item about 6 months ago because it was under the cart. I went back in and paid for it and it was only about 8 dollars. But six hundred over a period of time? 🤔
He's yt so yea of course he's a victim..
I'm shocked he didn't say 'My yt privilege meant that I didn't know the consequences of my behaviour, therefore I shouldn't be charged'
If you ain’t stealing from a Walmart self checkout you ain’t trying!
😂👍
Kroger got one too
Oh really, you don't say
U know what if I had to be homeless I would go into crime to lol cause that's how u get by lol
With the number of things taken, this guys is either an idiot or a thief. There are plenty of professional people that steal for the thrill of it. I worked as a self check attendant back when they were new and there was a prison guard that came in regularly and used the self checks. He tried to steal every single time he came in. He also was always in when LP wasn't in store, almost like he was watching them. At first I would go over to him and pretend he forgot something and make sure it all got rung in. Then I just started to remotely freeze the machine and enter the things he was trying to steal. I'm sure he got away with stuff when I wasn't working, but he never did with me. He would do things scan 1 and try to bag 2 or 3, or put nicotine gum on the scale with the bar code up and then put apples on top of it and type in the code for apples so it weighed the gum with the fruit and the bagging scale wasn't set off when he bagged it. Finally management got so tired of him, they let him steal and then met him outside the store as he was leaving. They had planned on pressing charges, but he had his daughter with him that day. So they took the unpaid for goods, took his picture, and let him know the only reason he wasn't leaving in the back of a patrol vehicle was because of his child and if he ever stepped into any of our chains again he would be arrested. That was the last time I ever saw him.
I hear it costs more for the losses due to shop lifting than it would to hire cashiers.....but i prefer self checkout.....germy people have been handed items to cashiers who then pass the germs on to the next customers products......if people had decent hygiene it wouldn't be so bad...but people sneeze and cough into their hands, don't wash after the bathroom, etc.....
🙄
Sure Suzie
Absolutely!! Self checkout gives a shoplifter an opportunity to steal. It's the businesses fault.
excuse me but stores factor in theft when installing self check outs and its cheaper for them than to pay a cashier
@@m4m4b0y2 Your comparison of leaving my door intentionally unlocked and a business using self checkout machines doesn’t reason out. When businesses use these machines it’s an attempt to save money. It’s not safety issue as with your leaving my door intentionally unlocked which is to do with safety and security. Try again pls.
Stealing from a human lol that's what's companies doing to people paying people change 400 million is back pay for employees lol
A lot of low lifes out there.
The irony of it all is hilarious. The fact that people are defending his actions is disturbing.
I wouldn't steal, but I'm also not working for free. I'll stand in line and wait for the cashier.
I say if they're going to let criminals steal what they want with no repercussions why should the rest of us law abiding hard working tax paying citizens follow the laws?
Because we are honest. The issue is that it affects us all, because they raise prices to make up for their losses.
@@vanessab.6682 and I completely understand where you're coming from but honestly where is that going to get us if we don't stand up and do something or start acting in the same manner? I'm all for honesty, hard work and integrity but at some point all we're doing is feeding these people for free off of the sweat from our brows.
This guy must be a Democrat; he is a thief and a liar, and should have been suspended from his job. What a lame excuse for shoplifting, arrest him, charge him and fine him.