WHEN OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS.......

by Bob Walsh

There was an incident at the Westfield Oakridge Mall in the San Jose area last week that was kind of interesting.  There was a small altercation in the mall and one of the participants pulled a gat and started blasting.  Everybody beat feet.  A lot of the mall goers as well.  Some of the stores went into semi-lockdown and herded customers into the rear areas and apparently locked their mall access doors.  

Some enterprising folks apparently figured that this was a good time to shoplift like crazy.  As long as you take less than $950 value it is a cite and release crime in CA.  The cops won't even arrest you if they catch you in the act.  They give you a ticket and a notice to appear.  At least one person robbed a female customer of her APPLE bag.  That of course is robbery and not petty theft but I would make you a large bet the cops report it as a minor theft unless it was worth more than $950, which in an Apple store it might very well have been.

When opportunity presents itself you need to be prepared to grab the merchandise and run.