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The California State Senate passed a bill last week that would prevent employers from requiring employees to intervene to stop shoplifting — a growing scourge in the state since the enactment of criminal justice reforms.

SB 553, introduced by Silicon Valley’s State Sen. Dave Cortese (D-Cupertino), is described as a bill to prevent and monitor “workplace violence.” But it also includes a provision that “every employer shall establish, implement, and maintain, at all times in all of the employer’s facilities, a workplace violence prevention plan for purposes of protecting employees and other personnel from aggressive and violent behavior at the workplace” that “shall include … [p]rovisions prohibiting the employer from maintaining policies that require employees to confront active shooters or suspected shoplifters.”

As San Francisco Bay Area Fox affiliate KTVU reported, retail associations are furious, believing that the bill will tell potential thieves that they can steal goods at will:

[O]ver 50 organizations, including the California Retailers Association, (CRA) don’t support the bill.

“This bill goes way too far, number one, where I think it will open the doors even wider for people to come in and steal from our stores.”

…

The CRA says if SB 553 becomes law, it will need to apply to all industries and not just retail. They also say most retailers already prohibit regular employees from approaching anyone about stolen merchandise and have some employees who are trained in theft prevention.

“It says no employee can approach someone who is shoplifting. So even if someone is trained on how to deter someone from doing that, now they’re not allowed to approach someone. So, what does that mean? We are opening up the door to allow people to walk into stores, steal and walk out,” Michelin said.
https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2023/06/07/california-senate-passes-bill-preventing-employers-from-requiring-staff-to-stop-shoplifters/