Originally Posted by
JimGunther
I was in retail security for 13 years and the whole situation seems kinda odd to me. Did this happen in the United States? You said the value was 50 dollars so I assume it did. In the United States you normally don't pay restitution unless the victim suffers a loss. If they recovered the merchandise when you were caught, they will be no restitution owed.
I have never heard of a "notice of intended legal action" form unless we are talking about a form used by a private company.
When we arrested someone, we decided on the spot whether or not they were going to be charged with a crime. If they were, they were notified of that fact by giving them a copy of the charging document, which is required by law. If they were not they were barred for a year and if they came back before that we would charge them with trespassing.
I once arrested an international student from Egypt who stole some candles and some pairs of socks. He tried to knock my lights out and I ended up charging him with everything from assaulting a police officer to resisting arrest.
As soon as he was released from the hospital, he was taken back to Egypt and never showed up for trial.
You are nuts to try something like this and risk your whole future on a dare. Look at the document they gave you and see if it is a government document or a form issued by a private company. If it is a government document stating that you are going to be charged with a crime, you had better show it to a lawyer and seek his advise. There is a time limit by which you have to be charged if it is going to happen and the clock runs from the time the offense was committed.
If the form is one from a private company, you probably have nothing to worry about. You said the police came and left without charging you or taking you away in handcuffs. However, you don't seem to understand English too well. Make sure that the form is not some sort of charging document.
In this country, if a private person or a corporation of some kind says they intend to charge you with something, that statement has no legal status until charges are actually filed with the proper government official.
I also notice that questions of this type will often elicit responses from people who don't have any experience in the retail security business. That business has some quirks that people outside the trade don't understand, such as the notion that store employees can't arrest people or charge them with resisting arrest. Even though I worked for private firms for the 13 years I spent in the trade, I held a Special Police Commission which gave me the powers and responsibilities of a police officer on the premises where I worked.
