[ghshephard]

"many department store's policy of not targeting a shoplifter-in-action in a mall"

Citation? I've never heard of such a policy. Every mall I've had knowledge of had a very extensive security organization that was pretty effective at targeting shoplifters-in-action.

[mscarborough]

Apart from personal experience working in grocery stores, where nobody really cares, there is this: http://marga.voxpublica.org/2012/08/shoplifting-and-magnetic...

Depends on where you go and which mall. Strip malls are a lot less effective with countering shoplifters than the 'real' malls.