[SyneRyder]

Interesting. I was at a mall last week where a security guard had caught a shoplifter, and the guard was downright friendly with the guy. It appeared that he was just going to let him go. The guard was asking the guy whether he'd shoplifted before, why he did it etc, but in a very relaxed conversational way. I hadn't thought of it as a customer service policy (both not to scare customers and keeping a potential future customer).

I also talked to a science-fiction / hobby store owner years ago, who mentioned that most of the shoplifters they caught had also been their best customers. (His policy was to ban them from the store, though.)