Aurora police are raising serious questions in their effort to get serious about shoplifting in the city.
Police began a pilot program last month where anyone over 18 arrested for shoplifting in a central Aurora district gets their picture posted on an Aurora police Facebook page.
We can’t help but “like” the idea as well as the gallery of mug shots, but the program creates a host of problems.
Like all law-abiding residents, we’re pleased to see someone do something to stem a practical plague of retail theft that costs all of us. Retail industry officials estimate that in Colorado alone, shoplifters steal about $500 million in merchandise each year, driving up retail prices and eating into business profits. Industry officials point out that in categories such as food, where profit margins are so low, around 1 percent, that even small thefts have big impacts on store prices and profits.
Part of the problem is, as a society, we couch the seriousness of retail theft. We call it “shoplifting,” as if it were any different than any other theft or burglary. It’s astonishing that the crime is committed by so many people, often people who don’t steal in any other circumstance. The National Association for Shoplifting Prevention estimates that 1 in 11 Americans steal from stores in their lifetime.
Local police say that while they are concerned with the “occasional” shoplifter, they are seriously worried about professional thieves who steal for a living.
To give their effort to curb shoplifting a boost, local police have started publishing the pictures of those arrested in Aurora’s central shopping district, which includes the Town Center of Aurora.
Police said this week that the program isn’t created to shame thieves.
Of course it is. It wouldn’t be effective if it weren’t shameful to have your picture appear on a city police web page, announcing that you’ve been arrested for shoplifting, and then spelling out your sentence after conviction.
But programs like this blur the lines of police power. The police department and its officers are charged with keeping the peace by enforcing laws. Lawmaking and the imposition of justice are, by design, not their job. This program and programs like it go far beyond just enforcing the law, and instead put the police in a position to administer unique punishment and justice in crimes that haven’t even offered suspects the constitutional right of due process.
We appreciate the confidence police have in these cases warranting Facebook mug postings. In an era of increased store security and video cameras everywhere, it’s easy to see that someone caught on tape stealing will be convicted in court. But that’s a job for the courts, not the police, who mete out punishment the moment they post these pictures.
An easy fix is to simply turn the program over to the courts or city administration, and have them publish pictures and details of the crime and punishment after a conviction. If the police are working to spread that word that shoplifting in Aurora brings a guaranteed arrest and likely jail sentence, their mission is accomplished just as well by honoring the spirit of how our justice system is set up.
Just as worrisome is the fairness of how police have moved into justice as well as enforcement. The program publishes arrest mugshots only in one part of Aurora, and it’s unclear how police might refrain from publishing the mugshots of some of those arrested. That’s a bad precedence. Courts should decide what level of punishment is warranted by this and other crimes, not police. And since there is no arguing the punitive nature of publishing photos of those accused of crimes, the argument turns, again, toward whether this is a fair, prudent and ethical project for police.
Something tells me they haven’t and wont publish pictures of anybody who can afford a lawyer. This is so wrong on so many fronts! But the nastiest aspect of this is APD saying they take down the pictures if a person is acquitted. Let’s apply the same logic to, oh, I dunno… speeding. You accept the “automatic plea bargain” and you are convicted, period. It’s only a misdemeanor, sure, but it is on your record for ever. The first question I’d ask APD is how many shoplifting cases go to trial? And then I’d ask exactly how many pictures have been “taken down” because the person was acquitted. One of these days they’ll try it with someone who can afford a lawyer and…. oh wait– that person won’t have their picture posted in the first place, will they?
If that logic applies then no one should ever have their pictures posted in the media when the’re arrested, it’s an all too common practice when an athlete, politico, celebrity of police officer gets arrested (not convicted) and no one is jumping to their defense. So when, oh I dunno, OJ gets arrested, or Lindsey Lohan or Todd Helton, or John Doe who is alleged to have stolen a car, and they have a lawyer, have their pictures posted in the media, does their lawyer say you can’t post their picture in the media becasue they weren’t convicted yet? No. And yeah….every person CAN get a lawyer to defend themselves, either by paying for one or having one assigned by the courts (Public Defender). Don’t steal and you don’t get your picture in the paper.
Mugshots are part of the arresting portion of case. I believe photos should be posted, and should lead to others not shop-lifting, knowing that majority of stores now have cameras. That was supposed to be main part of law in first place, with punishment of the defendant also included.