Melstew: yeah, of course that is what I'm saying. It is ok for a 10 year old to steal something 99 cents or less in value. But, if an 11 year old steals a 1.53 pack of gum--throw them in jail and throw away the key. Here's your sign.....

Well let us see; Woodman's is based in the economic ravaged region of Rock County; an outsider; the rabble mom-and-pop business construct from the third-world far southern side of Dane County. Of course, most of us from Rock Country know Woodman's started as a tiny store-front right here in Janesville. Hmmmm, why pick on Woodman's?
Is there a palm being greased here, oh "progressive" Madison mayor dave? Just a thought, not fact, but an image comes to mind; did a couple of new squad cars pop in the motor pool lately compliments of an out-of-state business or two? Rumor has it some other big-box stores were not even considered in the Madison shop lifting statistics. Someone correct me please...I await with baded breath to be beat back and set in my literary place. But the Dadio smells a rat.

Let me see, if I give my employees an extra stipend for turning in a shop lifter and my business is busier than out-of-state big-box stores...oh, I get it, it is my fault more people are caught stealing from me.

Run off one more local business at your own peril Madison. You are only economically just a few feet in front of the beleaguered counties around you...and below you.

Bob Keith
cooldadiomedia.com

so youre saying its ok for a ten year old to steal that 99 cent item? you can not condone a thief no matter how small the item is, its sending the wrong message.

i would make the shoplifter stand in front of the merchants place of business they stole from and where a front and back bill board,saying i stole from this business,and iam no good thief.a little public humilation wouldnt hurt them one bit.that goes for alll you scum that steals gas also.

Madison police often times send out self-reporting forms anyhow. Stolen car? Stolen trailer? Break-in? Unless you have a specific suspect, they often times send you a self-reporting form in the mail. After you fill that out and mail it back, within 48-72 hours you will FINALLY hear from an officer/detective at the station. Most large cities are like this. Of course shoplifting is a problem. But, when you have stores who call the police on a 99cent item being shoplifted by a 10 year old, it creates a backlog in the city and also holds the police officer up from taking care of more important and emergent calls.

In wisconsin a retailer can sue a alleged shoplifter in small claims court and they do this all the time they don't need a conviction either. So they won't be getting away with anything. Most shoplifters end up paying double the court fine plus the small claims order.

“some states have to release murders because of lack of jail space”
.
Really – what states would those be? How many murderers are being released? What an incredible, outlandish assertion!
.
“who do you want on the streets?”
.
Not any criminals, that’s for sure. Unfortunately we can’t eliminate prison crowding by greatly expanding the death penalty. So the next best thing is to build more prisons. The absolutely wrong thing to do is stop enforcing the law because a police department finds it inconvenient.

some states have to release murders because of lack of jail space. and the list of early releases goes from there. who do you want on the streets?

cut the theif's hand off!!! no more stealing then

Well, Janesvillean, I did say "mandatory", but perhaps I should have stressed that I felt the nature of such a required punishment would reduce shoplifting.
.
I tried to search the web for some statistics on shoplifting crime in Wisconsin, but couldn't come up with much:

Crimes and Arrests in Wisconsin 2006, there were 18,315 cases of shoplifting with a total of approximately $2.267 million dollars being stolen.

http://oja.state.wi.us/docview.asp?docid...

Crime in Wisconsin in 2007, shoplifting was 17.4% of theft by property lost and the average loss was $129.00
http://oja.state.wi.us/docview.asp?docid...

I thought that seeing how well-organized the CCAP system is, that the state (perhaps the DOJ) would have detailed statistical information on crime as well. If anyone knows of such a data web site, please post a link here.

janesvillecomments, the issue is police time, not jail time. Currently shoplifting is a Class A misdemeanor, and judges have the discretion of imposing zero jail time or up to 9 months (2 years for repeat offenders). In most cases I imagine there's a no contest or guilty plea in exchange for a fine and restitution. Those who are sent to jail will probably be eligible for Rock County's Workenders program, which is similar to what you describe.

"I would like someone to explicate on how Clint Woodman's attitude is ridiculous."

It's ridiculous because he seems to (according to this short article) not leave the door open to suggestions on how to reduce the shoplifting problem.


"stores need displays to attract customer attention." True, but how about working with the crime prevention experts to come to a mutually satsfactory product placement?

But most things at Woodmans seems to be either their way or the highway.

Which is OK as long as you're careful what you wish for.

If the crime is pointless and retarded cruel and unusual should go out the window. Public humiliation would be a good deterent.

Does anyone remember way back when....a young child shoplifted...and the parent caught them...they were made to go back to the merchant and return the shoplifted item, along with an apology?

That humbling experience resulted in many lesson's learned.

In today's world that would not be possible because if a parent marched a kid back in to apologize, the merchant would insist that the police be called...the kid would be arrested...and sent to court...and any lesson that could have been gleaned from such a situation would be forever lost because ...well, everybody wants everything to be black and white in todays world.

Be carefull what you wish for Clint.

Shoplifting should be prosecuted but Clint Woodman's attitude is ridiculous.

It's a two way street to solve a problem.

Change the penalty for shoplifting. Sentences should be a mandatory 40 hours satisfactorily performed unpleasant community service for the first offense, 80 hours for the second conviction, 160 hours for the third., etc. The police would benefit from the "looks like the cops are doing their job" impression that people would have seeing more orange jumpsuits out cleaning the community.
.
A community service penalty would be a good alternative to remove a judge's reluctance to punish a person convicted for shoplifting with time in jail at taxpayer's expense or a fine which might induce the shoplifters to steal more to get the cash to pay their fine with.
.
Putting shoplifters orange jumpsuits to clean public restrooms, pick up trash from streets and highways, mowing lawns with hand-powered push mowers in the summer and shoveling sidewalks by hand in the winter should reduce the "recreational" shoplifting.