Home Depot responds after firing Pearland employee who chased shoplifters

Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images A 70-year-old Army veteran has been fired from a Houston-area Home...

A former Pearland Home Depot employee who tried to stop three shoplifters was fired because his actions could have endangered employees or the general public, a Home Depot spokesman said Monday.

According to an interview given by former employee Jim Tinney to KTRK, Tinney saw three men attempting to leave the store in June, with tool sets they had not paid for. Tinney attempted to stop them by throwing an object at their feet.

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Tinney did not immediately return calls to the Chronicle for information.

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Home Depot's policy prevents employees from attempting to stop shoplifters, said Stephen Holmes, director of corporate communications

"The policy and our actions are solely based on our efforts to protect our associates and other customers who might be engaging with shoplifters in the store or in our parking lots," Holmes said.

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Holmes said that shoplifting isn't always the "petty crime" that the general public assumes it might be and that barring associates from attempting to thwart shoplifting efforts is a policy enacted to keep people from being seriously hurt.

"What we see today are people who can be extremely brazen and violent," he said. "The general public might misunderstand the seriousness of the matter because they don't understand how incredibly dangerous shoplifting has become or how quickly a situation can escalate if a shoplifter believes they're being followed."

Holmes explained that many interactions between associates and shoplifters turn violent.

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"I (recently) got an email about a shoplifter that pulled a gun on one of our associates and held it up to her head," he said. "Another gun was pulled on an employee last week in Miami. We had a member of the security team who was cut with a knife, we've had someone who was punched and (sustained) brain damage – we've had two employees in the last week who have been bitten. What happens if an associate follows a shoplifter out of the store for a license plate and the shoplifter hits them with their car? We've had customers backed over before. This policy is in place for a reason."

Holmes said that another thing that the general public might not know is that oftentimes, shoplifting cases aren't necessarily small crimes committed for personal gain.

"A lot of the shoplifting you see is tied to organized crime," he said. "Sure, sometimes it's someone who's stealing to support a drug habit, but oftentimes it's connected to a much larger, much more organized group who is orchestrating (the shoplifting) to fund criminal activity that most people don't think is so petty."

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In many of these cases, Holmes explained, Home Depot and local law enforcement are not the only agencies involved in attempting to stop the theft.

"Some of these organized rings are stealing literally millions of dollars," he said. "We have ongoing investigations with everyone from the FBI, to the ATF to the DEA and Secret Service—we have things in place to prevent shoplifters from getting away with the crime, and we do not want our employees to put themselves in danger. We've parted ways with associates for this same thing before – this isn't a unique case."

In Dec. 2016, four Home Depot employees were terminated from a Florida Home Depot after attempting to stop an alleged shoplifter.

The decision to terminate Tinny was not one Home Depot made lightly, said Holmes.

"This was not a knee-jerk reaction," he said. "This has been thoroughly reviewed by a cross-functional committee. It was a serious safety violation that has led to serious injury and even death in the past, so we have to be firm with our policy. There are policies in the company that have varying levels of seriousness and this is at the very top – we need to be consistent with (enforcement). We hate to part ways with any associate, but he knew the policy."