Walmart rolls back for-profit diversion program for shoplifters

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Walmarts in Indiana rolled back their privately instituted deferment program for first-time shoplifters, according to Indiana Attorney General Curtis T. Hill Jr.

The program likely is unethical and probably illegal, according to an opinion written by Hill and published Tuesday.

The push back against Walmart's program started here when Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Patrick Harrington asked the attorney general to review the program after the big-box retailer initiated it at the three stores here.

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"I appreciate the attorney general’s opinion and conclusion, which supports my position regarding this program," Harrington said Thursday afternoon.

Indiana law allows retailers to detain suspected shoplifters for a reasonable amount of time to investigate a possible theft. This time includes calling the police, according to Hill's opinion. But detaining a suspected shoplifter in order to coerce them into a privately operated, for-profit diversion program at a cost of $400 amounts to criminal confinement, according to Hill's opinion.

Walmart implemented its loss-prevent program in Tippecanoe County July 2017. Its program — which Walmart pays for from a privately run, outside firm — promises first-time shoplifters a pass if they pay $400 and take a class conducted by Corrective Education Co., the outside firm.

First-time shoplifters is defined as anyone who has not stolen from Walmart, according to Hill's opinion.

There are discretionary diversion programs for suspects in Indiana for low-level felonies or misdemeanors, but those diversion programs are run by prosecutors and sanctioned by court under Indiana statute, according to Hill's opinion.

The Journal & Courier reached out to corporate communications at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Arkansas for comment on Hill's published opinion and to confirm Hill's assertion in the opinion that the practice is discontinued in all of Indiana's stores.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. did not reply.

Local Walmart officials have not informed Harrington of the decision to end the program, according to the prosecutor. But in July, the local managers informed him of the implementation of the program.

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