Academy Sports: What Are They Thinking?

[Watchdog]

I have to admit, I don't understand corporate thinking in this situation.

Academy Sports in Tallahassee, Florida has fired a manager who tackled a man who was stealing a gun and ammunition from the store.

Quoting briefly from a report by CBS News:

"A store manager who tackled a customer as he ran out of the store with a stolen gun and ammunition has been fired by Academy Sports, reports the CBS affiliate here, WCTV. Dean Crouch worked at the Academy Sports store in Tallahassee.

The National Rifle Association says Crouch is a 'hero.'"

I won't comment further on this for now, except to say that this seems to be one of those what's-wrong-with-this-picture scenarios.

Forum members who are interested can read the report by clicking here.

 

[johngalt]

I suspect that as usual, it is liability concerns. They lose much less in merchandise than in defending themselves against a lawsuit brought by a possibly injured thief.

 

[Scorpion520AZ]

"Firing" the man is pure corporate cowardice.

 

[Gaffer]

The guilty party here is the courts who are coddling these perps and making them feel untouchable. If the courts would not be so gerenous and treat these criminal as they should the corporationswould not be so afraid to do the right thing. It is a matter of Political Correctness run amuck. I did email the Academy Sports and told them I would not ever shop there again if they didn't give the employee his job back.

 

[Golddollar]

Quoting briefly from a report by CBS News:

"A store manager who tackled a customer as he ran out of the store with a stolen gun and ammunition has been fired by Academy Sports,

I think there is a significant inaccuracy in this report. A customer is someone who pays for goods. The person who was tackled is an alleged thief.

 

[Salty RI]

Back in the 60's a friend of mine had a part time job in a all night gas station, he got robbed and beat the guy with a baseball bat, he got fired, he was supposed to let the guy get away, a few days later he got another part time job in another gas station, he traded his bat for a piece of rebar.[emoji1]

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[arjay]

As far as I know corporate policy regarding thieves is to be a good witness.They don't want injured(non security) employees,perps or bystanders.Thats far more expensive

 

[chief38]

What a Freaked-up world we live in hey?! 20 years ago they would have given him a medal and a bonus - today he's a "bad guy".

 

[ParadiseRoad]

As far as I know corporate policy regarding thieves is to be a good witness.They don't want injured(non security) employees,perps or bystanders.Thats far more expensive

...and what is irritating is that their good...honest...regular customers foot the bill either way...

 

[500SNW]

As far as I know corporate policy regarding thieves is to be a good witness.They don't want injured(non security) employees,perps or bystanders.Thats far more expensive

Call me strange, but rather than the loss of revenue for a single firearm, I see it as preventing a criminal from doing further harm with that gun and ammo. Who would the thief have robbed or killed shortly after obtaining the firearm? IMHO the employees firing might be a blessing in disguise. Who wants to work for a company with an attitude like that? There are still plenty of good folks who own businesses and will offer this upstanding citizen a job. He might even get an upgrade in the process.

 

[arjay]

It's also possible he was canned for allowing the thief to get his hands on a gun and a box of ammo at the same time.The chain stores I've dealt with are pretty cautious abou that

 

[wingriderz]

"Firing" the man is pure corporate cowardice.

Yes for sure. Hes way better off going to work elsewhere

 

[LVSteve]

...and what is irritating is that their good...honest...regular customers foot the bill either way...

Yes, but it's a SMALLER bill. It's just the way the corporate mind works.

Consider these examples:

#1 The story is that when Ford got dinged in court for the Pinto gas tank debacle, they initially said that they were going to appeal the verdict. A short time later they paid up. Why? Because somebody did the math that the costs of more litigation and the possibility of an even bigger punitive fine was more expensive than retooling the Pinto line to reverse or eliminate that machine screw. On paper, Ford were ahead, so they paid up.

#2 My aunt worked in debt recovery for the credit card section of a major UK bank. In the 80s CC fraud was rife, usually done by folk who opened accounts with subtle changes to their name and obtaining multiple cards they had no intention of ever paying on. This was taken to bank management who said, "Well, that may be so, but we measure business success by the number of our cards in circulation compared to our competitors. It's all about market share. Besides, bad debt is on a different ledger so it doesn't count".

This corporate think is why Academy have this shoplifter policy, losses are cheaper than lawsuits AND ARE ON A DIFFERENT LEDGER WITH NO PR EXPOSURE. Welcome to 21st century capitalism at its lunatic best.

 

[Wise_A]

Because tackling him creates a violent confrontation, endangering store employees and customers. Letting him go and calling the police leaves the fightin-bad-guys stuff to the professionals.

This is Working In Retail 101.

 

[ditrina]

Because tackling him creates a violent confrontation, endangering store employees and customers. Letting him go and calling the police leaves the fightin-bad-guys stuff to the professionals.

This is Working In Retail 101.

45 years working in retail..
PERFECT answer..
The corporate idea ( policy ) is keep the employee safe and alive.

 

[cybermgk]

Because tackling him creates a violent confrontation, endangering store employees and customers. Letting him go and calling the police leaves the fightin-bad-guys stuff to the professionals.

This is Working In Retail 101.

And a potential illegal gun in the hands of someone hell bent on using it (his own words). BECAUSE, that assumes The Police catch him, before he uses it for whatever mass murder he had planned.

So, you explain the rules and reasoning to the Manager. But fire him?

 

[ladder13]

As far as I know corporate policy regarding thieves is to be a good witness.They don't want injured(non security) employees,perps or bystanders.Thats far more expensive

It is really that simple.

 

[cybermgk]

It's also possible he was canned for allowing the thief to get his hands on a gun and a box of ammo at the same time.The chain stores I've dealt with are pretty cautious abou that

Read the story. He did NOT get both the ammo and gun there, just the gun. He had already stolen from another store earlier (and SURPRISE still not apprehended by the police).

 

[Weimar]

So, something that folks are missing is that - although corporate might think its cheaper to not have a lawsuit, if this guy used his stolen 40 cal and took it to a school and shot up some kids, imagine the bad PR.

I'd ask my lawyer (who I have found many times knows that common sense is a no-win and won't take your case), that we should claim that the PR of above case would have cost them tens of millions and he was wrongly defamed by being fired

 

[Okie21]

I understand he violated company policy. But why does this have to be set in stone here? He prevented a criminal from obtaining a firearm, which could have been used to commit a crime. I think there would be far less crime if more people did what this man did.
And to add insult to injury, the Academy Sports spokeswoman thanked the local PD and made no mention of the employee. Shame on Academy Sports.

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