instead of arresting her, police officer buys groceries for shoplifting gramama

[z1ggy]

Stealing from stores is usually a klepto type behavior. Other then the (actual) homeless, I don't think I've ever read a case of shoplifting that was some sort of a Aladdin hungry and poor person trying to live.

This. I mean honestly if she needed $2, she would be better off asking random strangers for any spare change etc.

I was in the grocery store once and a woman came up $5. Since I guessed I made many times more than her, and I'm a nice guy, I offered to give her the $5 she needed to pay off her bill.

I find it hard to believe with all the social programs and things the government has in place now a days, that a person is so poor, and so broke they have to steal $2 worth of stuff, regardless of who it's for. That is of course, assuming they aren't like the woman I saw drive off in a Cadillac after paying for her food bill with an EBT card. That pissed me off royally.

 

[CZroe]

Personally, I'd probably dumpster dive behind the store before I tried to steal from the store.

The real crime here is having a store policy that dictates calling the police over a matter of $2

So all the criminals can exploit it by only stealing up to the store's threshold amount at a time? "Hey, everyone! This store's shoplifting value threshold for calling the police is $5. Let's all go in and steal $5 at a time until we empty the store of everything under $5! Tell all the hungry, criminal, immoral, and just plain exploitative people in this city! There's no reason for the hungry to go to food charities: Just come here!"

I catch thieves for a living. It makes no difference to me if someone makes ten trips to steal 10 Polo shirts or if they take 10 at once. Even if they only stole one with no intention of coming back, I will make an example of them to prevent theft from others. There is a multiplier effect. Got it?

 

[CZroe]

Is he shouting at clouds? Dementia came early this year eh?

Even if you haven't seen the movie, it is clear in context that he just escaped from someone who he is replying to after stealing that bread. That person obviously can't reach him despite being in earshot. You can probably surmise that he jumped down from somewhere and that the other person cannot be expected to follow suit.

 

[CZroe]

Food stamps might not provide enough to feed a family. And food banks/pantries don't always have enough food for everyone, so some inevitably get turned away.

Not sure where you got that idea. Food stamp allotment grows greatly with the additional beneficiaries. I have seen hugely obese families raised on welfare (unemployed throughout). If they aren't shopping at Whole Foods, any family can afford to be obese on food stamps.

 

[feralkid]

Not sure where you got that idea. Food stamp allotment grows greatly with the additional beneficiaries. I have seen hugely obese families raised on welfare (unemployed throughout). If they aren't shopping at Whole Foods, any family can afford to be obese on food stamps.

Obesity is not an indication of a healthy diet.

Cheap, fatty foods that people on limited means can afford doesn't equal sufficiency.

 

[CZroe]

Obesity is not an indication of a healthy diet.

Cheap, fatty foods that people on limited means can afford doesn't equal sufficiency.

Oh please. They are making their purchase decisions. They obviously have an excess. Guess what that means? They could have substituted healthier foods for the ones they purchased! They obviously aren't starving, which was the goal. Unless you are implying that the woman's kids and grandkids hadn't eaten in days so that they could eat healthier and more expensive options, you have no point. Now: How "healthy" is starving for days?!

Calories and vitamins are necessary nutrition to stave off starvation for survival. Food stamps provide all that in excess unless you DELIBERATELY waste it.

 

[feralkid]

Oh please. They are making their purchase decisions. They obviously have an excess. Guess what that means? They could have substituted healthier foods for the ones they purchased! They obviously aren't starving, which was the goal. Unless you are implying that the woman's kids and grandkids hadn't eaten in days so that they could eat healthier and more expensive options, you have no point. Now: How "healthy" is starving for days?!

Calories and vitamins are necessary nutrition to stave off starvation for survival. Food stamps provide all that in excess unless you DELIBERATELY waste it.

Someone has an agenda.

 

[Brainonska511]

Not sure where you got that idea. Food stamp allotment grows greatly with the additional beneficiaries. I have seen hugely obese families raised on welfare (unemployed throughout). If they aren't shopping at Whole Foods, any family can afford to be obese on food stamps.

Reading the newspaper

He receives food stamps — $180 a month, down from $200 before the federal cuts — but he still cannot afford to feed his family. He counts on the food pantry to get through the month.

According to research by the Food Bank for New York City, the price of food in the New York metropolitan area rose by 16 percent between December 2007, the start of the recession, and the end of last year, with 32 percent of New Yorkers in 2012 reporting difficulty paying for the food they needed. Those dependent on government subsidies to supply their tables will feel these increases more harshly as cuts to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or SNAP, as the food stamp program is called) go forward.

The New York City Coalition Against Hunger has estimated that one in six city residents are “food insecure,” or living in homes where there is not enough money to put enough food on the table. In a 2013 survey, the group reported that 254 food pantries and soup kitchens had seen demand increase 10 percent, on average, over the previous year.

But maybe those poor people just have it so great with their outrageous food stamp benefits and are just making up stuff about being hungry so they can continue to be freeloaders on the system.

 

[CZroe]

Someone has an agenda.

"Agenda?!" You are talking to someone who was raised by an unemployed single mother on food stamps with a twin brother. We survived exclusively on food stamps + $280 a month in welfare with $130 going to trailer lot rent every month and the rest to electricity, phone, etc. I didn't like that we didn't have name brand cereals or refreshments (don't spend food stamps on Coke/Kool-Ade and kids' cereal), but we always had plenty of REAL food. An abundance, in fact. My agenda is against thieves and the misguided ignorance that goes into thinking that they were forced into thievery through hunger. I have no agenda against the needy receiving welfare or anything else offered to them.

Reading the newspaper



But maybe those poor people just have it so great with their outrageous food stamp benefits and are just making up stuff about being hungry so they can continue to be freeloaders on the system.

No person is going to starve with $200 of food stamps. You don't have to live on Ramen but you can't buy sodas and organic-everything. Get real. It's laughable that you even quoted that without realizing how ridiculous that is.

I never said it was an "outrageous" benefit. I said it was misguided to think that it's not enough and that she'd have to resort to stealing. Get my position right before you try to counter it.

 

[EliteRetard]

Yeah people bitch about food prices, but they are using name brands and boxed crap food as examples.

I can get tons of good items for under $1/lb...that means 3 people could eat a pound of healthy food a day for $60/month. With "only $180 a month" you could feed 4 people 2lbs of healthy food a day with $20 left over for a gallon of ice cream, some cookies, and a pizza.

apples, bananas, barley, beans (red, black, white, navy, pinto, kidney, garbanzo, etc), broccoli, cabbage, carrots, celery, chicken, corn, cornmeal, cucumbers, daikon, eggs, green beans, greens (kale, mustard, collard, arugula, spinach, etc), grapes, grapefruit, lentils, mango, milk, oatmeal, onions, pasta, pork, potatoes (including sweet and yams), pumpkin, rice, rutabaga, split pea, squash, tomato, turkey, turnips, yogurt etc etc.

With all the help available today there should never be a case where they had to steal to survive. Food is more expensive than it used to be, but can still be affordable (AND HEALTHY!) if you shop smart and don't buy boxed crap.

 

[Mermaidman]

What got me was that she stole two individual eggs, and the eggs even broke in her pockets. That is pathetic.