Sirens @ Metrotown: implied accusation of shoplifting

Excuse my tone. I don't mean to sound angry towards anyone here but I am really, really pissed off at what just happened.

So, today, I walked into Sirens @ Metrotown and their anti-theft detection sensor went off. Everybody ignored it until I left five minutes later.

The employee who was there at the time gestured at me to come back inside so she could examine my belongings. I took out almost EVERYTHING that was in my backpack save for one magazine and some paperwork, and showed them. I should describe my backpack: it's one of those smaller, trendy one-compartment, casual bags so there are no extra pockets/compartments to put stuff in. Sirens is a clothing store. I had NO articles of clothing on me except for what I was wearing and my jacket (clearly labelled "forever21"). Everything in my backpack were either necessities (keys, water bottles, etc) or electronics (tablet computer, etc) The employee saw that and then at some point, insisted that it must be something I am wearing. I even lifted up my shirt to show her that I had nothing on me except for what I had already shown her but no, since the sensor was beeping, it MUST be because I had something of theirs.

At some point, the manager was called in. Again, I showed her everything I had on me. They then wanted to "personally" go through my stuff "thoroughly", which, there was no need for since they can blatantly see everything right there. The only thing they didn't get a good look at was paperwork which was obviously PAPER and none of their business. I declined. They had already seen everything. There's no way any of their merchandise was among my stuff. The manager made a remark that implied that since I "looked nervous", I was guilty. Right. Because "looking nervous", which is completely subjective, is absolute proof within itself. The manager told me something like "if you weren't guilty/if you had nothing to hide, then you would let us personally go through everything". I said, that's an accusation and an assumption of guilt without credibility. I want to reemphasize, and make it very very clear that, they had seen EVERYTHING and there was NO concrete evidence at all. They kept on insisting that I MUST have something since it went off and that their hardware was incapable of throwing out false positives. They even contradicted themselves multiple times. I was told that their thingy reacted SPECIFICALLY to their merchandise, so that I MUST have something. And then they told me they didn't want me to have a bad experience at the mall because the sensors would keep going off. Ok, so if their sensor worked only on their stuff, why the fuck would it work for other stores?!?! I didn't have a problem at any other store either.

They knew they had no grounds to keep me or go through my stuff again after I had already complied the first time so I was able to leave. I didn't even get an apology lol

But fuck, this is ridiculous. In most cases where people are accused of something like this, there was usually more evidence than just the sensor going off. In my case, the ONLY evidence they had was the sensor going off. I understand how loss prevention works, but they had already seen everything and there was no possible way I could've stealthily hid something from them given the circumstances.

I am pissed!!!

i would have refused and told them to call the cops. with that said, i dont recommend this to everyone. if you dont know your rights and the law, they might end up out bluffing you.

@lucasvince Yes I was going to request that a legal authority be present if they were going to search my stuff again after I had already shown them everything AND they didn't even have lawful grounds to search. Especially after they resorted to petty psychological tactics/coercion.

@xneener WTF. I guess it's obvious since their employees don't have a shred of logic in them.

Wow, that's seriously fucked up. I've also heard other stories about people being accused of shoplifting at Sirens and it's always the one at Metrotown.

THEY ILLEGALLY SEARCHED YOU

just putting that out there

trashy place. :I

@Hieu I am aware of that and will most likely seek an attorney out to ask about it. They also used psychological coercion to detain me which, to my knowledge, is also illegal.

why do you want to ask an attorney? are you planning on suing? if you just want to know what to do next time and you are a student, just make an appointment with your student society/unions legal aid service. they tend to be free and quite helpful.

@lucasvince Thanks for the suggestion I'll try that first as I only want more information in the meantime.

You've got lots of grounds to sue There was another person there other than the manager right?

@Hieu yes there was the first employee who had me come back inside and who inspected my stuff prior to the manager.

here is the thing, to sue you must prove that they caused you some sort of harm. whether that be pain and suffering, humiliation, etc. its really hard to prove that harm was actual done to you. for example, you need an employer of yours to see the event, think badly of you, and then fire you, to have some sort of harm.

It doesn't have to involve harm in any method. However if you want to put it that way she was falsely accused of stealing under no grounds which hurt her pride , detained and searched without a warrant or without her permission or was arrested under no authority, and put under psychological torture which is illegal in canada. Exagerate some things and you got yourself a case. Get yourself a lawyer that cares about money and chances of winning against the company is highly likely. However didn't these things actually all happened

hurting someones pride isnt enough.

she wasnt really detain since she was asked to come back and she did.

she wasnt illegally searched/without permission since she voluntarily showed them her stuff when asked.

never arrested.

psychological torture/interrogation isnt illegal (this was actually just in the news recently).

but yes, she can exaggerate it. but if OP does want some sort of legal action, start off with a demand letter. i personally think her chances are slim in court, but high if she goes to the media (e.g. CBC or global). especially if she goes with other ppl who had the sae experience.

she wasnt illegally searched/without permission since she voluntarily showed them her stuff when asked.

They searched her stuff more thoroughly but she never gave consent still doesn't matter if she flashed it. Still doesnt count as consent. Last but not least they accused her of stealing I believe which could go for slander or something but that usually never flies in court.

About the detainment: it's fuzzy, I complied the first time, but it should be considered detainment when I denied their subsequent requests and was told/harassed that I MUST have something of theirs over and over again. I did not consent for anything past the first time.

:S ive read a lot of ppl being falsely accused but i never knew that they had detectors.

for future people: say you've got a lot of hardware (metal) in a specific body part. that should make them leave you alone!

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File a complaint at that location. I didn't the Metrotown location when searching, but there was a resolved complaint for another location.