New York probing Macy's, Barneys 'shop-and-frisk' claims

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

By Curtis Skinner
NEW YORK | Tue Oct 29, 2013 1:48pm EDT

(Reuters) - New York state's attorney general on Tuesday launched an investigation into retailers Macy's Inc and Barneys New York Inc, where black customers complained they were stopped by police after making luxury purchases.

The city's feisty tabloids have nicknamed the practice "shop and frisk," a take-off on the controversial New York police crime-fighting tactic "stop and frisk," which critics contend amounts to racial profiling.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman gave the two department store chains until Friday to turn over information about their policies for detaining and questioning customers based on race.

But Barneys Chief Executive Mark Lee fired back, saying that his employees had no part in two events involving black customers that have ignited a firestorm of controversy.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/29/us-usa-newyork-barneys-macys-idUSBRE99S0P920131029

[GOTV]

1. Do stores get stuck with the bill if a credit card is stolen?

If the customer offers a credit card and the card goes through, why would the store want to get more involved than that?

If a card is stolen I know the card's owner is not held liable for purchases if the theft is reported quickly enough. I assumed that any charges that occur are eaten by the CC company.

I just don't know why the stores are risking the damage to their reputation.

[Chakab]

2. Why would the store employees even run the card if they suspected it to be stolen?

That's what doesn't make any sense to me. I've had people ask for photo ID before I used a credit/debit card in the past. After I presented my driver's license or passport, they ran the card. This business about calling the police and detaining people after a purchase has been completed seems outrageous to me.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. If you remember, one of shoppers was told by store employee

that he did not look like he could afford the item.
Then the sale was completed and he left the store, only to have private dicks grab him down the street.
But the store says employees did not call police.
So...who did, is what I want to know?

The lies will come out, the lawsuits will add up, and I hope to hell somebody is keeping score on how much Bloomberg is costing NYC
with his army of police.

[okwmember]

5. In my job at a tax collector office we are often asked to run a transaction we suspect is fraudulent

because without the transaction, no crime is committed. But what I don't get is the cops' reactions to all this. At least 2 of the people stopped have said when they showed their ID, the cops' response was just to believe that the ID itself was fraudulent.

And while Barney's wants to say they aren't at fault because it was the cops already in the store that detained the customers, I don't believe for 2 seconds that the police weren't in the store in the first place at the request of Barney's.

[billhicks76]

3. BOYCOTT MACY"S

What are we the old Soviet Union??? We have a right to be protected from unreasonable search and seizure and NYC has already gone to far and should be sued for billions or these practices in the street. BOYCOTT BOYCOTT BOYCOTT. And get rid of Bloomberg too.