Crimes of Fashion: Cow Hollow Boutique Shames Shoplifter on Facebook
Shoplifters, beware! Anomie has Nest cams, and staffers are not afraid to post the footage on social media.
Saturday, Anomie's cameras captured footage of three women chatting and browsing in the Union Street store. One of the women then placed two items in her bag without paying. Unfortunately for her, she did so directly in front of Anomie's Nest cam.
Anomie was having none of that, and responded by (1) filing a police report and (2) posting the videos on Facebook and Instagram. In comments on the post, staffers explained, "We have a police report and video evidence of the girl in the tank top stealing over $230 in items from the store. We are not accusing her friends of anything, but merely asking if anyone recognizes them to get us closer to the girl caught on camera stealing."
Surprisingly, their plan worked. The shoplifter not only returned the stolen items, she also included an apology note and cash for one of returned items she had damaged.
In her apology, the shoplifter wrote, "I can't apologize enough for what I did on Saturday, and there are no words to adequately say I'm sorry... I don't know what I was thinking, except I wasn't, [and] the regret [and] shame I feel are unbearable."
First, kudos to Anomie. As anyone who has ever filed a police report in San Francisco knows, you're more likely to get results through social media justice than simply relying upon the system. Second, props to Ms. Stickyfingers for doing the right thing. Maybe her friends threatened to unfollow her on Insta unless she started acting right, but let's give her the benefit of the doubt. Finally, can we give it up for technology? Social media may be a bummer when it's amplifying the political echo chamber, but it's pretty fantastic when a business owner can turn to the community for help finding a thief using footage from an affordable video camera.
Best of all, Anomie captured footage of the shoplifter making her stealthy return drop on—you guessed it—a Nest cam.