A Message from our Neighbors at the Candler Park Market
Dear Candler Park / Lake Claire Neighbors:
Unfortunately, we have some rather disturbing news to report regarding a recent rash of shop lifting we’ve discovered at the Candler Park Market.
Last week on Wednesday February 1, our morning manager caught a young man with his pockets stuffed to the brim with Candy, Chips and other easily hidden items. The individual we caught is part of the regular morning group of high-school student who assemble in front of the market as they wait for the school bus. This group regularly comes into the store to “shop” before the bus arrives. The young man in question is (was) a
“regular” customer in the store.
Our morning shifts are not heavily staffed at the market since business is usually slow. This makes it relatively easy for someone to take and conceal items without being seen – particularly if others are in the process of being checked out. Therefore, we wondered how long this type of theft has been going on and reviewed our security video tapes. To our shock, we found that the same group of kids were doing this DAILY for the past several weeks. We went all the way back to the middle of January and found the same pattern on a daily basis. We are deeply disappointed that this has happened – particularly given that these kids all belong to our neighborhood!
As a result, we are no longer allowing these high-schoolers to enter the store in the mornings. Furthermore, if they want to be allowed access to the store at anytime in the future, we will require that they bring their parents to the store so we can put names and phone numbers to faces.
Obviously, those who perpetrated these thefts will not be very eager to bring their parents to the store, given that we know who they are now.
Therefore, if you are interested in viewing the security tape to personally identify the thieves, we will be happy to show you at your earliest convenience. For now, we do not plan on taking any further actions in this matter, but going forward, we intend to report any new theft incidents to APD for full prosecution.
Again, we are very sorry to have to report this activity to the neighborhood, but we felt it was important that parents among us know what has happened so that we might be able to take corrective action before it’s too late.
Thanks,
Dirk