POLICE THINKING

I suppose most people can pull up their credit card transactions to provide a receipt but it seems that being able to describe the bag and its contents would be enough.

I'm thinking maybe Canada doesn't have a lot of experience with public shootings so I'm willing to cut them some slack. American malls probably have a public shooting lost and found.

maybe it's a local thing, but cashiers automatically hand you the receipts here to put in your wallet/purse/pocket. You can tell them to put it in the shopping bag, but it's not normally done. Some cashiers will ask, but the default is to hand you the receipt.

There was a notorious incident near by on Boxing Day several years ago. Mostly, i'm wondering what the combination of a receipt and a form of identification are supposed to prove. At mosst, you can show that you purchased a similar item.

I most always get the receipt handed to me, whether a cash exchange or a credit card transaction and then look at it to make sure there aren't any erroneous charges. After that, I place it in my pocket, either trouser or jacket pocket.
Something of a while back, a receipt was stapled to the bag, I removed it, looked at it and then placed it in my pocket.

I hear you. I always get them to put the receipt in the bag but often I don't even want the receipt (just more stuff to throw into my garbage). So I follow your logic about how you're supposed to identify your stuff.

In the Lost and Founds, all you have to do is identify whatever it is you lost - Sir, it's a purple umbrella with yellow flowers - and badda bing, they hand it over to you.

You're right - the police, as well as everyone else, are obsessed with ID'ing everything.

I telephoned the phone company to ASK A GENERAL QUESTION and first I had to choose the correct department I wanted (that took about 5 separate questions and numbers to punch), then I had to enter my phone number (from the same phone I was calling on - surely they could have some kind of call display for that), then I finally got a person who asked for my phone number (why don't they already know that since i just punched it in??), as well as my complete address, my last statement amount, and my mother's maiden name. I kept telling him I just wanted to ask a general question, but they have to follow the rules because, as we all know, 'this call may be recorded for blah blah blah purposes'... it's getting ridiculous.

Wonder what Ray Bradbury would have thought of all that. He hated machines.

Sorry for the digression.

Maybe the Police are being very smart here. The policy they announce doesn't have to be the policy they follow.

Maybe announcing that you need ID and receipts to get your stuff is what it takes to keep opportunistic thieves away. People picking up stuff they legitimately own will likely go anyway and make their case.

This announcement seems like a reasonable first step to a intelligent strategy.

Man you can't trust the police, whether it be in Canada, America, or Mexico.

Every man for himself.

When they ask me for an id, when I'm doing nothing wrong, I give em the finger. But I wouldn't recommend doing that cause they detained me for 24 hours.

Another reason why guns shouldn't be illegal.

If this happened in Texas, a majority of people in that food court will have a concealed weapon, and the perpetrator(s) will think twice before brandishing such a fool hardy action in the public.

I'd rather encourage people to carry receipts than guns.

Ditto - I stuff them in my purse willy nilly, my wallet already being too fat with not money but pieces of paper I might need. Sometimes at the grocery store I'll take the receipt and put it in one of the bags, but usually the purse.

As I was saying to Diane just a day or two ago, I get homicidal when I call the phone company (wonder if they turned on her phone yet...)

I got a better deal, carry the receipts in your gun holster. JK.

No, no, that's for holding donuts.

Yep...I once called OOO because, while I was serving coffee downstairs, my boss had sprung a thief trying to break into the office upstairs and was....with great difficulty....holding him.

I had to speak quietly because we didn't want to disturb customers. The man on the police emergency line INSISTED on my full name, date of birth, residential address, occupation...all the while I am telling him that, because of the location, there would be police cars passing every couple of minutes and couldn't he task one and THEN get my bloody details. No....he wouldn't.

This took so long the thief got away. He'd actually successfully robbed the place a few hours earlier, because the manager had gone out and left the office unlocked and not turned the alarm on.

If this happened in Texas, there would be a lot more dead and wounded.

Caramba!

if everyone in the crowd pulls out a .45 and lets loose, how are the real police going to know whom to vaporize?

let alone all the wanna be cops shooting at each other.

more reason never to attend a food court...

I completely disagree with you on that statement.

Criminals use guns because it gives them power over the law abiding citizens in most places because such citizens don't have guns, and it makes it less risky to commit crimes.
Criminals by nature don't obey laws and will continue to use guns no matter what.
If law abiding citizens are armed there will be a proportional balance of power. An armed society is a civilized society, because it is more risky for criminals to go about shooting for the heck of it. And they won't even think about running, cause they will only die tired.


Same logic with the Nuclear armament, each country keeps each other in check. Mutually assured destructing, crassly speaking.

by your logic, all countries should have the bomb.

I don't think so, Willis...

you want to do some research on the comparative crime rates between Canada and the U.S.

the U.S. is a killing field in comparison to Canada

we'll stick with our gun laws, thanks verra much