Fargo, N.D. – The leader of Fargo’s Police Department says it’s “not correct” that officers don’t care about addressing shoplifting and theft of property.
Chief David Zibolski was asked about the matter during an appearance on The Flag’s What’s On Your Mind?
A texter to the radio program relayed an anecdotal account about a local shoplifting case that was witnesses by a customer.
According to the texter, when the clerk was asked why they let the perpetrator walk out of the store, the clerk responded by saying neither the store nor police do anything about it anyway.
“That statement is not correct [about police] and we would encourage them to report that,” said Zibolski, who acknowledged that certain stores have their own policies that encourage employees not to confront shoplifters.
Listen below: The Flag’s Scott Hennen speaks with Fargo Police Chief David Zibolski:
Zibolski admitted that “shoplifting and theft across the board are the highest volume of crime that we see in the city.”
But Zibolski says police “absolutely follow up” if it’s a misdemeanor offense.
“People don’t understand that if it’s a misdemeanor level offense and it didn’t happen in our presence we can’t make an arrest,” said Zibolski, which he says is based on state law.
In those cases, Zibolski says they can only identify the person, recover the stolen property and refer charges later.
But the chief also says the key to stopping it is through reporting, which can be done online and can include uploaded video footage.
Zibolski also says their online system can help crack down on repeat offenders.
“If we don’t know about those crimes, we can’t connect them to other incidents,” said Zibolski.
