Guess we all make mistakes!!!!

[scubasteve]

I would just drop it. After letting the clerk know that you think you might have been shortchanged, and they say you weren't, drop it! If indeed you were, it was probably an accident and it's not worth whatever effort may be required to get the correct change.

Should a civilian call the cops if they were shortchanged at a fast food joint? Of course not so why should a cop try and handle a civil/petty dispute using his own authority?

[IndyGSDK9]

Civilians call the cops for a number of things - I'm curious how the *verifieds* would handle this situation if it arrose.

[scubasteve]

Lethal force would be the only reasonable solution to the problem.

I'm sure that if the situation involved $10 and there was no other problem, they would tell everybody to forget about it or go to small claims

[Deputy757]

So, not being a LEO myself, what WOULD the proper procedure be for an incident such as this? What kind of $$ amount are we talking about before the police get involved, rather than it being civil? I ask this because some up above commented this is civil, not criminal, and another poster indicated that if this had been purposeful, it wasn't theft.

If the police got a call like this from a civilan, what would the procedue be? Go in, review the tapes, talk to all involved, then what?

Actually, I said that if it was done accidently then it isn't a crime. If it was purposeful then of course it's theft.
Anyway, to answer your question, the proper procedure, whether it was this officer or a civilian, is for the person who believes he/she was shortchanged to contact the manager. They should then do a drawer audit.
If it was an error and not theft, the drawer would come up over and the issue would be resolved. Now, the clerk could have still been considering taking the extra money later (if the patron hadn't noticed the shortchange for instance) but that would be very hard to prove.
If the drawer came up short then it get's more complicated. Unless you have the clerk pocketing the twenty on camera, odds are you aren't going to have much of a case. In fact, she could have punched in that he gave her a ten, gave him change for a ten, and then pocketed the extra change before the audit. (not in this case as there were no twenties in the drawer at all..but generally speaking). Now the drawer is going to come up even and again, unless you have this on video, it will be very hard to prove.
Fortunately, this event was almost entirely caught on camera and had the officer reacted with a little more common sense instead of letting his ego get in the way, more than likely this all would have been resolved without a lawsuit.

[IndyGSDK9]

Thanks for the info regarding what the proper procedure should have been. Just FYI, you weren't the poster I was referring to. Terminator singled out my sentence saying if she'd taken the money, it would have been theft. His responce of "ummmm no" had me a little baffled.

[CelicaGuy]

Was watching this video......just made me wonder.....lol.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaHyuWgir8U

[Creeker]

When that Mgr. said she didn't have any $20's in her register, he should have re-thunk his position, instead of taking offense so readily.

There has been a time or two that I thought I used a larger bill, but before I accused or questioned anyone I spent a minute to think about it. I've only been right once.

Of course, I used to only go on-duty with no more than $30 to begin with... if I needed more, there was always an ATM around.

[CelicaGuy]

I thought he went on the offence rather quickly as well....but not going on duty with no more then $30 is a good idea. Quick question though, when would you need more then $30 during a shift? I just can't see myself spending $30 while on patrol in one night.

[Curt581]

Quick question though, when would you need more then $30 during a shift?

Half-price Burrito night at Taco Bell.

:D

[Valor55]

I saw this a long time ago. A few months ago I got a call where a guy thought he gave the clerk a larger bill than he got change for. I knew from this video to ask about the drive thru camera. Sure enough they had one and sure enough we could figure out from the video that the customer was wrong. We showed him the video and he apologized.

[Creeker]

I thought he went on the offence rather quickly as well....but not going on duty with no more then $30 is a good idea. Quick question though, when would you need more then $30 during a shift? I just can't see myself spending $30 while on patrol in one night.

I just carried what I thought I might need if I didn't have the time to get home before the next duty shift... I have gone 36 hours a time or two prior to returning home... gone to work and found out I was driving into the next state to recover evidence, get it examined, etc. immediately. A little cash and a credit card are always a good thing to keep on your person. Its also not that hard to remember where you spent the $20 if you are only carrying one to start with.