Shoplifting Essay, Research Paper

Shoplifting

In the stage of adolescence sometimes there are things that people do that are less than admirable. In my case I made a mistake that I would later pay the consequences for and learn from my mistake. It was a beautiful sunny day at the very beginning of my summer break after my junior year in high school. I had been shopping around the mall with my best friend on this very hot day, enjoying the cool air conditioning. We were almost done with our afternoon at the mall when I decided to go in to a department store and look for a new wallet. I had spent all my money on other things so I figured I would try and steal the wallet and get out of there. I had stolen a lot of things in the past and I figured I would have no problem with stealing this very small item. This day was definitely one of the worst days of my life. Very often mistakes can teach a person a lifelong lesson.

The result of my childish move was a lot worse than I ever expected it to be. I had gotten out of the store without a problem, but as I was no less than ten feet away a security officer from the store came to confront me. The first thing that came to my mind was to run, but then I realized that I would be doing nothing but adding fuel to the fire. The security officer told me that he had been watching me on camera the whole time. He followed by telling me that I must hand the wallet back to him immediately. I had then realized that my days of shoplifting had just taken a plunge.

I was then taken to the security room in the back of the department store. The whole time I was sitting back there all I can think was “I hope I don’t get arrested for this mistake”. The security officer then asked me for all my information and to sit back while he took a Polaroid for his wall of fame. He had then told me that I was banned from his department store for one year and that I would be getting a fine in the mail. This did not bother me because there were plenty of other stores for me to shop in. The next body that I saw come threw the door was a police officer holding a pair of handcuffs. Now I knew that I had made a horrible mistake and that I would have to pay for it. The cop cuffed me and walked me out of the mall, as he was reading me my rights. He had told me that I could not have anything on me and that my friend could not come. So I took out my earrings, emptied my pockets, gave my friend my car keys, and sat down in the back of his cruiser. As soon as I sat down I knew that I was headed to the station to bet booked, and that my life would be severely changed from this day forward. I got to the station and was placed in a cell with my hands cuffed to the wall, while another officer started to right down my information for the records. I was then asked to stick my fingers in sticky black ink and put my prints on the paper for the records. Then I was taken to another cell down the hall were I was told to leave my shoes and my belt with the commanding officer. This is wear I would wait until someone came to bail me out. About an hour and a half later the same officer was back to tell me that my mother was here to get me. As soon as I saw the look on her face I said to myself that I would never put her in this situation again.