If you knew that your bag/purse was snatched @ a store do you have a right to view the video surveillance?

Question

Since you know which asiles you were in and the time frame you were in the store... are cusotmers allowed to veiw this type of thing?

I ask again with a few more details...
This happened at stop and shop and it's rumored that people come to that store purposily to steal items and the employees are in on it... in fact the police know this.

I wondered are you allowed to view the video tape with the store manager. This happened to my mom, she knows she had it with her before she went into the store and shortly before it disappeared, whcih she noticed after she checked out. She did have more than one bag with her so she didn't notice it as quickly as she would have if it were her only bag but she did have her hands on it and looked through it while she was in the store.

It had her medication, passport, credit cards, checks, and many many random things, papers with personal information , even her socail was in there because of her duplicate checks, she had written one to the irs

She had it at the top of the shopping cart you know were you would put a kid if you had one small enough that "seat" and there was one asile in perticular where she remembered a "couple" that won't move, arguing over bread so she couldn't get to the bread she wanted without stepping away from her cart.
Is she allowed to or does she have a right to view herself in the store in those asiles, she knows from the receipt info. when she was in the store and when she left.

when she asked at customer service the girl behind the counter told her NO! before she even finished asking her question about her lost bag, and other employees were near by smerking about something... someone "took" a lot more than just cash! She was hoping someone would at least turn it in with out the money.

She filed a police report, the police were not surprised and are aware of the problem. They seemed disinterested in looking at the video suveillance and said 'they won't be abe to tell who it was even if they do see it on the video tape' I would think that it could at least rule out an employee? won't the store want to know if they have theives amoung them?

Answer 1

She doesn't have an automatic right to view the privately owned tape. Two options: 1) Report it to police and make the request through them. 2) Hire an attorney.

Answer 2

The short answer is no, you do not have the right to view the tape. Surveillence footage is property of the store in question, ergo, the store has an expectation of privacy. In addition, your mother may not be a victim of a theft, but rather a victim of losing her purse. The couple arguing over the bread was probably just that, a couple arguing over bread. In typical purse theft, the suspect will be a lone male that walks by and takes the purse. Additionally, even if you were allowed to view the tape, it more than likely wouldn't produce anything useful to you or your mother. Either nothing would be seen or should you see something the guy or gal wouldn't be recognized.

My question would be, if the purse was stolen in the store, how did she pay at the checkout counter?

Now, seeing as the personal information was lost, the best course of action would be to cancel the credit cards and checks. Start running quarterly credit checks from experian, transunion, or equifax. You're entitled by federal law to a free credit check once a year from each of these services for a total of 3 free checks.

Ask to speak to one of the stores employees in the Loss Prevention or Asset Protection or Security departments, explain what happened and request that they take a look into it. Nothing may happen but it's worth a try. Often times, the Loss Prevention folks will take a look, but just as often, they will dismiss the situation as a lost purse.

Next, go to your local police department and ask to speak to a financial crimes-identity theft detective, or the nearest postal inspectors office or secret service office and ask how you can protect yourself from identity theft in this case.

Hopefully all this helps.

Answer 3

No she doesn't have the right to demand to view the tape. If the management of the store offers to show it to her, it is different. Viewing the video may or may not solve anything. First of all many stores don't actually tape activity in the store. The camera may be a dummy camera to deter theft. It also may be a live feed that is watched but not recorded. If the "store employees" are involved in the theft of items in the store, they wont have a tape available.
As to the police reaction, this is to be expected. This type of theft is so commonplace in every city and many times the police are also aware that even if there were a recording to view, the images would be too distorted or grainy to positively ID the thief or thieves.
As a former Deputy Sheriff, I would recomend to all women to leave your purse locked and out of sight in your vehicle. If you are going to pay with cash or a credit card, remove them from your purse and only take what is needed into the store. I realize that this doesn't help you in your situation but, for future protection it will help stop it from happening again.
You may try to contact an attorney to see if they would contact store management and get them to agree to let your mother look at any video. This may also help scare off potential thieves from operating or at least get the store management involved in helping to protect their customers. Most store management realize that they need consumers to stay in business. Boycotting stores scare away potential customers.

Answer 4

Call the local police and tell them what happened and they should make the manager let you look at the tape or the police should look at the tape, Do not take no for an answer. Ask for the officer in charge and if he wont help keep going up the ladder until you get someone to listen. Also ask for the manager of the store and if he wont help then go to his boss and so on and so on until you find someone who will listen. Find out where the head quarters for stop and shop is located and call them and tell them what is going on at there store. Take a classified ad out in your local paper and tell everyone what is going on. If you don't then they will do it to some one elses mother. and they will keep doing it until someone stops them.

Answer 5

I don't think the store is required to let you view the tapes, but if you went to the manager and pleaded your case, it is possible that they would allow you to then. Also, if you contacted the police and let them know the situation, you could ask them to go with you, and the store would most certainly let you see the tape then.

Answer 6

Make a police report and the police will pull the tapes for you. Then it's up to the ofc whether or not you'll see them but chances are they'll let you.

Answer 7

no,you have no "right" to a stores video...the police can request it but a stores video is private property and you have no "right" to look at it for any reason....I work for a major retailer part time in asset protection...we get all kinds of dumb requests.."my wife was in there with her boyfriend,can I see the tape?"..why would your mom wants to watch the video?..the dude or woman is long gone...the tape in and of itself is not enough evidience to prosecute..."My car got hit in the parking lot,I want to see who did it"..well,it was a red car...duh...you can forget the video

Answer 8

If you are in the UK then yes.In the US i am not sure