Efforts to nab shoplifter lead to firing 2 Best Buy workers

After showing some guts in chasing and tackling a fleeing shoplifter, two employees at a Best Buy Co. store in Broomfield, Colo., are fired --- but locals, along with the Denver Post, think their actions merit a reward, notes Grumpy Editor.

Some consider the pair heroes.  The firing action casts a negative image on the electronics store.  Thus, a PR problem.

Best Buy, along with other companies, cite policies that frown on staffers tangling with bad guys mainly because of “safety reasons.” 

Perhaps being gutsy is a thing of the past, something that triggers California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to refer to some males as “girlie men.”  (Maybe the former body builder and Terminator actor also has in mind guys who shave their chests.)

A Denver Post editorial protesting Best Buy’s decision to fire the young men asks:  “Shouldn’t heroism be rewarded?”

In hero-type efforts, Jared Bergstreser, a 20-year-old former high school football player and three-year employee at Best Buy, and Colin Trapp, 10 months with the suburban Denver store, chase a shoplifter with an armload of electronics.

The suspect is pinned but, along with a male accomplice, manages to flee, jumping into a getaway car.

Companies with “do no interfere with bad guys” rules fear confrontations risk violence and other problems, including lawsuits stemming from injuries.

On the other side, a hands-off policy, in this case, encourages more shoplifting, protects perpetrators, raises crime statistics and ultimately boosts costs of operations.

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