Archived Do We Have Late Night Security??

[Brhosey]

Out of all the nights I've closed, I've been working mornings lately. Tonight, I closed. I walked out with a few other girls and as I reached my vehicle which was the farthest away - of course -_- - this utility truck with orange flashing lights came out from behind our target, drove into the aisle I was in, pulled right next to my car as I was just about to get in - slowly - and drove towards the other girls. They looked my way as if that was strange too. I got into my car fast, his truck going by them and doing a U Turn back. Once one of the girls got into their vehicle, he drove next to her, in between one other car and her and stared her down, then drove back NEXT to me and looked at me and looked in my back seat. He had his orange lights on his truck flashing and he was doing U Turns around our area. Is that really supposed to make me feel safe? No. That makes me feel even more threatened and unsafe when this has never happened before and they do NOT have any legal right whether they are security or not - to look INSIDE my vehicle. That made me feel like they were trying to see if I was alone or where my purse was. So if it was Target...seriously? If not...great. Just great. And he looked around his mid twenties and not in a uniform soo...??

 

[TheBeastPMT]

Seems way too fishy. Target wouldnt surprise you guys with security.

And if its in a high crime area its usually a cop in your plaza.

 

[Brhosey]

Seems way too fishy. Target wouldnt surprise you guys with security.

And if its in a high crime area its usually a cop in your plaza.

Seems way too fishy. Target wouldnt surprise you guys with security.

And if its in a high crime area its usually a cop in your plaza.

Not a high crime area either. It's a nice place. I haven't even heard of anything really bad happening lately around our area. Honestly hoped it would be security haha. I guess I'll let them know in the morning how uncomfortable and creepy that was tonight.

 

[TheBeastPMT]

Still fishy as fuck.
Your closing LOD would let you know.

Definitely let your AP and STL know

 

[Brhosey]

Thank you! I will first thing in the morning. I'm thankful they have us walk out in groups.

 

[TheBeastPMT]

Yeah, I used to always be good with walking people to their cars, when I used to close.

 

[Badjedidude]

You'll usually have a closing shift AP person (at least one) who can walk people to their cars. Most of the time there's no overnight AP team member, unless we're investigating an internal (uh oh!) or overseeing some procedural shortage/shrink issue with the night team.

Just tell AP what happened and ask if the closing AP team member can walk you out.

That makes me feel even more threatened and unsafe when this has never happened before and they do NOT have any legal right whether they are security or not - to look INSIDE my vehicle

This is just a minor quibble, but... yeah they do have the right. Security officers or police officers do have a legal right to look inside your vehicle through a closed window. They can't search physically inside your vehicle without probable cause, but they can operate on "plain view" doctrine, which means that if contraband or something illegal is in plain view through a closed (or open, as long as they don't put their hands or head into the car) window, the officer then has legal (probable cause) rights to physically search the inside of your car.

Simply peering through a closed (or open) window, without disturbing the outside or inside of the car, generally doesn't count legally as a "search."

I'm sure it was creepy or awkward when it happened, but it's not like... illegal to look into people's car windows, even for a civilian or random passerby. *shrug*

 

[soyaxo]

For the OP, the truck is most likely not Target AP. There’s no non-uniformed trucks driving around any Target stores I’ve ever worked. Same as mentioned before, most times there should be at least a closing TPS (uniformed). We’ve sadly had our fair share of late night creeps at our store, too.

 

[Cassidy]

I seen that happen long ago when I was heading out to go home. Kinda spooked me.

 

[On6]

It was most likely security contracted by the shopping center.

And hate to break it to some people, but a good portion of stores don't have a closing AP.

 

[buliSBI]

This sounds like rent-a-cop. Depending on the store location, the development location owner or Target Corp may utilize a contracted security team to patrol the parking lot.

I know there are some days, my former stores would contract to have off-duty police officers to sit in the parking lot or station a patrol car as a deterrent.

My last store had a issue with HS/College kids parking in the lot and PARTYING into the AM. Target and other businesses started complaining. The development owner eventually had the police run them off, installed No Trespassing signage, and hired a driveby security team to monitor the lot.

At another store, they had a off-duty officer sit at Food Ave or parked outside from closing into the AM during a remodel and Holiday season while Overnight teams arrived or when the Alarm system was offlined.

 

[SFSFun]

It kinda sounds like it was just a street sweeper. They usually do my store really late at night, but they do drive kind of all over the place because that's what they're supposed to do.

Regardless, if you ever feel unsafe just tell the LOD. Even if it means you have to turn around and run back into the store.

 

[Rrblack]

We actually had that same thing today. Apparently there was a guy a few days ago banging on peoples windows in the parking lot so now we have a security guy I guess that spent the whole day in a truck with a flashing light just driving around the parking lot. Sounds like the most boring job ever.

 

[garbage]

This is just a minor quibble, but... yeah they do have the right. Security officers or police officers do have a legal right to look inside your vehicle through a closed window. They can't search physically inside your vehicle without probable cause, but they can operate on "plain view" doctrine, which means that if contraband or something illegal is in plain view through a closed (or open, as long as they don't put their hands or head into the car) window, the officer then has legal (probable cause) rights to physically search the inside of your car.

Security officers cannot use probable cause.....

 

[HRZone]

For the OP, the truck is most likely not Target AP. There’s no non-uniformed trucks driving around any Target stores I’ve ever worked. Same as mentioned before, most times there should be at least a closing TPS (uniformed). We’ve sadly had our fair share of late night creeps at our store, too.

Showing your face now that you're out of spot?

 

[Badjedidude]

Security officers cannot use probable cause.....

I should have clarified; police have the right to physically search the car (after gaining probable cause, etc etc).

Security still has the right to look through a window and contact police based on what they see inside. Which was my point.

 

[Times Up]

The whole thing seems creepy. Based upon what you've stated, I don't think that was a security officer. They would have on a uniform and be in a vehicle with the security firm's logo clearly visible. I believe either someone was trying to mess with you, or assessing if you were a good target.

I would definitely talk to leadership about safety, and also touch base with your local police department.

 

[Brhosey]

It kinda sounds like it was just a street sweeper. They usually do my store really late at night, but they do drive kind of all over the place because that's what they're supposed to do.

Regardless, if you ever feel unsafe just tell the LOD. Even if it means you have to turn around and run back into the store.

Yes!!! It turned out it was a sweeper! But even our AP said that he shouldn't have done that. It was too weird for a sweeper to go by our cars like that.