Walmart is killing a controversial punishment for shoplifters in a blow to police departments across the US
- Walmart is ending a program that allowed first-time shoplifters to avoid criminal charges by taking an educational course and paying a fine.
- The program helped cut back on police calls to Walmart stores, which is a huge drain on local law enforcement resources.
- The move comes after a California judge referred to the program as "extortion."
Walmart will no longer oversee punishment for first-time shoplifters, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The retailer is shifting that burden back onto local law enforcement after a program it used to handle offenders was deemed "extortion" by a California judge.
That's bad news for local police departments, which can spend thousands of dollars a day responding to calls at Walmart stores.
Police were called to Walmart stores in Tampa nearly 16,800 times in one year, which equates to two calls an hour, every hour, every day, according to a 2016 Tampa Bay Times investigation.
To help alleviate some of the theft-related cost burden to local governments, Walmart, in recent years, implemented a system that circumvented law enforcement for first-time offenders in 2,000 stores.
It required offenders to take an online course on retail theft and pay a fine of $300 to $500, or face criminal charges. The majority of the fine payment goes to the companies providing the online courses, called Corrective Education Co. and Turning Point Justice, according to the Journal. The rest goes to the retailer.
The new system appeared to be successful for Walmart. Police calls to one Tampa-area Walmart were nearly cut in half - from 486 to 294 - over a four-month period after the program was implemented.
But the education programs have since come under scrutiny.
A California Superior Court called the Corrective Education program "extortion" in a ruling in August.
Walmart has since suspended the program, according to the Journal.
"It's not welcome everywhere and I want to understand that better," Joe Schrauder, Walmart's vice president of asset protection and safety, told the Journal. "We want to make sure we are partnering with local government."