In recent news, there has been a growing trend of retail location shoplifting. The epicenter of this has been around pharmacies (CVS, Walgreens) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Proposition 47 has made any theft of under $950 considered a misdemeanor of petty theft, and criminals are taking advantage of this at scale. One such incident in particular has made headlines, with a brazen shoplifter stealing merchandise while a security guard observed and videotaped the incident. In the video, the guard is seen attempting - without success - to grab the thief's bag as they escape on a bicycle they brought into the store.
The optics of this incident are not very good for the officer. However, the security officer was likely executing his job duties well according to his training. This is an important aspect of physical security training that deserves a closer look.