A police officer paid for a family's Christmas groceries instead of charging two women with shoplifting

Robert59

Robert59

Well-known Member
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Now I live in Tennesee. Did live in Michigan.
A Massachusetts police officer used his own money to buy Christmas dinner for a family in need instead of charging two women with shoplifting.

Somerset Police Officer Matt Lima was called to a Stop & Shop grocery store on December 20 after store security said the women didn't scan everything that they put in their bags at a self-checkout register, according to a statement on the police department's website.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/02/us/shoplifting-christmas-police-trnd/index.html
 

debodun said:
Christmas spirit is fine within certain boundaries. Call me a skeptic, but doing this may only encourage these people to continue breaking the law.
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^^^Bingo. Rewarding a thief is not right. And, there are other ways to provide Christmas dinner than stealing it.
The officer likely wanted some positive publicity to counteract the evil that some officers do.
 
That's a tough one.

It sort of makes the store look bad when they were the victims of this crime and it appears to reward bad behavior.

IMO it would be better if the Somerset Police Department trained officers on how and where to find emergency aid for people in need instead of allowing employees to reach into their own pocket.

I guess the important thing is that two little kids had a nice Christmas dinner.
 
Aunt Bea said:
That's a tough one.

It sort of makes the store look bad when they were the victims of this crime and it appears to reward bad behavior.

IMO it would be better if the Somerset Police Department trained officers on how and where to find emergency aid for people in need instead of allowing employees to reach into their own pocket.

I guess the important thing is that two little kids had a nice Christmas dinner.
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Maybe there was special circumstances. I sometimes have to take that kind of thing into acct at work.

We have a guy that comes in for transfusions for something. He's at deaths door so he has no money and he gets so weak with the transfusions so usually someone gives him a free meal card or the money to buy. If not then me and another gal usually swipe our meal cards to buy him food. I've bought visitors food before when they had no money or they couldn't leave to get anything to eat.
 
Robert59 said:
A Massachusetts police officer used his own money to buy Christmas dinner for a family in need instead of charging two women with shoplifting.

Somerset Police Officer Matt Lima was called to a Stop & Shop grocery store on December 20 after store security said the women didn't scan everything that they put in their bags at a self-checkout register, according to a statement on the police department's website.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/02/us/shoplifting-christmas-police-trnd/index.html
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Now, wouldn't it be nice if a couple of cops doing something good (as many of these unsung heroes do), reflected on police as a whole rather than one cop who did something bad? I like to (and do) believe there are more cops doing good things than all the publicity that seems to suggest that cops are bad and need to be defunded.

Tony
 
tbeltrans said:
Now, wouldn't it be nice if a couple of cops doing something good (as many of these unsung heroes do), reflected on police as a whole rather than one cop who did something bad? I like to (and do) believe there are more cops doing good things than all the publicity that seems to suggest that cops are bad and need to be defunded.

Tony
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Tony most people don't care about the right things people do. They only focus on the wrong. Help starving children....great. Same person gets arrested for being drunk and suddenly they're monsters.
 
MarciKS said:
Tony most people don't care about the right things people do. They only focus on the wrong. Help starving children....great. Same person gets arrested for being drunk and suddenly they're monsters.
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...and the media all too often plays on that fact. :mad:

Tony
 
MarciKS said:
exactly. the media will jump on that like a fly on crap. it's newsworthy to a sick generation if you ask me. if people wouldn't pay to see it that would change i'm sure.
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That is all too true. We create the monsters. We watch the news media, eat it all up, and endlessly repeat what we hear even though we have little basis for knowing what the actual truth is. Now, Amazon is also a "monster" which we created by spending our dollars there. We make certain social media platforms hugely popular and then they become "monsters" as their policies have tremendous effect due to their sheer size.

Tony
 
MarciKS said:
Tony most people don't care about the right things people do. They only focus on the wrong. Help starving children....great. Same person gets arrested for being drunk and suddenly they're monsters.
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Perhaps people focus on the wrong because the wrong needs action & focus to make it right, & the right doesn't need action or focus because it's already right.
 
win231 said:
Perhaps people focus on the wrong because the wrong needs action & focus to make it right, & the right doesn't need action or focus because it's already right.
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It seems more to me to be similar to people stopping on the freeway to see an accident. The reason I say that is because many people don't take action to right the wrong, but instead simply consume the news and complain.

When immigrants were being bad-mouthed in the media, I was volunteer teaching English as a second language, along with math and computer skills to immigrant folks who needed a "leg up" to get started. I will be doing that once again when the library opens enough to start these programs up again. When there is an issue in our community, I show up and participate as a citizen at city council meetings. I rarely seem to get others in our condo association to join me, but they all seem to have opinions about the problems. I don't go rioting or staging marches on the freeway to stop traffic, but instead try to work within the system. I am certainly not the only one to do this, but I say this to contrast with those who do nothing but talk about the problems.

Tony
 
Robert59 said:
A Massachusetts police officer used his own money to buy Christmas dinner for a family in need instead of charging two women with shoplifting.

Somerset Police Officer Matt Lima was called to a Stop & Shop grocery store on December 20 after store security said the women didn't scan everything that they put in their bags at a self-checkout register, according to a statement on the police department's website.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/02/us/shoplifting-christmas-police-trnd/index.html
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Things are so bad up here. It's just terrible. :cry:
 
I've read stories like this one before. I always say this.... despite complaints about the bad cops out there...there are good cops and their good deeds should be noted, like this story. May he be blessed for his kindness and generosity.
 
I always think of all the people who step up and do items like this every day. Mostly without publicity.

I do not think any JOB title means anything ....... but this is an attempt to remind us that there is good and bad in many professions. Too bad in all news anything POSITIVE gets a quick mention instead of the endless BS around a NEGATIVE event with people guessing or perpetuating a myth.
From working in a store ( it sucks the sympathy right out of you)............ those whom get shoplifting "fixed" by another person paying ......that does not change their behavior only encourages there is a good chance if caught that with a good story and the right amount of sympathy you can walk away ........
I hope his good deed was not on those who know how to con for freebies.
 

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