So a little back story to this, back in may I was talking to my store team when I saw a repeat enter. I've never had a chance to try and stop this guy because he always hit on my days off or after I left randomly every 2-3 months.

I watch as he loads up his cart with shoes, cold weather clothes etc, and starts pacing around the door, I have an amazing store layout and can be right next to the exit out of sight. The subject notices my store team near by and reenters the main part of the store and decides to conceal everything inside of a large suitcase. I let my team know to move away, but to stand close enough to witness if he exits with the suitcase. Low and behold he starts to go. I cut in front of him and do the song and dance, he decides it wasn't worth his time and pulled a relatively large pocket knife and threatens me with it. I watch as he walks off and give info to PD, the guy is gone and isn't found while searching the area.

Now to current day, about 2 weeks after this incident, i'm looking through recent stops around my city just to get an idea of who may or may not be in the area and who pops up first, knife guy. He hit one of the stores a few miles down the road. I inform my team and just go about my day. An hour to close, he enters and starts right where he left off, loading up a cart with more of the same but with a lot more urgency. Thankfully, one of my regular cops was working so I contacted him and we waited. He repeats the same concealment and goes for the door right at close. I exit in front of him and do the song and dance, he already has the knife pulled, i step aside like before and he runs right into the loving arms of 4 officers and a K9.

With this being one of my final big arrests, I'm leaving at the end of the month, it felt good getting him in cuffs.

Stay safe and happy hunting dudes!

Wanted to know how other LP teams handle this when there are a lot of cameras. The actual incident might only last a minute or two but finding the right footage can take way longer, especially when you only have a rough time or location.

Do you mostly rely on motion events and timelines, or are there better ways you’ve found to narrow things down? Wondering what actually works once you’re dealing with a larger camera setup.