Sold out for weeks after its launch, everyone seems to be in love with the Chromecast -- the ultra-cheap, ultra-small, interface-free, HDMI-toting TV appendage that stole the show from the new Nexus 7. Building beyond the DIAL device-discovery protocol that Netflix and YouTube have supported, Chromecast is a client of Google Cast, which enables the kind of second-screen control for volume and other features implemented by the device.
Google has gotten the jump on similar products such as the Plair TV dongle by natively supporting three of the most popular services to use on televisions -- Netflix, YouTube and Pandora. Furthermore, it has also enabled a backdoor to many other services by building in support for displaying Chrome tabs on a Chromecast-connected TV. In doing so, it treats the TV as an extension of the browser just as Apple's forthcoming OS X Mavericks can treat an Apple TV-connected set as another Macintosh screen.
LAKESIDE, Calif. (AP) ? A search for a man suspected of abducting a 16-year-old girl after abandoning her mother and possibly her younger brother in his burning house expanded on Thursday to four western states, Mexico and Canada, with dozens of tips pouring in from Oregon and Washington.
Police also said evidence found in the remains of suspect James Lee DiMaggio's house suggested he may have fled with homemade explosives and that his car might be booby-trapped.
San Diego County Sheriff's Capt. Duncan Fraser declined to elaborate on the nature of the evidence.
Oregon State Police fielded about 60 tips after authorities issued an Amber Alert for DiMaggio, 40, and his blue Nissan Versa with California license plate. An additional eight FBI agents were assigned to a command post at San Diego sheriff's headquarters, as state and local law enforcement agencies went opn alert.
"This is a pretty much an all-hands-on-deck effort. It's huge," Fraser said.
On Sunday night, authorities found the body of 44-year-old Christina Anderson when they extinguished flames at DiMaggio's rural home. A child's body was found as they sifted through rubble in Boulevard, a tiny town 65 miles east of San Diego on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The body may be that of 8-year-old Ethan Anderson but Fraser said it could take several days to identify the badly burned remains. Investigators were unable to extract DNA.
DiMaggio, a telecommunications technician at The Scripps Research Institute, was like an uncle to 16-year-old Hannah Anderson and Ethan, and close to their parents for years.
Investigators believe DiMaggio may have had an "unusual infatuation" with Hannah, Fraser said.
"That is kind of a working theory, that it may be something of a motivator," he said. "It's definitely something that we're looking at."
Dawn MacNabb, whose son Alan was close friends with Hannah, said she told her son last Friday that the Andersons were going to visit DiMaggio at his house before he moved.
"She told him Jim was depressed, that it was his last weekend," MacNabb said.
Christina Anderson's father, Christopher Saincome, said his daughter visited DiMaggio's home to say goodbye before he moved to Texas
DiMaggio is wanted on suspicion of murder and arson in the search that began in California and spread to Oregon, Washington, Nevada, British Columbia and Mexico's Baja California state.
Oregon state police said a possible sighting was reported in northeast California near Alturas on Wednesday afternoon, followed by another about 50 miles along the same highway near Lakeview, in south-central Oregon.
Fraser, whose office had several hundred leads on DiMaggio's whereabouts, said the Oregon tip appeared "very credible"
The Brattleboro Town Finance Committee had finished a report with opinions on newly proposed financial policies and debt management, the proposed 1% sales tax, the proposed Police and Fire renovations, and whether new financial rules should become official polices or merely guidelines.
Quick version: the Committee supports the Undesignated Fund Policy, opposes the Debt Management Policy and 1% sales tax, has mixed feelings about Police and Fire Upgrades, and feels that these should be policies, not guidelines.
Read on for the full report:
.....
Brattleboro Town Finance Committee
Report to Special Representative Town Meeting
October 20, 2012
The Brattleboro Town Finance Committee wishes to thank the Selectboard for seeking our advice on the forthcoming matters. This is typical of the work we do for Representative Town Meeting as delineated in our Charter. We are pleased to share our conclusions with the Selectboard, the town administration and all Brattleboro citizens.
Finance Policies
We would like to begin by referencing two financial policies currently under consideration by the Selectboard. They are relevant to the issues on hand. However at this point, to maintain clarity in today?s discussion, we will be very brief. At the conclusion of these opinions and recommendations we will expand upon them.
The two policies concern the establishment of an Undesignated Fund (our emergency reserves) and debt management. On the former, the Administration has proposed a lower level for this reserve than has been recommended by the Finance Committee (FC). The proposal is for an amount equal to about five weeks operational expenses or 10% of the municipal budget. This would maintain our Undesignated Fund at roughly $1.4 million. The FC, in concurrence with professional standards that advocate a more solid cushion, seeks to maintain a fund that would cover eight weeks of operations or about $2.2 million. For now the FC conditionally accepts and supports the Administration?s recommendation. This should place the Selectboard, the Administration and the FC into alignment and we hope that a policy will be soon enacted. We also advise Representative Town Meeting to respect this proposal as a guideline until a formal policy is in place.
The second policy concerns debt management. This is a more complicated affair and only recently placed on the table by the Administration. The proposal allows for a much higher level of municipal debt than, at first glance, we believe judicious. The FC needs to do more investigation and analysis. A debt service to expenditure ratio of 12.5% (that is, 12.5% of the town budget would be used to pay off debt, primarily the principal and interest on our loans) and a $1,500 debt per capita ratio is high but must be set in a broader context to have meaning. That context is composed of a wider variety of indicators that draws a more complete and balanced picture. It has not yet been produced. Current town debt service is low at about 5.5%. The national average for municipalities is about 8.3%. We do know that the proposed 12.5% level happens to be what a $14.1 million bond would bring us to. This cannot avoid suggesting that a policy is being proposed to legitimize an existing situation. This is generally ill-advised ground for setting policy. Good policies can be written to allow for some flexibility by stipulating corrective actions.
The FC does not at this time support the proposed debt management policy.
The Sales Tax
A strong (5-1) majority of the Finance Committee does not support a one percent increase in the sales tax at this time.
First, it must be recognized that a sales tax is imposed indefinitely. We of course have the power to rescind as well establish but in practical terms it is permanent. It must be considered, properly, as an addition to our revenue stream and not as a funding source for a particular purpose. That said, the FC is in informal agreement that increasing the town?s revenue is probably a good thing. However, in its brief history and limited resources the FC hasn?t yet tackled revenue problems and potential. The sales tax is handy. It?s relatively quick and easy to put in place. We don?t know for sure if it should be included in our formula for financial health.
We do accept the viewpoint that Brattleboro?s retail position is quite fragile as it stands. We have read the position paper produced by BaBB and note that higher sales taxes have a negative effect on retail sales. Although we give weight to this assertion we also acknowledge that we don?t know the extent of this impact in Brattleboro. There are reasons that suggest the loss of sales would be much less than predicted.
As stated in the FC?s last Annual Report a sales tax is a regressive tax. It is the same for all regardless of means. Thus it is more of a burden on consumers with lower incomes. The FC is aware that some essential goods are outside the purview of the tax.
As some will notice, our position has changed since the aforementioned report written eight months ago. New information and further deliberations led us to a different conclusion.
Police/Fire Facilities Project
A 4-2 majority of the Finance Committee supports the Police/Fire Facilities project as proposed. Although there are many reasons to be cautious the benefits appear stronger.
The project is proposed at a time when interest rates are at historic lows. Borrowing costs are greatly reduced. A single percentage point can add a hundred thousand dollars in cost per year over the life of a bond this large. There should be some stimulus to the local economy from construction expenditures but this is short term. We do not see sufficient benefit to phasing the project in over many years. Additional ?soft? costs of planning, design, oversight etc plus the continuing escalation of the cost of materials, not to mention the risk of higher interest rates strongly suggest that most if not all the project be built in one shot.
Income sensitivity programs on homesteads and rentals, through the rental rebate program, will greatly relieve most of the residents of some or all of the tax burden that will be incurred specifically from this project. 71.3% of Brattleboro residents are benefiting from these programs. Incomes as high as $97,000 may qualify although at that level the dollar reductions are tiny. At $47,000 a household may find that its tax burden is capped and an increase in the tax rate has no effect at all. This is a significant factor in determining the affordability of the project.
The project will significantly improve working conditions for department employees. This is accepted as an important morale builder. Improved conditions will not only add to worker safety but public safety in two areas. The public will be safer in the physical environment of these facilities and the improvements will enhance the level of service throughout the broader community. We believe we accurately reflect the desire among the community for the highest level of service within our means.
On the negative side the FC recognizes that this project is proposed without complete and reassuring financial analysis. A 4 or 5% (10 to 12 or 13 cents) jump in the tax rate might have been relatively easily absorbed in years gone by. Now we should be closely examining per capita and household incomes, unemployment rates, valuations and Grand List trends. There is also no reliable analysis and estimate of the impact of a higher property tax on commercial activity. Much more must be known about current economic trends in Brattleboro.
Another serious omission is the lack of a long range capital plan. The bond under consideration will require payments on the average of a million dollars per year for the next 20 years. It is very important to anticipate what other indebtedness may be incurred during this period. Advocates of a bond are quick to illustrate how it diminishes over time but reluctant to chart new debt that will be added. It is also often overlooked, and this is a serious omission that is particularly relevant to most in Brattleboro, that there is another cost to living here that is increasing greatly and occurring simultaneously. Namely, water and sewer rates. We must be mindful that along with a tax increase the average residence on town water and sewer will see bills rise $80 to $85 dollars per year for the next 8 years.
Lastly, there is regret that the Police/Fire project is not being done as part of a master plan. Brattleboro continues its tradition of reacting only when it is up against the wall and thus far more limited in its options. It is ironic that the Administration argues that a piecemeal project is more costly, which of course it is. The irony is that as an entirety our infrastructure costs are higher than need be because, in the absence of a plan, we attend to it in just that way: piecemeal.
This concludes the core of our report.
Addendum on Policies
An issue surrounding the financial policies currently proposed involves the Selectboard?s choice to label them as guidelines rather than policies. The Finance Committee strongly recommends that these standards be categorized as policies.
The Finance Committee (FC) has been looking at policies for the better part of two years. Regardless of where we have gone, what we have read or whom we have spoken with, including foremost professional organizations such as the Government Finance Officers Assn,, the International City/County Management Assn. as well as the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, the Director of the Vermont State Bond Bank and down to our former finance director John Leisenring the policies under discussion have never been referred to as anything other than just that: policies. To frame them as guidelines is unique indeed. If the town were ever to get as deep into financial trouble as it was six and seven years ago such language would be a red flag to a professional assessing our condition. This is not an exercise in mere semantics.
The label of ?policy? carries a well-understood weight of intent. A policy denotes an act of an official nature that has not been created, presumably, without careful thought, research and discussion. Policies may of course be changed by an agreement among the members of the same body than created them. They may in modest measure be temporarily stretched or even ignored. However a policy implies that to change it or deviate significantly requires substantial justification. Policies can be written to allow for extraordinary circumstances and may include remedial actions that would restore their integrity. Quoting from the FC?s last Annual Report:
??policies reflect and record our best thinking. They provide guidance for municipal administrators and, importantly, elected officials who may have no financial background. Policies help avoid repeated debates and discussions on the same subjects. Policies foster public confidence by increasing transparency, accountability and consistency.?
A ?guideline? carries no such common understanding. We often hear during discussion or debate that a guideline is ?only that.? By inference it is meant that the reason for its existence is not of great concern and can be violated without undue debate or deeper justification. A policy need not be inflexible but it calls for respect. It is ignored at some risk and often not without impunity. That is the very intent and meaning of accountability, a primary purpose of policies.
We thank Town Meeting Members for this opportunity to serve them and all the citizens of our town.
Michael Bosworth
Tim Cuthbertson
Bob Rottenberg
John Wilmerding
Kathryn Turnas
Spoon Agave (Chair)
Penn researchers find new way to mimic the color and texture of butterfly wings Public release date: 15-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Evan Lerner elerner@upenn.edu 215-573-6604 University of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA The colors of a butterfly's wings are unusually bright and beautiful and are the result of an unusual trait; the way they reflect light is fundamentally different from how color works most of the time.
A team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania has found a way to generate this kind of "structural color" that has the added benefit of another trait of butterfly wings: super-hydrophobicity, or the ability to strongly repel water.
The research was led by Shu Yang, associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science, and included other members of her group: Jie Li, Guanquan Liang and Xuelian Zhu.
Their research was published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
"A lot of research over the last 10 years has gone into trying to create structural colors like those found in nature, in things like butterfly wings and opals," Yang said." People have also been interested in creating superhydrophobic surfaces which is found in things like lotus leaves, and in butterfly wings, too, since they couldn't stay in air with raindrops clinging to them."
The two qualities structural color and superhydrophobicity are related by structures. Structural color is the result of periodic patterns, while superhydrophobicity is the result of surface roughness
When light strikes the surface of a periodic lattice, it's scattered, interfered or diffracted at a wavelength comparable to the lattice size, producing a particularly bright and intense color that is much stronger than color obtained from pigments or dyes.
When water lands on a hydrophobic surface, its roughness reduces the effective contact area between water and a solid area where it can adhere, resulting in an increase of water contact angle and water droplet mobility on such surface.
While trying to combine these traits, engineers have to go through complicated, multi-step processes, first to create color-providing 3D structures out of a polymer, followed by additional steps to make them rough in the nanoscale. These secondary steps, such as nanoparticle assembly, or plasma etching, must be performed very carefully as to not vary the optical property determined by the 3D periodic lattice created in the first step.
Yang's method begins with a non-conventional photolithography technique, holographic lithography, where a laser creates a cross-linked 3D network from a material called a photoresist. The photoresist material in the regions that are not exposed to the laser light are later removed by a solvent, leaving the "holes" in the 3D lattice that provides structural color.
Instead of using nanoparticles or plasma etching, Yang's team was able to add the desired nano-roughness to the structures by simply changing solvents after washing away the photoresist. The trick was to use a poor solvent; the better a solvent is, the more it tries to maximize the contact with the material. Bad solvents have the opposite effect, which the team used to its advantage at the end of the photolithography step.
"The good solvent causes the structure to swell," Yang said. "Once it has swollen, we put in the poor solvent. Because the polymer hates the poor solvent, it crunches in and shrivels, forming nanospheres within the 3D lattice.
"We found that the worse the solvent we used, the more rough we could make the structures," Yang said.
Both superhydrophobicity and structural color are in high demand for a variety of applications. Materials with structural color could be used in as light-based analogs of semiconductors, for example, for light guiding, lasing and sensing. As they repel liquids, superhydrophobic coatings are self-cleaning and waterproof. Since optical devices are highly dependent on their degree of light transmission, the ability to maintain the device surface's dryness and cleanliness will minimize the energy consumption and negative environmental impact without the use of intensive labors and chemicals. Yang has recently received a grant to develop such coatings for solar panels.
The researchers have ideas for how the two traits could be combined in one application, as well.
"Specifically, we're interested in putting this kind of material on the outside of buildings," Yang said. "The structural color we can produce is bright and highly decorative, and it won't fade away like conventional pigmentation color dies. The introduction of nano-roughness will offer additional benefits, such as energy efficiency and environmental friendliness.
"It could be a high-end facade for the aesthetics alone, in addition to the appeal of its self-cleaning properties. We are also developing energy efficient building skins that will integrate such materials in optical sensors."
###
The research was supported by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Penn researchers find new way to mimic the color and texture of butterfly wings Public release date: 15-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Evan Lerner elerner@upenn.edu 215-573-6604 University of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA The colors of a butterfly's wings are unusually bright and beautiful and are the result of an unusual trait; the way they reflect light is fundamentally different from how color works most of the time.
A team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania has found a way to generate this kind of "structural color" that has the added benefit of another trait of butterfly wings: super-hydrophobicity, or the ability to strongly repel water.
The research was led by Shu Yang, associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science, and included other members of her group: Jie Li, Guanquan Liang and Xuelian Zhu.
Their research was published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
"A lot of research over the last 10 years has gone into trying to create structural colors like those found in nature, in things like butterfly wings and opals," Yang said." People have also been interested in creating superhydrophobic surfaces which is found in things like lotus leaves, and in butterfly wings, too, since they couldn't stay in air with raindrops clinging to them."
The two qualities structural color and superhydrophobicity are related by structures. Structural color is the result of periodic patterns, while superhydrophobicity is the result of surface roughness
When light strikes the surface of a periodic lattice, it's scattered, interfered or diffracted at a wavelength comparable to the lattice size, producing a particularly bright and intense color that is much stronger than color obtained from pigments or dyes.
When water lands on a hydrophobic surface, its roughness reduces the effective contact area between water and a solid area where it can adhere, resulting in an increase of water contact angle and water droplet mobility on such surface.
While trying to combine these traits, engineers have to go through complicated, multi-step processes, first to create color-providing 3D structures out of a polymer, followed by additional steps to make them rough in the nanoscale. These secondary steps, such as nanoparticle assembly, or plasma etching, must be performed very carefully as to not vary the optical property determined by the 3D periodic lattice created in the first step.
Yang's method begins with a non-conventional photolithography technique, holographic lithography, where a laser creates a cross-linked 3D network from a material called a photoresist. The photoresist material in the regions that are not exposed to the laser light are later removed by a solvent, leaving the "holes" in the 3D lattice that provides structural color.
Instead of using nanoparticles or plasma etching, Yang's team was able to add the desired nano-roughness to the structures by simply changing solvents after washing away the photoresist. The trick was to use a poor solvent; the better a solvent is, the more it tries to maximize the contact with the material. Bad solvents have the opposite effect, which the team used to its advantage at the end of the photolithography step.
"The good solvent causes the structure to swell," Yang said. "Once it has swollen, we put in the poor solvent. Because the polymer hates the poor solvent, it crunches in and shrivels, forming nanospheres within the 3D lattice.
"We found that the worse the solvent we used, the more rough we could make the structures," Yang said.
Both superhydrophobicity and structural color are in high demand for a variety of applications. Materials with structural color could be used in as light-based analogs of semiconductors, for example, for light guiding, lasing and sensing. As they repel liquids, superhydrophobic coatings are self-cleaning and waterproof. Since optical devices are highly dependent on their degree of light transmission, the ability to maintain the device surface's dryness and cleanliness will minimize the energy consumption and negative environmental impact without the use of intensive labors and chemicals. Yang has recently received a grant to develop such coatings for solar panels.
The researchers have ideas for how the two traits could be combined in one application, as well.
"Specifically, we're interested in putting this kind of material on the outside of buildings," Yang said. "The structural color we can produce is bright and highly decorative, and it won't fade away like conventional pigmentation color dies. The introduction of nano-roughness will offer additional benefits, such as energy efficiency and environmental friendliness.
"It could be a high-end facade for the aesthetics alone, in addition to the appeal of its self-cleaning properties. We are also developing energy efficient building skins that will integrate such materials in optical sensors."
###
The research was supported by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Being detained by a store or mall security office under suspicion of shoplifting is an experience no one wants to have. Often mall security will try to pressure you into signing a statement admitting your guilt (often threatening to call the police if you don't) or force you to pay restitution for your offense, but in some cases things can escalate. If you're detained for shoplifting?regardless of whether you're innocent or guilty?you have rights. Here's what you need to know.
This post is part of our Evil Week series at Lifehacker, where we look at the dark side of getting things done. Knowing evil means knowing how to beat it, so you can use your sinister powers for good. Want more? Check out our evil week tag page.
What Has to Happen for a Store to Detain You
The first thing you need to know is what a store has to have or has to see in order to exercise their right to detain you. First, a witness or employee needs to establish probable cause. They need to actually see you take store merchandise and put it in your hand (as in, they can't just see you holding something that could have come from home or outside the store,) and they have to see you conceal or carry that merchandise away from its location and either depart the store or walk towards the exit (and away from the cashiers) with the merchandise in hand or concealed on your person. Photo by Dan Previte.
Depending on your jurisdiction, you cannot even be approached until you've left the store premises. This isn't universally true, and often the act of concealment of store property is enough evidence to have you arrested and charged. Sometimes, store security staff (or the contract security firms that work in malls) will bend the rules a bit and rely on your ignorance of your rights in order to detain you if they're certain they have probable cause. In some cases, they'll threaten to call the police if you don't cooperate.
It's also important to note that while the above is largely true in most cases, jurisdictions differ?sometimes significantly?when it comes to the least amount of evidence required for a store or mall to detain you. In all cases, security needs probable cause, but how strong that case needs to be can vary.
What You Need To Know
When store security approaches you, they're acting within a very limited and specific jurisdiction and base of authority. They do not have the right to keep you in a small space or confined to a single room without allowing you to leave that space (although they are allowed to keep you from leaving the premises or keep you under surveillance for the duration of your time there if they have established probable cause or until the police arrive.) At any time, you have the right to request a police presence and legal representation. Keep in mind most retailers have very specific guidelines about how a customer is to be approached and detained.
If you do have stolen merchandise on your person and it's discovered by store security or the police if they're called, the store has the right to have you arrested and charged with theft. You, then, have the right to not incriminate yourself and to obtain legal representation. If the store claims that they have witnesses who observed you shoplifting, you also have the right to question that witness' suitability for probable cause, either to police when they arrive or to your legal representation if you're charged. Photo by Jake Setlak.
Unfortunately, you don't have a lot of rights that allow you to explicitly talk your way out of being detained. You can always try to talk around security by simply refusing to be detained and walking away, but they have the right to call the police or physically block you from leaving. Your best bet is to appeal to the management of the store or mall and make your case to an employee instead of a security officer. Requesting police presence when security isn't sure of their own case against you is also a good way to call their bluff, but contacting the police can be a good or bad thing depending on your situation. As always, you have the right not to answer questions until police or a lawyer are present, and you have the right to request them.
What You Should Do
The best thing to do is cooperate. If the police are called and the store has appropriately established probable cause, the police can search you. If they recover concealed items or observe security footage of your theft, you can be arrested and charged. Many stores never bother with the police, and simply request that any stolen goods be returned, issue a stern warning to the shoplifter, and let them go. Others require that the shoplifter pay the value of the item or some kind of fee and sign a confession before letting them go and dropping the matter. Most will at least demand that you never return to the store. Photo by Hailgumby.
If you've been wrongly detained, cooperation is still likely your best route. This way, you can get out of the situation quickly and address the offense on your own terms. Explaining to security or the store manager that they're mistaken is a good start, but if they're not convinced, you can and should request representation, that you be shown the evidence against you, charged with a crime, or released. In most cases, security officials who don't have a case against you know it, and most are unwilling to risk a false arrest or imprisonment claim.
Even so, being belligerent and hot-headed won't help you in a situation like this. Cooler heads will prevail, and the last thing you should do is go off half-cocked and start complaining that the store needs a warrant to hold you or that your Fourth Amendment rights have been violated (Note: The Fourth Amendment doesn't come into play until an agent of the government?like the police?are involved) or that your right to privacy has been violated (which it may be, depending on your jurisdiction, but saying that isn't going to get you released any sooner.)
Cooperate and be honest and you'll likely get out of the situation with no trouble at all. If you feel your rights have been violated, your best bet is to get out of the situation, seek professional legal counsel, and then file your complaint with the store management, the ACLU (if you feel your civil rights have been violated,) and the police. You may be able to sue for false arrest or false imprisonment.
Finally, a disclaimer: The above isn't meant to be professional legal counsel in any way, and if you're concerned about a specific case or want more information about the laws in your jurisdiction, you should contact a lawyer.
Have you been wrongly detained under suspicion of shoplifting? Are you a lawyer and have better advice to offer? Share your tips in the comments below.
This post is part of our Evil Week series at Lifehacker, where we look at the dark side of getting things done. Knowing evil means knowing how to beat it, so you can use your sinister powers for good. Want more? Check out our evil week tag page.
The Brattleboro Town Finance Committee had finished a report with opinions on newly proposed financial policies and debt management, the proposed 1% sales tax, the proposed Police and Fire renovations, and whether new financial rules should become official polices or merely guidelines.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 15-Oct-2012
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Being detained by a store or mall security office under suspicion of shoplifting is an experience no one wants to have. Often mall security will try to pressure you into signing a statement admitting your guilt (often threatening to call the police if you don't) or force you to pay restitution for your offense, but in some cases things can escalate. If you're detained for shoplifting?regardless of whether you're innocent or guilty?you have rights. Here's what you need to know. 
