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Chemda I am so sorry you had that experience.
Canadian here. I was one of the people who voted yes. I was arrested once for shoplifting. The store security lady who caught me treated me like garbage. I asked her things and she just ignored me like I wasn't even there. When she did look at me it was like she was looking at something stuck to her shoe. She also wrote 3 pages about the incident.
I stole $6 worth of food at the grocery store. I'm not saying it wasn't wrong. I know it was. But I'd had surgery, and it was botched so I had to have another surgery and I'd just gotten home and on pain killers. I literally had no food and it was 5 days before I was getting any more money. I had a little money so I bought some stuff and put a couple of things in my bag. I know it was wrong. I just didn't have enough money and I was desperate.
Now, my experience with the cops was completely different. There was one cop who came to arrest me for it (I guess, I might not be using the right terms at times here) he was SO kind. She still wasn't acknowledging me when he arrived but he was. He explained everything to me. I didn't have ID on me so he brought me home. He didn't handcuff me or anything and he walked out of the store behind me, he didn't make it obvious I was with him. He drove me home and came in and actually talked to me. Like he said, what happened? And I told him and he told me it was OK. I started crying and he got me a glass of water. He was here 20 minutes. He explained the whole process of what I had to do, I had a date where I had to go and get fingerprinted and photographed and a court date. He said if I couldn't make it I had to call at least 24 hours in advance.
When I went to the place to get fingerprinted, the lady was also very kind. She told me this wouldn't affect me in a job search and said she hoped things got better for me.
Then when I went to court I saw the lawyer for a minute, explained what happened, and waited to see the judge. The judge just accepted the guilty verdict and I didn't get a fine. I was petrified while waiting because other people were there for shoplifting and some of them were getting $200 fines. I wouldn't be able to pay that. Luckily I didn't get a fine.
I do think about how much money my $6 theft cost "the system".
I know I was VERY VERY lucky all along the way. I don't know what would happen if I was treated in any of the ways Chemda was treated.
(The cops here aren't perfect by any means, but it's not like in the US.)
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