Home Depot's (NYSE: HD) shoplifting policy was exposed today in a blog post by Brian White. Brian details a story wherein Home Depot employees have been summarily dismissed from employment for pursuing shoplifters and assisting police in apprehending them. On its face the situation seems stupid and illogical, but there are some things we need to consider.

First off, when a person is employed by any company, it is a condition of employment that the individual abide by the policies of the company. That's pretty straightforward thinking. It's not an issue of public sentiment. If the company that hires you tells you that policy dictates you hand the keys to the store to anyone who asks for them, you are bound by that policy and your job depends on that. Home Depot policy is clear and concise. Employees are not to interfere with shoplifters. Even the in-house security employees are instructed that way. Home Depot has its reasons for putting that policy in place.

So is this a license to steal? Perhaps it is, but there are some things that can be done about it. I have one idea that I'd institute immediately. If Home Depot was mine to secure and protect, each employee would be instructed in the ways to take hi-resolution video recordings of shoplifting occurrences. Video cameras would be accessible and ready in strategic locations so if shoplifting was detected, a video record could be made of the person, item(s), and the means of departure. Employees would be instructed to smile and wave at the perpetrators while getting nice clear records of their faces and the goods they have allegedly stolen. The resulting video recording could then be handed over to the security detail for determination if the police should be called.

When you couple a video recording with a sworn statement by a witness, you then provide the police with reasonable suspicion and they can easily pursue the matter further. To chase the alleged perpetrators yourself is a recipe for disaster. Even if they're guilty beyond any question and they've taken thousands of dollars in merchandise, if they fall on their faces while you're chasing them, it's your butt that's going to be in the wringer.

Sad but true.

Nathaniel Hawthorne may be dead, but his spirit still lives on at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), specifically in this store in Attalla, Alabama. You can recognize the store because it's the one with the two petty thieves out front, wearing signs around their necks: "I am a thief, I stole from Wal-Mart." The signs, ordered by a local judge (they were worn for eight hours on a couple of Saturdays) have received positive comments from shoppers, according to the store manager; signs that the 1800s are alive and well.

As William Faulkner wrote, in the south, "The past is never dead. It's not even past."

Surely the mainstream retail climate has moved past expending precious management time and justice department resources on the humiliation of those desperate individuals (or, as one of the punishees claims, victims of misunderstanding) who steal items of miniscule value. Most companies who own stores build losses into their forecasted income statement. But at Wal-Mart, the scarlet letter lives on.