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Targeted

The People

The first line of defense in any Target is its Asset Protection Department, or "AP" for short. You may have heard someone in the store calling "AP" over the radios all employees carry. This is the security department, usually called loss prevention at other stores. Every AP dept. has a few levels of employees. The bottom rung is the Target Protection Specialist, or TPS. These are the men and women in tan shirts and black pants, carrying handcuffs and radios on their belts. They patrol the stores, and by policy are supposed to spend most of their time at the front register lanes unless something else requires their attention. The main portion of their job is watching people checking out to see if any items have been left in the cart "by accident", and politely reminding them to pay for it. TPS's get quota'd on these items, so it's important they catch as many as possible. They watch the doors for suspicious looking people coming in, and assist with any emergencies, apprehensions, or anything else that may come up. But, due to their lack of rank, *TPS's cannot arrest anyone on their own*! I repeat, a TPS cannot stop you from leaving the store with stolen goods. They can scare the crap out of you, and check your receipts, and if they're feeling bold they can even request the stolen merchandise back. (That's against Target policy, though. No one is *ever* supposed to be accused of stealing. It hurts customers' feelings.)

Next up the ladder are the Asset Protection Specialists, or APS's. These are the undercovers of the store, and believe me when I say that these folks are on the ball. Anyone not dedicated to their job won't last very long in this line of work. They patrol the store in plain clothes, carrying a hidden walkie-talkie (usually in a purse for the ladies, or in a pocket or clipped to the back of the pants for guys, with the shirt covering it). They might sit in the office and watch cameras instead, but they're encouraged to stay on the...