Online Survey finds 44% think police officer was right to purchase groceries for shoplifting mom

Recently stories of kindness have been circulating the media. It seems that despite the issues we seem to have in society, we are still able to stop for a moment to help someone out. This act of kindness was recently observed when a Florida police officer decided to purchase some groceries for a woman who was trying to shoplift food to bring home to her children. Despite the fact that the woman was committing a crime, the police officer claimed that “arresting the woman wasn't going to solve the problem with her children being hungry, so she decided it would be best to give her a misdemeanor instead and purchases some of her groceries to give to her children. As this story not only touched many people, but also highlighted poverty in America, Tellwut decided to poll the database and find out what panel members opinions are regarding this situation. When asked whether panel members think that the police officer should have purchased the groceries for the woman and her children, results indicated: 44% of panel members felt that the officer did the right thing, while 15% of voters did not think that the police officer did the right thing, 33% of voters remained undecided and 6% of voters preferred not to state their opinion. When asked whether the police officer should have arrested the woman for stealing the food instead of giving her a misdemeanor, results indicated: 11% of voters felt that the police officer should have arrested the woman; 46% of voters felt that the misdemeanor charge was enough; 17% of voters think a warning would have sufficed instead of a misdemeanor charge; 19% of voters were undecided; 4% preferred not to state their opinion. Then when presented with the question as to whether panel members have ever found themselves in a similar situation and shoplifted food from the grocery store, results indicated: 10% of voters admit to stealing food from a grocery store, while the majority of panel members 81% indicate that they have not stolen food from a grocery store and the remaining 7% of voters preferred not to say whether or not they have done so. Although it is clear that most panel members consider the police officers actions to be ‘just’, we must ask ourselves several questions; such; as why others did not step in before this woman resorted to stealing food, or whether or not there were organizations that could help this woman properly feed her children? If we understand the answers to the questions we may better understand poverty in North America and the lack of resources that may be available to help those in need. “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” ? Franklin D. Roosevelt