Top New York retailers accused of racial discrimination under guise of security
30 Oct 2013
New York police and retailers Macy's Inc and Barneys New York Inc blamed each other yesterday after black customers complained that they were stopped by police after making luxury purchases.
Civil rights leaders have been expressed indignation at the incident.
The state's attorney general launched an investigation into security practices at the two department stores following claims by four customers that they had been unfairly targeted in a series of cases dubbed ''shop and frisk'', in a take on the security practices, by some city tabloids.
According to Barneys and Macy's officials the police acted on their own.
They added store staff had given no input for stopping shoppers who included a black actor with a role on a HBO series.
After a meeting in Harlem with New York civil rights leader Al Sharpton, Barneys chief executive officer Mark Lee also denied his employees had any role in two incidents at his stores.
A Macy's spokeswoman also denied that store staff had any role in two incidents at the company's Herald Square flagship.
One of those incidents, which occurred in June involved actor Rob Brown of HBO's Treme according to Daily News.
The newspaper claimed Brown was paraded through the store in handcuffs after purchasing a $1,350 gold Movado watch for his mother.
"This was an operation of the New York City Police Department," Macy's spokeswoman Elina Kazan said in a statement.
However, NYPD chief spokesman John McCarthy countering the claims said in both Barneys' incidents and the case involving Brown at Macy's, officers were acting on information provided by store security.
Meanwhile, the New York Daily News reported New York state attorney Eric Schneiderman's office yesterday sent letters to both retailers seeking information on their policies for stopping, detaining and questioning customers ''by race or national origin.'' They are required to comply by Friday.
''Attorney General Schneiderman is committed to ensuring that all New York residents are afforded equal protection under the law,'' Kristen Clarke, who heads the AG's civil rights bureau, wrote to Barneys CEO Mark Lee and Macy's chief stores officer Peter Sachse, the Daily News reported. ''The alleged repeated behavior of your employees raises troubling questions about your company's commitment to that ideal.''
The newspaper reported yesterday that Art Palmer, 56, filed a complaint after he said he was surrounded by NYPD on 24 April outside Macy's Herald Square store after he bought some shirts and ties.
Actor Rob Brown said he was handcuffed and detained for an hour on 8 June after being falsely accused of using a stolen credit card to buy a watch at Macy's.
