PETTY THEFT? Clean History?

Okay today me and my friends were shopping at sears and my buddy went found 2 shirts that he really liked so he grabed 2 of each shirt and went into the dressing room and threw one of each under his clothes. and walked out with 2 shirts in his hand and put them back on the racks. The security cameras never saw him in the act of shop lifting. And my other buddy is kinda dumb and just threw a tshirt on his shoulder and walked out with it. The alarm didnt go off. So were walking threw the mall and some ladies from sears went up to my buddy who had it on his shoulder and told him to give them the shirt and they will let him go. He gave it to them. Then they walked up to my other buddy and asked him to give them the shirt(SHIRT NOT SHIRTS). They told me give us the shirt and we will not report you. He denied it until my other buddy told him just to give it to them. He then admited of course after being snitched on,

But he had 2 shirts under so they handcuffed him and took him to a little room in sears. If it would of been 1 shirt they would of let him go. So called the police dept checked his record and clean it was. So they never made a police report or police never came. They let him go!
Is his record clean?
Will it pop up if he gets caught up for petty theft again?
He is really worried about his record?
THANKS 4 ALL YOU ANSWERS!

There could be a report on his record (if the mall ever reported it, odds are they just documented it for their own records, like if it happens again they could ban you)
But no, he will not have a charge or cinviction because he was not charged nor convicted.

No, his RECORD is not clean as such - he may not have a crime recorded against his name. However, his identity and the details of what he tried to do will have been recorded on the Police Intel - they note if you have ever been reported for something by retailers or questioned by Police - even if you were not charged.

If he is such a fool to do it again - it will come up that he was detained by retail staff and he had in his possession a stolen shirt - this is your friend's LAST CHANCE. Next time he is caught he WILL BE CHARGED.