Relaxed Policies for Shoplifting and Counterfeit Money

[Coolio]

So I work for a big box retailer, and some time ago, while I was doing cash office, the person next to me noticed around $500-600 worth of fake 20's. Since I was new at the time, I asked him what the policy for fake money was, and I was told that I could not do any of the normal tests to detect if it was fake, such as flashing a light at it or using a pen. The only way we could tell that it was fake was if all of the serial numbers lined up, and even then we cannot directly tell the customer that the money is "fake". He told me that another store got sued for this very reason for "racial profiling". I was also told during training not to confront customers who were shoplifting. We could only ask them for a receipt, and even if they refused, we could not stop them.
Before I got this job, I imagined that they would be more strict when it came to shoplifting or using fake money. I get that some events have changed the policies, but I never knew that they would be this relaxed. Has anyone else seen these same policies applied to other retailers?