On Tuesday, Macy's signed a deal with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to pay $650,000 for a settlement in allegations of racial profiling in its flagship store in Herald Square, New York City.

According to The Associated Press the agreement stipulates that Macy's create new policies against profiling, including new rules on how police use security camera monitors and handle customer complaints, more in-depth employee training, and maintaining better records of detentions. The store must also report on its compliance for three years.

"It is absolutely unacceptable -- and it's illegal -- for anyone in New York to be treated like a criminal simply because of the color of their skin," Schneiderman said.

In February 2013, the attorney general's Civil Rights Bureau opened an investigation into the store after receiving "several" complaints, AP reports. Since then, 18 black, Latino and other minority customers have claimed they were profiled at Macy's between 2007 and 2013. The customers say they were apprehended and detained even though they did not commit any crime.

For example, CBS News reports that Robert Brown, who stars in HBO's "Treme" was detained, handcuffed and searched at Macy's in June 2013 while buying his mother a $1,300 watch.

In addition, customers have reported being detained after riding an escalator with merchandise in plain sight, according to AP.

Meanwhile, others who do not speak perfect English said they were accused of shoplifting or committing credit card fraud and were not allowed to make phone calls or use an interpreter. They also said they were forced to sign trespass notices they did not comprehend.

According to data cited by the agreement, the Macy's in Herald Square apprehended and detained 1,947 customers from October 2012 to October 2013, versus 6,000 statewide.

"To be clear, our company's policies strictly prohibit any form of discrimination or racial profiling and any occurrence of such behavior will not be tolerated in our organization," Macy's said in a statement. "Moving forward, our company will be initiating a series of measures including enhanced training and education for our loss prevention and sales associates. We also will be adopting an expanded role for our security monitor to help ensure that we have the right policies and procedures in place, and that we are constantly reviewing our compliance with them."

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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