I work as a customer host at a Walmart, and we are legitimately part of Asset Protection. The Asset Protection Associates are specifically licensed and trained to make apprehensions and have a specific set of rules they have to follow when apprehending shoplifters and making stops.
Conversely Customer Hosts are trained to check receipts for unbagged items, high value items, and items on the bottom of the shopping cart. We are also trained in maintaining compliance with the Merchandise Protection Plan and have received training in identifying suspicious behavior with customers.
The APAs are the eyes above, and we are the eyes on the floor. Additional responsibilities we handle are express return and associate baggage checks to curtail associate theft. We also maintain spill stations and keep the front end and vestibule safe during inclement weather. You'll always hear about the incompetent or bad APAs, but you'll never hear about the good ones and that's the point, they're intended to be invisible.