By Kristine Snodgrass, Staff Writer
PRINCETON — When it comes to shoplifters, if something doesn’t look right, odds are it’s not, borough police told a group of merchants this week.
Detectives R.T. Allie and Adam Basatemur from the Princeton Borough Police Department gave a presentation at the Princeton Merchants meeting Tuesday night, updating them on the latest shoplifting scams they’ve seen in Princeton.
The term shoplifting applies to a range of thefts, Detective Allie said, from carrying away or concealing merchandise, to switching price tags, to a cashier under-ringing a friend’s purchases.
There’s no typical shoplifter — they can be any age, race, gender or background — but he identified a few common categories for the merchants to be on the lookout for.
He advised them to keep on eye on juveniles, who are often peer-pressured into shoplifting. The merchants gasped as they watched a video clip of a teenager shoving an entire gaming console into his jeans and walking out of a store.
”There are many kids in this community who are very fortunate, and they do it for the rush,” he said.
Detective Allie said Princeton is home to a couple examples of another type: the professional shoplifter. This type of offender brazenly shoplifts in broad daylight and is never rehabilitated.
He showed off a “booster bag,” a tool commonly used by shoplifters. It consists of a plastic garbage bag that is wrapped in a thick layer of duct tape.
This bag then is placed inside a large shopping bag from another store. The shoplifter fills the booster bag with merchandise and simply walks out of the store; the foil prevents the security tags from setting off the store’s alarm system by the doors, he said.
”Any kid can make these up,” he said, passing one of the bags around the room.
The police recently apprehended a group of four men from Pennsylvania who were running a scam where they were removing store security sensors with a hook, he said.
The men were targeting J. Crew where they would casually shop until a fifth cohort, a woman, would enter the store and create a distraction by arguing with a cashier.
With everyone in the store looking away, the men would grab merchandise and take it into the bathroom where they would remove the security tags with hooks, he said.
Without even leaving the store, they then would take the items to the cashier, who would give them store credit for a return without a receipt. The men then could sell a $300 gift card for less while still making a nice profit, he said.
The borough also has seen children used frequently as tools in shoplifting, he said.
In one instance, a shoplifter was caught after she was placing her child’s stroller underneath the outside clothing racks at Greene Street Consignment on Nassau Street.
The child would pull down the clothes, and she would shove them into bags, he said. She was caught in the act by the store’s owner and, as an elderly lady unable to get away, was apprehended by police, he said.
But, ultimately, he told the merchants to never put themselves in danger over a shoplifter.
”The last thing I want to do is call your spouse or your father or whatever and tell them that something happened to you over a $100 shirt,” he said. “It’s not worth it. Call us.”
[email protected]
