By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR — For retailers, the busy holiday season is a welcome time of crowded stores and increased sales. One unwelcome seasonal occurrence which requires their heightened vigilance is the potential for a spike in shoplifting and theft.
This season, the news is good, say officials from both the West Windsor Police Department and the retail stores in the Nassau Park shopping center. They say there has been no seasonal spike in shoplifting crime, with the level of crime now the same as during the rest of the year.
West Windsor Police Lt. Carl Walsh said Tuesday that any increase seen by the department in shoplifting, throughout the year, is met by joint efforts from the police department and stores, which operate their own loss prevention teams that work directly with the police.
During the holiday season, off-duty policemen are hired to help out with traffic and other problems stemming from the increased number of shoppers, and they have the ability to help with shoplifting prevention and even make arrests, according to Lt. Walsh.
Lt. Walsh said the crowds do help shoplifters, with the crowds allowing them to blend in. The colder weather doesn’t hurt, with potential thieves using coats and winter gear that allow for easy concealment of stolen items.
On the stores’ side of the problem, sit people like Target Manager Doug Schiefelbein.
He said his store steps up efforts during the holiday season, through both increased asset protection efforts, and simply having more sales associates out on the floors helping customers.
”We make sure that if they steal, they will steal from stores other than Target,” said Mr. Schiefelbein. “We put more team members out during the holidays, and offer great guest service. We see no increase in successful shoplifting.”
All of the stores have the option of hiring their own loss prevention staff, and some of the stores located in the center have elaborate surveillance equipment to keep tabs on would-be thieves walking through store aisles.
So the stores help out with enforcement, but so does the owner of the shopping center, Developers Diversified Realty.
The company pays the salaries of two full-time township police officers, which means there is a constant police presence in the shopping center from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The police department also maintains a community relations officer who communicates with the store owners, Lt. Walsh said.
”He maintains contact with store management, and advises them on precautions,” Lt. Walsh said.
All of these layers of security are in place as retailers have begun to face a whole new kind of shoplifting, which Target officials say has gone from petty crime to a high-tech, lucrative business for criminals.
”Generally, what we’re seeing is a big move toward a dramatic increase in organized retail crime with professional rings of high-tech, sophisticated criminals hitting stores,” said Target spokesman Paul Krueger. “We are seeing that the opportunity to sell things through online auction sites creates an opportunity for anonymous, low-risk sale of merchandise.”
Target also has a regional task force that monitors fencing operations, looking for stolen merchandise at flea markets and online at sites like eBay. The task force is there to take a bite out of what has become a very lucrative business for criminals that are usually involved in other activity, according to Mr. Krueger.
He said the key to the problem remains vigilance and working with local and regional authorities.
”We really work hard to partner with local law enforcement agencies,” said Mr. Krueger. “We see keeping a safe community as a team effort.”
Other stores won’t even talk about how they combat the problem.
Wal-Mart officials did not return phone calls seeking comment, and Kohl’s spokeswoman Elizabeth DeLuca said her store does not discuss shoplifting information.
”We consider it proprietary information,” she said.
