Where Does Shoplifting Primarily Occur in New Jersey?

Interviewer: In New Jersey, where does shoplifting primarily occur? Does it happen in all types of retail establishments or are there a few stores where it’s more concentrated and more likely to happen?

Shoplifting Charges Stem Frequently from Larger Retail Establishments That Employ Professional Security Personnel

Jacqueline: Well, the cases that tend to end up in court, generally, are from shopping malls, large anchor stores and large stores, chain stores, like pharmacies. I believe the reason for that is that the stores have professional surveillance. They’re really paying attention to this, whereas, the small shopkeeper doesn’t have the facilities or the manpower to have staff monitoring cameras.

Interviewer: Yes. I would think that it would happen more commonly at the small stores and not in big ones because it seems to me like the big stores, as you said, have much more of a security presence.

Jacqueline: Yes. I understand that and it probably does. However, the actual prosecution and bringing the case to court does not frequently occur in small stores.

Smaller Retail Establishments Usually Do Not Employ a Security Staff and Are Less Likely to Press Shoplifting Charges

It is the large stores that have staff and attorneys and paid personnel that come in as representatives of the store to press the charges. They call the police and they appear in court. They provide discovery. They provide the videos. Whereas, yes, shoplifting probably does happen very frequently in small stores, but at least in my experience, there have been very few prosecutions from a small store owner.


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