Thefts from big box stores don't just hurt retailers, law enforcement officials say.
Colonial Regional police officers arrive daily to deal with pick-pocketing thieves, referee parking lot disputes, shoo away solicitors and send loitering youth home.
They are called to the scene even more regularly for folks who stuff grocery items down their pants, conceal baby formula in large pocketbooks, attempt to walk through the self-checkout without paying for items and perform bait-and-switch maneuvers on electronic sales.
The calls, Colonial Regional Police Chief Roy Seiple says, are increasingly taking away the department's manpower and costing taxpayers. And, he says, they all happen at big box stores: mainly Wal-Mart.
From April 2015 to April 2016, Colonial Regional police officers responded to 296 calls at Wal-Mart alone. Second in the running was Kohl's department store, in which officers responded to 83 calls. And third was Target, in which officers responded to 48 calls.
That's an average of at least one call a day for retail theft. Out of 555 total arrests in 2015, Seiple said 187 of those arrests were for retail theft.
"By far, retail thefts take up the majority of our arrest time," Seiple said. "The shopping centers are draining our resources."
A Wal-Mart spokeswoman did not immediately return a voicemail for comment.
However, Wal-Mart spokesman Aaron Mullins previously said the retailer complies with all applicable state laws and has several measures in place to ensure a safe shopping environment, which includes 24-hour security guards in some stores.
"Our asset protection team does a great job in identifying people who break the law in our stores and we appreciate the close working relationship we have with local authorities," Mullins has said.
Lower Nazareth to pay 5.3 percent more for cops
Eating taxpayer dime
Municipal officials in some communities have blamed the corporate giants for shifting too much of its security burden onto taxpayers and not hiring more of their own guards.
Increase in volume calls at Northampton Crossings Mall, which houses Wal-Mart and Kohl's, in 2014 had been one of the factors Lower Nazareth Township was on the hook for a $450,000 increase in paying for police service.
The hike prompted Lower Nazareth officials to study forming their own police department, which later was struck down. The 2016 police budget now calls for Bath paying $393,915; Hanover Township paying $1.7 million; and Lower Nazareth paying $1.2 million.
"The arrests at Wal-Mart lead to other things, like officers attending court hearings and overtime," said Glenn Walbert, former member of the Colonial Regional Police Commission. "It can take away the ability to patrol. It's a drag on everybody."
All the hours spent at Wal-Mart cut into how often law enforcement can patrol other neighborhoods, combat speeding and prevent larger crime, Seiple said.
Pohatcong Township Mayor James Kern III said police had the same problem once the Wal-Mart in Pohatcong Plaza II along Route 22 became a 24-hour Walmart Supercenter in February 2012. Theft complaints in 2011 totaled 78, but by 2012, there were 113 shoplifting incidents and that increased to 169 incidents by 2013, Police Chief Jeffrey S. Greenemeir said.
"Essentially, our police were being used by one taxpayer versus all our taxpayers," Kern said of Wal-Mart.
In July 2015, Pohatcong Township passed an ordinance, telling all big box stores to pay up for petty police calls.
Township council unanimously agreed to charge businesses that call for police assistance more than 10 times a month or demand an officer respond to a shoplifting incident that doesn't result in an arrest. The fine is $500, under the ordinance.
Pohatcong Township officials in December 2014 additionally passed a measure requiring the operators of large shopping centers to hire a uniformed security officer to patrol the centers, including parking lots, starting one hour before opening until one hour after closing.
The result was the Super Wal-Mart using their own security guards, which Kern said has helped since to deter crime. Greenemeir said calls are down with 140 incidents in 2015 compared with just 32 since January 2016.
"We've seen a reduction," Kern said. "We still send our police up there, but we've found the store's own security guards are deterring people. I think it's been very successful."
Charles Fishman, author of "The Wal-Mart Effect,"compares the high level of Wal-Mart calls to parents calling 911 every time their child misbehaves. He told the Tampa Bay Times in an analysis of four counties surrounding the bay, "That's not what police are for."
During holidays, Seiple said Wegman's, across the street from Wal-Mart and Kohl's, pays the tab on police overtime for directing traffic around the shopping mall. It's something other stores could offer when more manpower is required, he said.
"Everyone benefits from that," Seiple said.
Pay up for petty calls, officials tell stores
Place for higher crime?
Drug addiction is the main reason shoplifters are attracted to the big box stores -- complete with clothing, food, electronics and other expensive gadgets. Drug addicts are often poor and might need food or simply are stealing to fuel the habit, Seiple said.
"We ask them and the majority have heroin addictions," he said.
And Seiple fears if such big box stores as Wal-Mart don't hire more security guards, additional crime could find itself inside those stores.
The families of three people killed last year in the Lehigh Valley are suing Wal-Mart, alleging the retail giant sold ammunition used in the slayings to a man who was underage and drunk, the Associated Press reported.
The lawsuit says Wal-Mart employees in Lower Nazareth Township were negligent in selling .38-caliber ammunition to Robert Jourdain, according to the report. The Easton man was 20 at the time, and the suit alleges the store failed to ensure he was at least 21, as required by law.
Jourdain, now 21; Todd West, 23, of Elizabeth, New Jersey; and Kareem Mitchell, 23, of Newark, are charged with homicide in the July 5, 2015 deaths of Kory Ketrow in Easton and Francine E. Ramos and Trevor D. Gray in Allentown. Trials are pending.
Police shot and killed Andrew Joseph Todd, 20, of Lower Mount Bethel Township in December 2015 who entered the East Stroudsburg Wal-Mart Superstore late at night and began threatening customers at gunpoint.
"He could have flipped a coin and just as easily came down toward Easton," Seiple said.
Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.