The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department.
Oct. 16, 12:45 p.m.: A person walking a dog on Arsenal Street noticed that the sign in front of The Gables apartments was missing, and there was graffiti on the rear of the property. Police were alerted.
Oct. 16, 2:15 p.m.: Target security spotted a man they recognized from previous incidents come into the store and place numerous items into a suitcase. The man walked past the registers and did not pay for five pieces of clothing valued at $510. The 58-year-old Boston man was summoned to Waltham District Court for shoplifting and he was trespassed from the store.
Oct. 18, 5 p.m.: A man walked into CVS in Watertown Square and began putting cosmetic items into a Stop & Shop shopping bag. He took 24 items worth a total of $255. Police are investigating.
Oct. 19, 12:50 p.m.: The owner of St. Vincent Construction reported that someone had been falsifying checks from the company. He received a notification from the bank about a falsified check for $5,400.
Oct. 19, 5:06 p.m.: A woman entered Target, took $359.30 in merchandise, and tried to leave without paying. Security stopped the woman and she returned the items. The woman was trespassed from Target but the store did not press charges.
Oct. 19, 5 p.m.: A man came into CVS on Main Street and took multiple items. He walked out of the store without paying for $250 in merchandise. Police are investigating.
Oct. 22, 4:30 a.m.: Police received a call about a man passed out behind the wheel of a motor vehicle on Lloyd Road. When they arrived, the man was out of his car. Officers detected a smell of alcohol on the man’s breath. The man would not cooperate with police, and began to shout at them. Officers tried to calm the man, but he challenged officers to a fight. He lunged toward an officer, and struck one in the chest and left shoulder as he tried to push past him. The man also threw elbows, and hit a second officer in the chest. No one required medical treatment. Police took the man into custody. Aaron Kumar, 26, of Winchester, was arrested on two counts of assault and battery on a police officer and one count of disorderly conduct.
Oct. 22, 11 a.m.: A bicycle was locked to a fence post on Mt. Auburn Street near Irving Street. When the owner came back out the next day the Schwinn Axum was missing, along with the lock. The bike is valued at $230.
As I read the police log, I wonder how the exact cost of shoplifted items is known particularly in cases where the thief is not immediately apprehended.
I believe the store does an inventory to see what is taken.
As we can see, there are many cases of shoplifting occurring in our city. It’s bad enough that crime seems to be on the increase and is putting the workers in these stores at risk, but we are all going to be paying higher prices to subsidize the costs of shrink to these stores.
I was recently told that there are big sections of the Target store that are now closed off with barriers and to buy a product Target personnel have to unlock cases. How sad is that. And who has the time to wait for this to happen!
Many CVS stores have locked cases on some items such as expensive cosmetic items, printer ink, etc.
There are many stores such as Target, Walgreens and CVS and others in CA and other areas of the country that have these types of anti-theft setups. These companies have also pulled their stores out of many markets as they can’t afford the losses. The smaller stores end up going out of business.
In MA our shoplifting laws allow District Attorneys to let these criminals go with basically a slap on the wrist and no prosecutions as the dollar amount limits of the thefts was increased to a higher level than should be acceptable.
I surely hope that we don’t lose any of our stores due to theft increases. We don’t have enough stores to meet our needs as it is.
Very creative way businesses have changed the word “theft loss or stolen” into “shrink loss” , somehow it makes the crime, more acceptable, that we all pay for in higher prices.
When you read the police log and the last sentence, reads, “police are investigating”, I believe it translates to the shoplifter is let go with a slap on the wrist. If there’s no punishment for crime, why stop? It’s a free-for-all out there nowadays. That’s the the America we live in right now. You see it daily on social media. Sad!