It’s a mecca for shoppers around the country, a massive store selling everything from groceries to electronics, and from eyewear to garden tools.
In Plymouth, Walmart is also a mecca for shoplifters, who regularly waltz out of the Colony Place Supercenter with merchandise they didn’t pay for. The items often aren’t worth much — anywhere from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars, according to police reports.
Some may be desperate, others cavalier or defiant, but they often end up in trouble. The store’s “loss prevention” team, which scours the more than 200,000-square-foot building for thieves, turns them in, even when the infraction seems relatively minor, police reports show.
In August 2022, for example, a Middleborough woman using a self-checkout machine was arrested after she failed to scan two of three Kit Kat bars, two of three Hershey bars, one of two Stouffer’s microwave dinners, two gallons of ice cream and a few other unidentified items. The unscanned merchandise totaled $67.83, according to the police report.
“I spoke to (the woman) and asked for her side of the story,” wrote Plymouth patrol officer Aaron Volkringer. She stated “I gotta eat,” he wrote.
Plymouth police visit Walmart nearly every day, according to records obtained under the state’s public records law.
They were called there more than 800 times between January 1, 2022, and August 8, 2024, according to records. Police made 114 arrests during that period and wrote up another 255 reports without arresting anyone.
Not all the calls were for shoplifters — there were traffic accidents, wellbeing checks, and requests for patrols.
But 288 calls were for shoplifting or larceny, a number that represents more than 60 percent of all shoplifting calls to the Plymouth police during that period.
Plymouth Police Chief Dana Flynn did not respond to requests for comment on the volume of shoplifting calls coming from Walmart.
The numbers may reflect a national surge in shoplifting documented by national groups over the summer. As other crimes have decreased, shoplifting increased by 24 percent in the first half of 2024, according to the national Council on Criminal Justice.
In many cases, the Council wrote, shoplifting was seen as a “crime of necessity” for low-income Americans.
In a July 2024 survey of 2,000 consumers by online lender network Lending Tree, found that more than 20 percent of Americans admitted shoplifting. The cost is inevitably passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
“No one should be surprised that shoplifting is on the rise,” Matt Schulz, Lending Tree’s chief credit analyst, told the Independent.
“The combination of record debt, sky-high interest rates and stubborn inflation has made this perfect storm that has pretty much slashed many families’ financial margin for error down to basically nothing. When times get tough, sometimes people feel the need to take drastic steps. That’s especially true if you’re just trying to keep food on the table.”
Self-checkout stations, he added, make it easy for “people with bad intentions” to steal. Generally, only a few store employees watch over the machines, he said.
But if shoplifting is a widespread problem shouldn’t high numbers also be found at other area Walmarts?
Maybe they are. But police logs from stores in Wareham and Halifax don’t show that.
The Wareham Walmart, which is about 145,000 square feet, reported only 16 shoplifting cases between January 1, 2022, and August 8, 2024.
And in three of the cases, the store didn’t want the shoplifters prosecuted.
On August 22, 2023, for example, the log said: “Walmart security has a juvenile female detained for shoplifting. Security is requesting officers to keep the peace while the parent picks up the juvenile. Walmart did not wish to pursue any charges.”
Halifax police reported 75 calls for larceny or fraud at the 100,000 square foot store during that period, according to call logs.
The differences could be a function of the relative size of the stores, and the towns’ population. Many more people live in Plymouth than in Wareham and Halifax combined, and its location – with easy access to routes 3 and 44 – means that it draws a pool of customers from beyond Plymouth.
Or could it just be that Plymouth’s security team is more aggressive?
Charles Crowson, senior director of Walmart Global Communications, wouldn’t discuss the different approaches to shoplifting that individual stores appear to take. Nor would he allow Plymouth security employees to answer questions.
“We take a comprehensive approach to promoting a safe shopping and work environment,” he said in an emailed statement.
“This includes policies, training, monitoring, and response—as well as regular reviews of security protocols and practices. While we don’t publicly discuss security measures we take in our stores or parking lots, the safety of our associates and customers is a top priority.”
He also wouldn’t say whether Walmart considered eliminating some or all its self-checkout stations, where much of the shoplifting takes place. In Plymouth, there are two large self-checkout corrals at either end of the store – each with eight scanners – along with a few “scan and go” checkout lanes.
The company has already limited the use of self-checkout in some parts of the country, but that’s not the case in Plymouth – On Monday afternoon, only one of the store’s more than a dozen traditional checkout lanes was open.
In recent years, prosecutors have taken an increasingly tough approach toward shoplifters, especially those who profit from the thefts by reselling merchandise or returning it for cash.
In January, Plymouth County DA Tim Cruz announced the creation of a task force to try to combat organized shoplifting.
“Retail theft collectively costs communities billions annually, undermining local economies and threatening the viability of storefronts in neighborhoods across the country,” Cruz said in July after a woman pleaded guilty to stealing from Ulta Beauty in Wareham. She and three others allegedly grabbed nearly $6,000 in products during a six-minute spree.
But it’s unclear whether a hardline approach has a deterrent effect on either the people caught or on those considering stealing.
When cases get to court, they are nearly always dismissed — sometimes immediately, court records show. Other times, cases are thrown out after a few months or a year, often with the payment of $100 in court costs or a few hours of community service.
Even repeat offenders face the same judgment.
One 34-year-old man, described as homeless in police reports, was arrested three times for shoplifting at Walmart in Plymouth — in 2021, 2022 and 2023. In 2021, he was placed on probation for stealing from Pioppi’s liquor store in North Plymouth.
In 2022, while still on probation, he was stopped at Walmart for allegedly stealing $73.75 in women’s underwear.
“I observed (the man’s) jacket to be highly extended in the belly region,” Plymouth patrol Officer William Leonard wrote in his report on the incident.
“I asked him why his jacket looked like it was about to burst, and he stated he had several pairs of bras and women’s underwear packed inside. I asked him if the clothing was from Walmart and he stated ‘yes.’ I asked him if he paid for the clothing items, and he stated ‘no.’
He said the woman he was with (who had been banned from Walmart) “had fallen on hard times and she needed underclothes,” Leonard wrote.
Court records show that all three cases were dismissed.
In February 2022, a Walmart loss prevention worker followed a Plymouth woman for four hours before stopping her as she was leaving the store, a police report said.
Though she scanned some merchandise, she didn’t pay for 17 items totaling $215.10, including children’s shoes, pants, tops and sleepwear, the report said.
“She said she didn’t think she had enough money to pay the total bill,” wrote Plymouth Patrol Officer Thomas Souza.
That was at least the third time the woman had been arrested for larceny or shoplifting.
All the cases against her were dismissed, according to court records.
But as much as it is a problem for Walmart and other retailers, punishing shoplifters is not a good use of the judicial system, said Ryan Matthews, a Plymouth criminal defense lawyer. The “aggressive prosecution” of shoplifters strains the system and diverts authorities from more serious cases, he said.
“I wonder how many of those cases could have been resolved at the store itself by a stern warning, a no trespass (order) or a phone call to the parents (if a juvenile or teen),” Matthews said.
“It’s sad that the goal of containing shrink or loss for Walmart has supplanted common sense,” he said.
Ryan C. Kearney, general counsel of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said prosecuting shoplifters — a crime which he said has increased since the end of the pandemic — is important even if some cases are dismissed. Eventually, a repeat offender will face more serious penalties, he said.
“I can’t speak to why every retailer does something, but part of the reason why folks like to put thieves through the system so that when they come back the second, third or fourth time, those individuals eventually become the repeat offender,” Kearney said.
“If you don’t build that file for them from the first incident, they get lost in the shuffle and it makes it easier for a prosecutor to say, ‘It’s not worth it’ or a judge to say, ‘This case does not support the charges you are seeking,’ he said.
Kearney said someone arrested repeatedly for shoplifting has likely stolen many more times than their record reflects.
“The question is how many times had they been in the store and not caught?” he said. “My hunch would be that the person was probably in the store a dozen more times.”
Even when alleged shoplifters admit what they did, apologize and return the merchandise, Plymouth police often still bring charges.
On August 12, a 33-year-old California woman, described in a police report as a “cooperative shoplifter,” was stopped at Walmart for failing to scan $215.53 in merchandise. Two Plymouth officers responded.
When patrol officer Joseph Linscott questioned her, she said, “I have a lot going on. I’m just overwhelmed. I can pay for everything if allowed to,” according to the police report.
She was arrested anyway.
When she appeared in court the next day, she paid $200 and the case was dismissed.
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.