Gloucester Twp. officer aims to arrest and assist

GLOUCESTER TWP. - Anthony Massi plans to hit a lot of stores this holiday season, but he won’t be shopping.

Instead, the Gloucester Township police detective will be looking for shoplifters. Massi, a six-year veteran, has taken a newly created post as the township’s retail patrol officer.

But catching thieves is just part of Massi's mission. The officer also will work with merchants to prevent thefts and he'll direct drug-addicted suspects to recovery programs.

“We need to address this crime with multiple strategies,” Harry Earle, the township’s police chief, said this week at a news conference in a shopping center parking lot. “Arrests alone will not be effective.”

The new beat, which will continue after the holiday season, reflects Gloucester Township’s growing role as a regional commerce center, Mayor David Mayer said.

Major roads are lined with shopping centers and sites for national chains; the township also is the new home of a premium outlet complex.

Shoppers line up for outlets opening

But Mayer said Massi’s role will be “proactive, rather than reactive.” Like Earle, he noted shoplifters often steal to support a drug habit.

"We know that many of those committing shoplifting cannot stop because of their drug addiction," Earle said. He said Massi will work closely with the township's drug-treatment advocate, Casey Johnson, who attends municipal court hearings.

"Detective Massi's work does not stop with arrest," Earle added, noting the case of a suspect charged last month with shoplifting from a township convenience store. The man had a long history of arrests, including drug, shoplifting and domestic violence offenses.

"The accused confessed to Detective Massi that he is battling addiction and that he stole to support his habit," the chief said. He said Massi gave the man information on the township's anti-drug SAVE program, and the suspect later contacted Johnson for help in receiving treatment.

"This is community policing at work," Earle said. "It is the type of policing necessary for police to be effective today."

Nationwide, shoplifting's an expensive headache for merchants that results in higher costs for consumers. Citing statistics from the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention, he said thieves typically take items valued from $2 to $200, and that an estimated 27 million shoplifters are in the United States.

Earle said thieves sometimes pose as customers to return stolen items for cash. They also sell shoplifted goods for money or drugs, he added.

In Gloucester Township, though, the crime appears to be on the decline. Earle noted local officers have responded to 145 shoplifting calls so far this year, down almost 30 percent from the 2014 level.

“I have no doubt that our decrease … is the result of our assertive approach to shoplifting,”  Earle said at the Shoppes of Cross Keys, where officials gathered a short distance from a Hobby Lobby.

Massi, although a detective, will wear a uniform and drive a marked “retail patrol car” to boost his visibility, said Earle.

“It is essential to us that customers see the police presence in our township whenever they shop.”

Jim Walsh; (856) 486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com