There seems to be a large increase in shoplifting that is taking over Westmoreland County. It is being said that 25% of the county’s 5,000 criminal cases per year involve retail theft, and out of the theft cases 95% of them are drug related. Judge Alfred Bell has said, “It’s the second largest category of crime behind DUI’s.” The case load has been causing major problems for the police officers and court system at all levels with repeat offenders. The shoplifters top targets items are as follows: DVDs, infant formula, electronic tablets and laptops, pregnancy tests, high-end appliances such as vacuums and mixers, laundry detergent, GPS devices, teeth-whitening strips, make-up, cigarettes, over-the-counter-medications, razors, power tools, batteries, cell phones.

They are working on establishing a drug court to reduce the number of nonviolent drug-related crimes; county officials say having a drug court would handle such cases as retail theft and car break-ins to curtail repeat offenders by dealing with their addiction through treatment and intensive monitoring rather than imprisonment. It is also not required that individuals who are charged with theft do not receive a urine drug screen. Many individuals believe if we drug test the theft offenders and if they are positive for drugs we could use resources that are available to get them the true help they need. A lot of times what is happening is, these individuals are just going to receive probation and go out and keep stealing rather than dealing with the underlining issue, drug abuse.

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