Hoboken ShopRite Shoplifting Videos With Discordant Soundtracks Are Proving Popular

HOBOKEN, NJ — No time is a good time for goodbye, according to the Jefferson Starship song "Sara" — and no time is a good time to be accused of shoplifting at the Hoboken ShopRite, either.

The Starship tune serves as a cacophonous soundtrack for a video, recently posted to YouTube, in which the Hoboken police show up to question women about allegedly shoplifting at the supermarket.

The video appears on a popular YouTube channel called Drive Thru Tours, which specializes in videos of real-life crimes and police activity.

Lately, the channel has been drawing hundreds of thousands of viewers with videos of Hoboken police heading to ShopRite to question the alleged shoplifters. The peppy background music playing at the supermarket adds extra irony.

In several of the videos, Hoboken police bodycam shows shoppers being diverted, before leaving the store, into a room overlooking the checkout aisles. There, police and loss prevention officers, who have been watching them on screen, are waiting to question them.

One video from last month has just short of half a million views, and drew more than 2,000 comments. It says several young women were questioned.

"Everyone in the office watching the security screen like it's a super tense football game," commented one viewer.

The channel's description explains, "All footage is meant to be informative and educational. Our content involves incidents that have previously not been uploaded. Our raw footage is obtained through public records requests from each respective police department. Some departments charge fees for the cost of reviewing and/or reproducing the records, which we have to pay for."

Marci Rubin, a spokesperson for the Hoboken Police Department, said that all such videos are obtained through the state's Open Public Records Act. According to state law, a person can obtain public records by filing a request including the date of the incident. In Hoboken, a person can use the process and the links on this city webpage.

"Video, or records, released by the Hoboken PD is done via the OPRA process," Rubin said Wednesday. "Anyone who wishes to file an OPRA request can send it online, via email, postal mail, or in person at the City Clerk's office."

'Skip-Scan' Shoplifting

Shoplifting is on the rise nationally, especially with supermarkets reducing staff and relying on self-checkout aisles.

LendingTree, a loan company, said last year that approximately 31`percent of Gen-Z consumers say they have stolen items from self-checkout lanes.

Several of those caught in the recent ShopRite videos are accused of paying for just a few items, and then trying to leave with the rest.

This is called "skip-scanning." A police officer in Central Jersey was recently accused of this crime.

However, some customers of chains like Walmart have said they've been falsely accused of shoplifting at self-checkout kiosks, when an item didn't scan properly.

Banned From The Store

Regardless, the YouTube channel may end up acting as a deterrent, showing people the consequences of what they may believe is a petty act.

In some skip-scanning cases, the supermarkets remember the shoppers from a previous incident — which the shoppers likely thought they got away with —and are ready for them the next time.

Police records show that those caught shoplifting are usually arrested and taken to Hoboken Police Headquarters across town, where they're issued a summons and released. Some have also been banned from the store.

One man was charged with both shoplifting and defiant trespassing on March 7, according to Hoboken police records. The 57-year-old Hoboken man was taken into custody after police responded "on reports of a shoplifter acting aggressively toward loss prevention employees." He was charged with trespassing because ShopRite had already banned him from the store for past incidents.

Drive Thru Tours doesn't only post videos of ShopRite shoppers. A video posted just this week shows the Hoboken police questioning a driver after they get a call about about an alleged hit-and-run.

Some viewers were left wanting more.

"Maybe you can OPRA Union City, North Bergen, and Guttenberg," suggested a fan.

You can read recent Hudson County crime reporting on Patch here.