GREECE, N.Y. – The Mall at Greece Ridge is cracking down on shoplifting with new technology that alerts police when known shoplifters enter the property.

“Either that information was given to us by police or we’ve experienced it here personally, where there’s been some theft and they jump in a car and take off,” said Al D’Agostino, vice president and corporate security director with Wilmorite.

The cameras read license plates, looking for vehicles tied to previous incidents. When a known shoplifter tries to come back, an alert pops up on the screen at both the mall security office and the police station.

“Once we know they’re on property and they see us, sometimes that’s enough just for them to just go somewhere else,” D’Agostino said.

Sometimes, the plate might hit for another reason and then the mall gets a call from the police.

“They call us and let us know, hey, this car just came in and we try to find it for them — we’re like their eyes for that, and then we can direct them exactly where it went and maybe if someone got out of the car, we can get a good shot of them,” D’Agostino explained.

The same technology has been in use at Eastview Mall in Victor for the last few years. Wilmorite says it has increased the number of shoplifting arrests by 45%.

“Sometimes is desperation on their part, sometimes they just don’t really care or they just take a chance — but with our technology that we have here and we keep upgrading, keeping up with the times, I mean we are able to get some really good footage and pictures that we can actually turn over to the police and then they can solve these issues,” D’Agostino said.

There’s also a Greece police officer assigned to The Mall at Greece Ridge, and two Ontario County sheriff’s deputies assigned to Eastview Mall. When a problem arises, it’s not just security responding but a police officer too.

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