ROANOKE (WSLS) - It's not unusual to see Roanoke City Police Officers patrolling around Valley View Mall but more of them will be watching this holiday season.
"Our biggest effort is to prevent shoplifting from occurring in our city especially around the holiday season," says Lt. Daniel Hartman, Community Response Team. "We tend to see an increase in shoplifting, it does trend."
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For the next few weeks, officers will be out patrolling around malls and shopping centers on bikes and in cars.
It's an increased presence Lt. Hartman believes could help stop people from shoplifting and committing other crimes too.
"When you have an increased presence it would keep someone from wanting to commit an offense cause the police are there your chances of getting caught or captured are increased," says Lt. Hartman.
Now if you do get caught officers say you won't get away easily. Not only will you pay the fine, but your picture will be shown on social media like Facebook and on their website.
Police say they're trying to do as much as they can to stop criminals from taking what's not theirs.
"People work hard for what they get and it's just not right for someone to take something that doesn't belong to them so that's why we're out there really to prevent that from occurring," says Lt. Hartman.