It’s that time of year! Thousands of Connecticut and Massachusetts shoppers will be heading to Enfield’s big box stores to get gifts for the holiday season.

But in doing so, you may see more of a police presence.

Enfield police say shoplifting is a year-round problem, but increases every holiday season because of the number of shoppers who come.

It is stepping up its efforts to reduce theft by conducting more focused operations to catch people.

“Occupied. very busy Crazy around here,” Heather Merrill said of Enfield’s shopping district this time of year.

“I try to shop very early in the morning, very late at night,” Kate Garrity said.

Shoppers are flocking to stores for special gifts and the best deals, but Enfield police say not everyone is walking in ready to pay.

“We couldn’t quantify how many theft calls we have. We seem to get 100 in a week,” said Sergeant Steven Austin of Enfield Police.

Earlier in the week, Austin and other Enfield Community Police officers spent the day working stores like Kohl’s and Target, looking for shoplifters.

Austin says they picked a random day and ended up catching — and arresting — five people.

“We’re on site with the loss prevention officer, so we look at the surveillance ourselves and can apprehend suspects right then and there,” Austin said.

Police say of those arrested, one woman only had $4,000 worth of stolen property. The others stole several hundred dollars worth of goods.

Austin says this is the first year the community policing unit has been conducting targeted shoplifting operations in hopes of deterring people from trying.

We don’t want to say when or where – but we’re looking forward to working with loss prevention again,” said Austin.

There are consequences for shoplifting in Connecticut, such as thousands of dollars in fines and the potential for jail time, depending on how much money the stolen items are worth.