Gastonia police bumping up presence in Black Friday's early hours

GASTONIA, N.C.,None — Black Friday crowds are growing outside stores by the minute, and by midnight in many stores, there will be a mad rush to get the holiday deals.

In Gastonia, more police will mix in with the crowds to try and keep people safe.

"It's going to be crazy," said shopper Eddie Mitchell.

Crowds are camping out in front of Best buy stores for a $200 HDTV and customers know the store only has 25 of them.

Mitchell is 24th in line. "Friends start showing up, and the count start looking funny," he said.

That can create tension for some people, especially those who have been camped out since Tuesday night.

"You never know what could happen," said another shopper, Frank Dorfmeister.

Sadie Rankin remembers the frenzy last year. "A woman tried to take something out of my cart and was ready to fight me to for it," she said.

Police said the stores have helped build the excitement, but they have also hired a lot of off-duty officers who will make up the bulk of the added police presence shoppers see Thursday night.

"Our police force and presence will be increased by about 20 percent," said Officer Chris Baxter with the Gastonia Police Department.

The off-duty officers will conduct crowd control and protect store merchandise, police said.

Some shoppers are happy about the added security.

"It makes me feel better that they are out here to be with us," said shopper Lauren Piasecki.

"Their presence could keep things under control if anything happens," Dorfmeister added.

Gastonia police have also added more officers to their holiday task force. For security reasons they do not want to reveal the number of new officers that will patrol the parking lots.

Members of the Marine Corps League of Gaston County have agreed to serve as citizen police. They will look for trouble while they are out shopping and alert police by dialing 911.

This Black Friday is expected to be especially busy.

The National Retail Federation estimates 152 million people will shop Friday, a 10 percent increase from last year.

For the first time ever, Black Friday sales are expected to top $20 billion.

WSOC