NATCHEZ — Something unusual may be going on at the self-checkout line in Walmart, officials say.

Natchez city officials have noticed a high number of shoplifting arrests related to the self-checkout line, and are questioning whether some of the allegations could be mistakes.

Since October 2015, Natchez police have been called to the Walmart store on Seargent S. Prentiss Drive at least 100 times to respond to reports of shoplifting.

Most of the reports describe items hidden in jackets or pockets, or simply people who ran out of the store with TVs in their arms.

At least 20 of these incidents, however, took place at the self-checkout line.

The narrative reports on those instances almost always describe a failure to scan an item; many suspects told police the items were left unscanned by accident.

They were all arrested.

One person who was arrested for shoplifting at the self-checkout, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the self-checkout area made it difficult to keep track of what items had already been purchased.

“Everything was really full,” she said. “They don’t have a lot of space, so you have to bag things and put them back in the cart.”

She forgot an item in the bottom of her shopping cart, she said, and when she approached the door, she was stopped and told that surveillance had noticed the omission.

“I said, ‘oh my God, you’re right. I’m so sorry, let me go back and pay for it,’” she said.

But instead of being allowed to return to checkout, she was escorted to the back of the store and detained.

“The (employees at the store) were completely unprofessional,” she said. “It got pretty messy back there. I was very frustrated, and they wouldn’t let me step out to make a phone call.”

When police arrived, she said she was brought to the police station but was never able to submit a statement about what happened.

Natchez Police Chief Danny White said the prevalence of the problem has not escaped him.

“It’s true, there’s definitely a lot,” White said. “And it’s that self-checkout. Now, what’s going on there, I don’t know.”

Municipal Court Judge Jim Blough said he has seen every single one of the self-checkout cases.

“It has come up again and again, and it’s something that will have to be looked at harder,” Blough said. “It is a growing problem, and they’re working on it on both sides.”

Blough said Walmart almost always has surveillance video of the defendants who come to his court.

Defendants are shown on video passing items behind or in front of the scanner where the computer cannot see them, then placing the merchandise in bags and heading toward the exit.

Blough said the store’s loss prevention officers detain the suspects after confirming their receipts don’t include items in their cart.

Alleged shoplifters in court, Blough said, often try to show how it was an accident, not a crime.

“It’s usually the element of, ‘Why would I steal it if I had cash? I paid the rest in cash, what makes you think I would try to steal something?’’ Blough said. “And I don’t know.”

Several people who were arrested for shoplifting at the self-checkout aisles said anonymously that they were innocent, but pleading guilty was the fastest way to get the matter resolved.

Blough offers people arrested for their first shoplifting offense to pay a fine and be banned from the store, avoiding jail time or a lengthy trial.

“And eight out of 10 say they’ll plead guilty,” Blough said. “But you can’t plead guilty and then go complain. If you plead guilty, you’re guilty.”

Blough said he is not sure whether the self-checkout is simply an easy target for shoplifters, or if there’s something going wrong.

“It’s another device that they’re learning how to beat,” Blough said. “But it could be an error, and we’re having discussions with the Walmart people.”

The person who was arrested at Walmart said the ordeal has damaged her professional reputation and caused her to miss workdays. She also had to spend a large sum on lawyers.

She is now banned from Walmart, and says she sometimes has nightmares about the ordeal.

“Their job is to prevent loss, not just catch people,” she said. “All someone had to do is tell me. I immediately wanted to go to the register and pay for it. They had the opportunity to stop it before it became an issue, but they didn’t.”

Walmart Media Relations senior manager Aaron Mullins said he could not share how loss prevention officers are trained nor whether an investigation was ongoing throughout the company.

“Our asset-protection team does a great job in identifying people who break the law in our stores,” Mullins said. “We constantly evaluate our security measures on a store-by-store basis and are committed to being partners with the Natchez Police Department on crime prevention.”

Mullins said anyone concerned about their treatment in a Walmart store should contact a manager immediately.

For Blough, the best way to protect against unfair shoplifting allegations is to avoid the self-checkout altogether.

“I wouldn’t use self-checkout for the love of anything,” Blough said. “I think the people associated with the court don’t use them either.”