SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Sacramento County officials and consumers are getting increasingly frustrated about retail theft. Now, changes are being made.
Detective Andy Cater with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office says retail theft is “out of control, completely out of control.” He works in the property crimes division and runs sting operations for the county.
He says he’s recently seen an uptick in more repeat offenders.
“These folks are not staying in custody, they are not learning their lessons,” said Cater.
According to the National Retailers Federation, 67% of businesses report seeing repeat offenders.
“We had several people that we arrested during ‘(operation) Bad Elf’ and we re-contacted them in this operation,” said Cater.
People arrested in December’s sting were also being arrested in March’s sting operation.
“A lot of time you just feel like you aren’t making a difference when you see those same people over and over again,” said Cater. “It gets disheartening.”
Examples like this led to Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho to announce a specific prosecuting unit to focus on retail theft.
The team includes a full time investigator and prosecutor and dozens of cases have already come their way.
“We are working very closely with both the big retailers and small businesses as well to make sure, for example, we get a top ten list of people who reoffend in that area,” said Ho.
Assembly Bill 1772 proposes anyone convicted of two or more prior theft convictions would serve “up to one year, or for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years” in county jail and would have to make “conforming changes.”
It would change existing legislation from Proposition 47, which was passed by voters in 2014 to classify thefts under $950 as a misdemeanor.
If approved in the assembly, the bill would eventually go to voters.
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