STOCKTON, Calif. — Moments before signing his office's first-ever agreement Friday with the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce, San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas promised to crack down on retail thieves in front of a room full of business owners.
"Paying is not optional here in San Joaquin County," said Freitas to the crowd of entrepreneurs. "We are here to prosecute it."
After talking at the podium, Freitas and the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, Timm Quinn, signed the memorandum of understanding and held a ceremonial ribbon cutting.
"Talking to my fellow chamber leaders around the state of California, this (agreement) is the first for California as well," said Quinn. "We really wanted to take a grassroots effort. Public-private partnerships are the way to go. Collaboration — you can get so much more done when you're working with other people."
Collaboration will be key for the new "STAART" program which launched Friday under the agreement, and with the help of a $15,000 contribution from San Joaquin County. "STAART" stands for Stockton Takes Action Against Retail Theft.
"We're unveiling new technology that's going to work very well so that individuals... serial shoplifters from our community can be prosecuted," said Freitas.
The new technology includes an app for business owners to report crimes. The Chamber of Commerce also plans to host workshops educating owners on topics like how to be a good witness, how to best place security cameras and use of force policies.
"I'm very confident this will be an effective partnership," said Quinn. "We're looking forward to, like I said, getting out there and doing something different because what we're doing right now isn't working."
The program is in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce's nearly 850 members, but, the chamber says businesses don't have to be members to make a difference.
"If you spot it, stop it. Dial 911," said Freitas. "Let the professionals handle it."
Quinn echoes the same message, adding that reporting crimes helps identify trends.
"I know people are frustrated and sometimes they just don't report them but we need the numbers," said Quinn. "We need the statistics, we need the data to be able to be more effective."
Chris Podesto, the general manager of Food 4 Less and Rancho San Miguel Markets, is hoping the new agreement will be effective.
He and other business leaders proposed reforms to California's Proposition 47. The bill was passed in 2014 and downgraded dozens of nonviolent property crimes to misdemeanors.
There is a ballot measure being proposed now to reform that law. It needs nearly 550,000 signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
"The crime has been rampant," said Podesto. "We spend a lot of money on security to deter it, but when they're not prosecuting them as they had not been in the past, it hasn't helped us."
But now, help is on the way and Podesto is optimistic.
"We think this legislation, this new effort, is going to really help curve crime in our community," said Podesto.
Watch more from ABC10: California invested hundreds of millions to fight retail theft
