STOCKTON, Calif. — After months of brainstorming, developing and planning, a new app is now available to the public to report retail theft in San Joaquin County.
"People are frustrated, and if you don't do anything, it's just going to keep happening," said Timm Quinn, CEO of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce, the organization behind the app. "We went around to a lot of businesses and heard a lot of complaints, and we said, 'There's got to be something we can do that's a little more proactive.'"
Out of the complaints came an idea for the "FAST STAART" app. The free app, available on most major app stores as of Thursday, allows customers to record and report theft.
"All that information goes directly to the merchants, and the merchants can use this evidence to include with their police reports to have more evidence to hopefully get prosecutions, build bigger cases," Quinn said. "The business owners, the merchants, they're fed up."
Law enforcement officers and prosecutors filled tables at a luncheon Thursday to celebrate the launch of the app. They said they're on board.
"Obviously, law enforcement can't be everywhere, so with this app, individuals can directly report crimes," said San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas. "I think by all of us working together — businesses, consumers and the District Attorney's Office — we can better protect our customers, our clients and everybody in the community."
Now, it will be on the community to download the app and report what they see. The Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce also announced Thursday, new grants that will cover the cost of installing security cameras at local businesses.
"We've done a big campaign, a big push, just awareness on it. There are 70-plus billboards around San Joaquin County," Quinn said. "It's going to take the whole community to make a difference in this."
It's a difference that local business leaders like Eloquent Design and Apparel owner Paulette Amous-Gross can't wait to see.
"Now that the theft has gotten worse, we're open two days a week, and we leave the door locked," Amous-Gross said. "We are looking. Everyone's looking and there is something going to be done. You're going to be prosecuted if you steal. I think this is going to work."
Watch more from ABC10: Agreement signed in Stockton to tackle retail theft
