There’s been some news swirling around the LP world for a few weeks now about California and some new laws that the state has passed. Basically, the state raised the threshold for a felony theft to $950. The article hinted that shoplifting has increased in the major retail stores and calls for shoplifting cases have increased by 25% to the LAPD. The article blamed the new legislation for this. Here’s a link to that article if you’d like to read it. (http://losspreventionmedia.com/insider/shoplifting-organized-retail-crime/welcome-to-california-a-shoplifters-paradise/?mqsc=E3836406).
I know I’ll catch some flak from my colleagues, but I’m going to openly disagree. Honestly, I don’t think your average shoplifter is paying much attention to the state laws governing shoplifting. In my home state of Louisiana, felony theft, when I started my LP career was $350. Over time, the state legislators have increased that to $500, and more recently to $750. So where that shoplifter was being charged with a felony 10 years ago, they are now being charged with a misdemeanor. In most cases, they are still booked into parish jail and have to bond out. Very rarely do officers issue a citation. Our jails are just as over-crowded as California and our budget situation is arguably worse. If California is seeing an increase in shoplifting, let’s also consider that the state has no laws regarding organized retail crime.
In Louisiana, there are organized retail crime laws on the books. In addition, shoplifting has a habitual offender clause. These two pieces of legislation are what makes an impact, not the dollar threshold for a felony. Your organized criminal enterprises are what’s causing you problems. These are the boosters who target stores up and down the interstate. The groups that make a living conducing refund fraud and those individuals who just will continue to steal because they see it as “victim-less”. These are the people that impact retailers and these are the ones that deserve the harsher penalties. I don’t believe a high school kid, or college freshman should be subject to a felony if their first offense is stealing a $300 pair of headphones. They need consequences, but a felony record is not one of them.
Why organized crime laws work for the state
If you are stealing for the sole purpose of re-selling for profit, you are a problem. Chances are, if you’re involved with a group like this, you’re also involved in other, more serious crimes. Just this past year, I was able to help local detectives make a case against a ring of car thieves. While detectives didn’t have enough evidence at the time to book anyone on the car thefts, the same people were involved in organized retail crimes. They were stealing large quantities of ammunition and then selling the merchandise at local flea markets and gun shows to fund their car theft operation. Police were able to use the organized crime laws to bring felony charges against them, which led them to the evidence they needed to bust the car theft case wide open. Had it not been for those laws being on the books, these violent criminals may still be out on the streets.
Additionally, Louisiana has a habitual offender clause in the shoplifting law. Anyone convicted of shoplifting 3 times shall be charged with a felony on each subsequent arrest. Basically, if you are convicted 3 times of shoplifting, whether those convictions are misdemeanors or felonies, any subsequent arrest is upgraded to felony charges from the DA’s office. I’ve seen this work in action a dozen or so times throughout my time here. Just last year, we busted a guy for stealing about $200 worth of apparel. He was out on parole for aggravated battery. He had 4 other shoplifting convictions. The DA prosecuted him as a habitual offender, which revoked his parole and he went back to prison to serve the remainder of his 5 year sentence. That’s what has an impact. If a person knows that they can face actual time, you have a deterrence to shoplifting.
So maybe, retail leaders in California should shift their focus from complaining about the felony threshold, to lobbying their elected leaders to pass meaningful legislation that will actually have an impact on shoplifting. While some professional criminals will take advantage of this new law, the retail community and lawmakers should work together to pass laws that target those that are the true problem. That starts with an organized retail crime law, California.
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