Lawmakers across the nation have been asking for harsher theft penalties for shoplifting. California and other states have passed laws that anything below $950 dollars worth of stolen merchandise is a misdemeanor. The punishment for shoplifters is negligent, and small business owners wonder whether the laws are there to protect the small business or the shoplifter. Many government officials believe that an increase in wages will help the fight against shoplifting, but many small business owners are skeptical.
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N.J. Senate committee to take up $15 minimum wage
A New Jersey Senate committee is expected to act Monday on a plan that would phase in the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next five years.
The National Federation of Independent Business says raising the cost of labor will be a blow for small businesses. It predicts the move will cost 70,000 jobs in New Jersey over the next decade.
Senate President Steve Sweeney disputes that. He says giving low-income workers more money to spend will make the economy stronger.
“We raised the minimum wage last time. They predicted thousands of layoffs. Guess what? There were thousands of jobs added,” said Sweeney, a Democrat from Gloucester County.
William Rodgers, public policy professor at Rutgers, says the number of job openings has increased but companies are not filling many of those positions because the salaries are low.
“So by raising the minimum wage you’re going to help some of these employers fill those vacancies that they’ve been having for a long period of time,” he said. “You’re also going to see improvement in morale. Productivity is going to improve.”
Change in law results in big jump in California shoplifting
ROCKLIN, Calif. (AP) — Perry Lutz says his struggle to survive as a small businessman became a lot harder after California voters reduced theft penalties 1½ years ago.
About a half-dozen times this year, shoplifters have stolen expensive drones or another of the remote-controlled toys he sells in HobbyTown USA, a small shop in Rocklin, northeast of Sacramento. “It’s just pretty much open season,” Lutz said. “They’ll pick the $800 unit and just grab it and run out the door.”
Anything below $950 keeps the crime a misdemeanor – and likely means the thieves face no pursuit and no punishment, say retailers and law enforcement officials. Large retailers including Safeway, Target, Rite Aid and CVS pharmacies say shoplifting increased at least 15 percent, and in some cases, doubled since voters approved Proposition 47 and ended the possibility of charging shoplifting as a felony with the potential for a prison sentence.
Shoplifting reports to the Los Angeles Police Department jumped by a quarter in the first year, according to statistics the department compiled for The Associated Press. The ballot measure also lowered penalties for forgery, fraud, petty theft and drug possession.
$37,000 in goods shoplifted, couple arrested
The couple allegedly stole from Safeway, Target and Fred Meyer.
SALEM, Ore. (KOIN) — Salem police, with the assistance of a region retail theft prevention coalition, arrested 2 people for unlawful racketeering.
Salem Police Lt. Steve Birr said Michael Rascon and his wife, Maria Rojas, were arrested on Thursday morning after detectives executed a search warrant in the 100 block of Connecticut Street Southeast.
A large amount of new retail items still in their original packaging was located at the residence, police said.
Rascon and Rojas will be charged with unlawful racketeering, money laundering, organized retail theft, and first-degree theft by deception.
Investigators with Safeway/Albertsons, Fred Meyer and Target collaborated as part of the Northwest Organized Retail Crime Alliance to build the case against them.
KOIN 6 News has learned the two were selling stolen items online, buying stolen merchandise and even had “shopping lists” of things that they wanted stolen so they could turn around and sell.
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Is your burglar alarm giving you all it’s got? Technology keeps updating but there is one area you may not be thinking about getting more from your dollar: your burglar alarm system.
My grandparents owned a small hardware store back in the late 1950s. Back then, when my grandpa left at 5pm, he simply locked the back door, gathered his belongings and left, locking the double glass front door behind him with nothing more than a standard lock that you’d find on any home at the time. The front of the store was nothing but glass. He had cash and at least $100k worth of merchandise on the shelves. Wouldn’t it be nice if things could go back to the way they were back then? Could you imagine if you left your store this soft nowadays? Burglaries happen, and they happen often. Over the past ten years as a Regional LP manager for my company, I’ve had it happen a total of 12 times. About once a year, or so, someone, somewhere across my region, breaks into one of my stores; or at least tries to do so. We have a lot of things that we implement to prevent this from happening, so when someone is able to breach our perimeter, it’s usually caused by human error.
