Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, hosted a community discussion on the impacts of retail theft at Santa Clarita City Hall on Monday evening.
Schiavo said that she and Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur, chair of the Assembly Retail Theft Select Committee, have been working together on legislative solutions to help protect small business, ensure public safety and provide law enforcement with the tools they need to address retail theft.
“Our package of 10 bills was signed by the governor to tackle this important issue and under the organized retail theft prevention grant program, the L.A. (County) sheriff and (Los Angeles Police Department) both received about $15 million in state grants to address retail crime,” said Schiavo.
Zbur added that public safety remains the top priority for California and the bills will now make it easier for law enforcement to apprehend and convict suspects by using video surveillance or identifying retail crime rings.
Representatives from law enforcement, businesses and business associations spoke as a panel to how effective they believe the new legislative will be and what else the committee could do to help business owners.
John Musella, representing the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, said that these crimes disproportionately affect small and medium business while they are still trying to recover from the pandemic, inflation and supply chain challenges.
“Over the last 18 to 24 months, the SCV Chamber has been in regular communication with our retail businesses to provide them with best management practices to help them deter retail theft and connect them with law enforcement and security resources,” said Musella, “as well as advocating to support your retail theft community efforts with your batch of legislative bills.”
He said that the SCV Chamber would like the committee to note it is important to reach out to businesses owned by people of color and be in conversation with them, and to make business owners aware of new laws and propositions being passed so they are aware of changes coming in the new year. Lastly, he noted that the chamber would like to continuously host conversations about retail theft to refine legislative efforts and ensure they are effective.
David Phelps, chair of government affairs for the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley, said he advised small business owners to now invest in high-definition cameras that utilize artificial intelligence analytics to enhance situational awareness and maintain image quality and to report retail theft crimes to the police. Law enforcement will now be able to use security footage to identify and build a case against suspects.
He added that the UCC believes that if small business owners are familiar with police chiefs and captains, they will feel more comfortable with submitting reports.
Nancy Hoffman Vanyek, CEO of the Greater San Fernando Valley Chamber, and Catherine Grooms, executive director of Small Business Development Centers, spoke about how chambers and the center can help connect business to resources they may need to deal with theft and connect them to communities that can provide them with support.
California Highway Patrol Lt. Sergio Perez said that the CHP has formed organized retail theft task forces throughout the state, and they have now been involved in 538 proactive investigations.
“I do have some tips when it comes to retail theft,” said Perez. “If you are a business owner and you do see someone stealing product from your store, you’re better off being a better witness instead of trying to engage.”
He said it helps to get the suspect’s description and possibly license plate information rather than engaging and possibly escalating the situation.
L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Detective Jan Wong said that the Sheriff’s Department has formed three teams to address retail and cargo theft. She said the teams will work together with businesses to perform operations to take down habitual thieves.
Since the team’s inception last September, Wong said the organized retail task force has worked on 1,641 cases and arrested 944 individuals and has recovered $29.1 million in stolen merchandise.
Paul Kim spoke on behalf of newly elected District Attorney Nathan Hochman, saying that he wants business, customers and community members to feel safe and combatting organized retail theft is one of his highest priorities.
Schiavo’s special advisor on retail theft, Greg Martayan, closed the panel discussion by saying, “Retail theft is an exploitation by criminals of vulnerable businesses. It is imperative that we take a multifaceted approach. There is no single solution but there are key areas where we can focus our efforts.”
