Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
By Joe W. Bowers Jr. and Edward Henderson | California Black Media
On September 12, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state is making a $267,118,293 investment to combat organized retail crime.
This sum represents the largest-ever single investment ever made by the state to aid law enforcement in fighting crime. As part of a competitive grant process, the funding, if approved, would be allocated for 55 local law enforcement agencies across California.
The initiative, part of the Governor’s Real Public Safety Plan, is slated to be dispersed on Oct. 1, 2023, to police departments, sheriffs’ departments, and district attorney offices in every region of the state to prevent and investigate cases of organized retail theft and arrest and prosecute more suspects.
“Enough with these brazen smash-and-grabs. With an unprecedented $267 million investment, Californians will soon see more takedowns, more police, more arrests, and more felony prosecutions. When shameless criminals walk out of stores with stolen goods, they’ll walk straight into jail cells,” Newsom said in a statement.
The funding would be used to create fully staffed retail theft investigative units, increase arrests, install advanced surveillance technology, train loss prevention officers, create new task forces, increase cooperation with businesses and the community, target criminals in blitz operations, as well as crack down on vehicle and catalytic converter theft.
The next day, following the announcement of the grants, the Governor’s office held a news briefing featuring four law enforcement leaders whose offices will benefit from the program: California Highway Patrol Commissioner Sean Duryee; San Francisco D.A. Brooke Jenkins; San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott; and Los Angeles County Assistant Sheriff Holly Francisco.
“I want to thank Governor Newsom for making this issue a priority, for allocating resources from our state to ensure we are able to set a new tone in the state of California: that this conduct is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” said Jenkins.
