California leaders divided on answers to retail theft crisis

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Facing mounting pressure to crack down on a retail theft crisis, California lawmakers are split on how best to tackle the problem that some say has caused major store closures and products such as deodorants to be locked behind plastic glass.

Top Democratic leaders have already ruled out reforming progressive policies such as Proposition 47, a ballot measure approved by 60% of state voters in 2014 that reduced certain theft and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors to address overcrowding jails.

But a growing number of law enforcement officials, along with Republican and moderate Democratic lawmakers, said California needs to consider all options, including rolling back the measure.

While shoplifting has been a growing problem, large-scale thefts, in which groups of individuals brazenly rush into stores and take goods in plain sight, have become a crisis in California and elsewhere in recent years. The California Retailers Association said it’s challenging to quantify the issue in California because many stores don’t share their data.

Urban areas and big cities such as Los Angeles and those it the Bay Area saw a steady increase in shoplifting between 2021 and 2022, according to a study of the latest crime data by The Public Policy

Institute of California. Across the state, shoplifting rates rose during the same period but were still lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2019, while commercial burglaries and robberies have become more prevalent in urban counties, the study says.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a champion of Proposition 47 who has repeatedly argued that California already has tools to sufficiently go after criminals, rejected calls to reform the measure in January.

He instead urged lawmakers to bolster existing laws and go after motor vehicle thefts and resellers of stolen merchandise.

California also is spending $267 million to help dozens of local law enforcement agencies increase patrols, buy surveillance equipment and conduct other activities to crack down on retail theft.

“Not to say everything about Prop. 47 is hunkydory and perfect,” Newsom said in January. “We want to help fix some of the ambiguities there, but we could do it without reforming or going back to the voters.”

California voters approved Proposition 47 in 2014 to help the state comply with a 2011 California Supreme Court order that held that the state’s overcrowded prisons violated incarcerated individuals’ Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment.

The proposition modified, but did not eliminate, sentencing for many drug and nonviolent property crimes, including thefts under $950.