SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As a direct response to the growing crisis of organized retail crime (ORC), California Retailers Association President and CEO, Rachel Michelin, announced the launch of a new statewide coalition — Californians for Safe Stores and Neighborhoods.
Read excerpts of “Special Report: Fight Against Organized Crime” from Fox11 News with Elex Michaelson and Marla Tellez below, which lays out the “4D’s” of the campaign :
“What can we do to be a part of the solution? There’s a lot of finger pointing. Lots of people saying this is the problem. That is the problem. And we just want to solve the problem.
“Our campaign won’t solve the problem overnight, but it will bring some much needed changes to help, particularly our small businesses, our communities; will protect our employees and our customers from this rampant retail theft we see across the State of California.
“We believe this is a balanced plan and a good first step to stopping Organized Retail Theft in our state.”
DISMANTLE
“We are very supportive of what the Governor is pushing in the budget. We hope the State Legislature will continue to work with us on that (ORC) funding because it’s needed to make sure we have the resources to combat organized crime rings.”
DISRUPT
“We are supporting Senate Bill 301, which helps disrupt these organized crime rings by putting guard rails around the online marketplaces so thieves cannot immediately pop (stolen goods) up, which do a lot of harm to our small legitimate sellers. This bill will make sure law enforcement and retailers have the ability to stop stolen goods from being sold (online).”
DETER
“We need to bring the felony threshold back. We need to make sure we can aggregate these crimes so these repeat offenders are held accountable.”
DIVERT
“We want to make sure repeat offenders are offered diversion programs and job training while also taking care of our vulnerable populations who are being victimized by organized crime rings.”
# # #
About California for Safe Stores and Neighborhoods
Californians for Safe Stores and Neighborhoods is a public affairs campaign to promote a four-step, comprehensive solution to protect consumers, employees and our neighborhoods from organized retail crime and retail theft. The Californians for Safe Stores and Neighborhoods initiative will not only restore safety to our residents and communities, but it will improve our local economies by keeping neighborhoods safe and communities thriving. For more information about Californians for Safe Stores and Neighborhoods, visit www.CASafeShopping.org
