ASSEMBLYMEMBER DIXON SIGNS ONTO LETTER TO REQUEST RESEARCH AND A REPORT ON RETAIL THEFT IN CALIFORNIA

RE: Request to Research and Report on Retail Theft in California

Dear Chair Nava:

We respectfully request that the Little Hoover Commission investigate retail theft, shoplifting, and organized retail theft in California, and publish a report detailing its findings. Rising crime rates in 2021 led to increased criticism of Proposition 47 including claims that it leaves law enforcement and prosecutors unable to do their jobs. However, a lack of aggregated data makes it difficult to substantiate these claims. In order for the Legislature to best address retail theft it must have a better understanding of what is actually occurring from a data-driven viewpoint.

In 2014, California voters approved Prop. 47 which reclassified certain drug possession offenses and property offenses less than $950 from felonies or wobblers to misdemeanors, and created the misdemeanor offense of shoplifting. Reports of increased theft post-Prop. 47 have led to heightened scrutiny of law enforcement’s ability to respond effectively with agencies and prosecutors arguing that Prop. 47 restricts their ability to arrest and prosecute perpetrators and leaves them unable to adequately address the rise in crime.

In contrast, supporters of Proposition 47 point to substantially reduced prison populations and historically low crime rates in 2020 as some of the successes of the legislation, and research in other states has shown that raising the felony theft threshold has no impact on crime. Others still feel that while there are ample laws on the books to arrest and prosecute individuals for theft, law enforcement may not be as motivated to make arrests when felony charges are not an option. With convincing arguments from both support and opposition as well as a lack of concrete information on retail theft, it is difficult to ascertain the actual impact of Prop 47.

We recognize the Commission’s long standing reputation as a trusted provider of independent research to the Legislature. This is why we request that the Commission shed light on this multi-faceted issue by investigating retail theft, shoplifting, and organized crime and publishing a report including specific data on the number of reported thefts, the value of thefts, and the responses made by law enforcement and prosecutors. Specifically, we request a report which provides:

• Information including the number of reported retail thefts, shoplifting, and organized retail thefts, the size of the business, the type of property reported stolen, and monetary value of the property reported stolen.
• Inforn1ation on law enforcement’s response to reports of retail theft, shoplifting, and organized retail theft, including, the average amount of time taken by the law enforcement agency to respond, whether the report was investigated by law enforcement, whether an arrest was made in response to each report, whether a citation was made in response to each report, and, if so, which, and whether the investigating law enforcement referred the case to the district attorney for
• Information on whether the district attorney who received reports of retail thefts, shoplifting, and organized retail thefts from law enforcement agencies filed criminal charges in each case, and, if charges were not filed, the extent to which this was due to the district attorney’s detern1ination that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the offense, due to policies relating to the prioritization of filing charges in these types of cases, or due to some other reason for declining to file criminal charges in these cases.
• Countywide statistical information, including the amount of reports of theft, shoplifting, and organized retail theft made to law enforcement in each county as well as the corresponding response, the amount of citations given, the number of cases referred to the district attorney for prosecution, and the disposition of each case referred to the district attorney in each county.

This information will allow lawmakers to gain a better understanding of retail theft and the effects of Proposition 47.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,