Ahead of Black Friday and holiday shopping season, Governor Newsom announces organized retail crime enforcement operations
What you need to know: Governor Newsom is announcing the California Highway Patrol’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force will conduct proactive operations during the holiday season, building on a record-breaking year of investigations that have led to over 1,200 arrests so far. Since its creation in 2019, the state’s task force has recovered over $47.4 million in stolen items.
SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the California Highway Patrol’s (CHP) Organized Retail Crime Task Force (ORCTF) will conduct proactive law enforcement operations during the busy holiday season. The Governor also announced new data showing the task force has made over 1,200 arrests, conducted 677 investigations, and recovered over $9.3 million worth of stolen items since January. Year-to-date, this is the most investigations the CHP has conducted in the task force’s six-year history.
“California continues to crack down on organized crime. The CHP officers facilitating this effort are hard at work each day, and will continue to protect and serve California’s consumers through the holiday season – including the upcoming Black Friday shopping sprint.”
Governor Gavin Newsom
“Through our unwavering dedication and collaboration, the Organized Retail Theft Task Force has established a new standard in combating theft, achieving record-breaking results in investigations, arrests, and asset recovery,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee. “As we approach the holiday shopping season, we will work diligently to enforce California’s organized retail crime laws and protect businesses and communities throughout the state.”
Holiday operations
During the holiday season, the CHP will conduct proactive and confidential law enforcement operations with allied agencies — keeping more shoppers, merchants, and retail districts safe. The increased law enforcement presence across California aims to protect shoppers and merchants while apprehending retail criminals in the act.
To curb retail crime during the holiday shopping season, the CHP’s ORCTF regional teams in Southern California, the Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley, and Sacramento are partnering with retailers, loss prevention teams, and local law enforcement agencies. Several proactive and confidential operations are planned in collaboration with allied agencies statewide, with investigators working diligently to dismantle known boosters and fencing operations tied to organized retail crime.
Recovery of stolen goods
Since the inception of the task force in 2019, the CHP has been involved in over 3,000 investigations, leading to the arrest of more than 3,300 suspects and the recovery of over 900,000 stolen goods valued at $47.4 million. The ORTCF’s October efforts led to 56 criminal investigations, 98 arrests, and nearly 26,000 stolen items recovered – leading to greater enforcement in each category compared to the previous month.
Stronger enforcement. Serious penalties. Real consequences.
Governor Newsom this summer signed into law the most significant bipartisan legislation to crack down on property crime in modern California history. Building on the state’s robust laws and record public safety funding, these bipartisan bills establish tough new penalties for repeat offenders, provide additional tools for felony prosecutions, and crack down on serial shoplifters, retail thieves, and auto burglars.
Local support to fight organized retail crime
Governor Newsom has invested $1.1 billion since 2019 to fight crime, help local governments hire more police, and improve public safety. Today’s announcement demonstrates the success of the Governor’s Real Public Safety Plan – which focuses on strengthening local law enforcement response, ensuring perpetrators are held accountable, and getting guns and drugs off our streets, including by increased deployment of California Highway Patrol to hot spots such as Oakland, Bakersfield, and San Francisco.
The Governor announced that last year the state distributed $267 million to 55 local law enforcement agencies to help communities combat organized retail crime. These funds have enabled cities and counties to hire more police, make more arrests, and secure more felony charges against suspects. In just the first six months of the grant cycles, local law enforcement agencies that received the grants reported more than 6,900 arrests for retail theft, motor vehicle theft, and cargo theft offenses.
Last year, the California Highway Patrol reported an annual 310% increase in proactive operations targeting organized retail crime, and special operations across the state to fight crime and improve public safety.