Florida leaders cracking down on crime as police report increasing retail thefts

You’ve seen the videos before. The smash-and-grab robberies or crooks sneaking away with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise.

These shoplifting videos are becoming more common, but consumers are left paying higher prices to make up for the loss.

“It’s been egregious for all of us. I think we’ve all been feeling it,” John Bonie said.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office told me retail thefts are only increasing.

“Most of the data comes from the National Retail Federation. They publish what’s called the Retail Security Survey annually and in 2021 it was reported that about 70% of businesses in the United States saw a rise in retail thefts including organized retail crime. This number of total loss is somewhere around $70 billion,” Lieutenant Jonathan Barrier.

Lt. Barrier oversees the burglary and economic crimes unit with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

He told me combating retail crime is nothing new for his agency.

“We have dedicated detectives who have been working with retailers for the last 7 years in order to try and curtail some of this crime for us,” Barrier said.

Florida is also taking initiatives to crack down on retail thefts.

Last year Attorney General Ashley Moody announced a new task force for retailers.

It’s made up of law enforcement and prosecutors to help spot trends and find suspects using a database. That task force is called the Florida Organized Retail Crime exchange or FORCE.

Lt. Barrier told me there’s also new legislation out for those caught stealing.

“There’s Senate Bill 1534, which covers organized retail crime. Basically, it’s enhanced penalties,” Barrier said.

The bill would make stealing multiple items from multiple stores in a short period of time a felony.

Consumers like John Bonie said that while big-box businesses may be hurting, he’s not sure if he agrees with the bill.

He told me the pandemic and now inflation has put people in a tough spot and some are doing what they can to survive even if it means stealing.

“As a business, I would say yeah, we need to crucify these people and make sure there are penalties and disincentivize for this sort of behavior, but then as a consumer who is like I have to feed my kids how am I going to get this. The kids are out of diapers, how am I going to make this happen, Bonie said.

Last year the Jacksonville Sheriff’s office tells me its detectives with its’ organized retail crime unit closed 355 cases which totaled about $230,000 dollars in loss for retailers.

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