Governors Briefs: State Invests in Combatting Organized Retail Crime and Swears in 112 New CHP Officers

California to Make Largest-ever Investment to Combat Organized Retail Crime

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 13 announced the state is poised to make its largest investment to combat organized retail crime — $267,118,293. As part of a competitive grant process, staff are recommending the Board of State and Community Corrections or BSCC award funding to 55 local law enforcement agencies across California. If approved by the Board, the funding, part of the Governor’s Real Public Safety Plan, is slated to be dispersed on Oct. 1, 2023, to police departments, sheriffs’ departments and district attorney offices in every region of the state to prevent and investigate cases of organized retail theft and arrest and prosecute more suspects.

Across the state, 41 sheriffs’ and police departments, as well as one probation department, stand to be awarded up to $23,663,194 each. The funding would be used to create fully staffed retail theft investigative units, increase arrests, install advanced surveillance technology, train loss prevention officers, create new task forces, increase cooperation with businesses and the community, target criminals in blitz operations, as well as crack down on vehicle and catalytic converter theft. After a competitive grant application process for the state’s Organized Retail Theft Grant Program, local law enforcement agencies in seven counties and 34 cities are being recommended for funding by BSCC: Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, Sacramento County, San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, Ventura County and the cities of Anaheim, Bakersfield, Beverly Hills, Brea, Campbell, Chula Vista, Citrus Heights, Clovis, Coalinga, Costa Mesa, Daly City, Delano, Fremont, Fresno, Garden Grove, Hemet, Irvine, Los Angeles, Modesto, National City, Newark, Palm Springs, Palo Alto, Roseville, Salinas, San Bruno, San Fernando, San Francisco, San Jose, San Ramon, Santa Monica, Santa Rosa, and Vacaville. Recommended funding levels and project scopes for each agency are available on BSCC’s website.

Thirteen district attorneys’ offices across California stand to receive up to $2,050,000 each. The funding would be used to establish new vertical prosecution units — new teams dedicated to prosecuting organized retail theft — and to establish county-wide de facto “intelligence centers,” prosecution hubs for all related investigations within a county. After a competitive grant application process for the Organized Retail Theft Vertical Prosecution Grant Program, the following district attorneys’ offices are being recommended for funding by BSCC: Alameda, Humboldt, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Stanislaus, Sonoma, Ventura, and Yolo. Recommended funding levels and project scopes for each agency are available on BSCC’s website.

BSCC Members are scheduled to vote on the recommendations Sept. 14. The Board meeting can be viewed here. All funds for both grants will be allocated in annual installments over the next three years

State Deploys 112 New CHP Officers 

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 1 welcomed 112 new officers to the California Highway Patrol or CHP. The newest members were sworn in Sept. 1 by CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee during a graduation ceremony at the CHP Academy in West Sacramento as part of the largest graduating class of the year. The new officers will be deployed to communities across California.

With the addition of these new officers, CHP — the largest state police agency in the country — now has more than 6,600 sworn officers assigned across California. The 112  new officers sworn in are part of the CHP’s multiyear recruiting campaign to fill 1,000 vacant officer positions by hiring qualified individuals from California’s diverse communities.