California took a bite out of organized retail theft last year, the result of grants awarded to law enforcement agencies and prosecutors’ offices across the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Monday.
The grants were distributed in late 2023. In the first nine months of this year, local law enforcement agencies that received grants reported more than 10,000 arrests for theft offenses, according to a statement from the governor’s office on Oct. 28.
“Those numbers are meaningful,” Newsom said during a virtual press conference.
He called the competitive Organized Retail Theft Prevention grants—totaling $267 million—a “demonstrable example of the support the state has been providing for some time to our personnel across these agencies.”…