SACRAMENTO, USA —
California’s governor on Friday signed into law a bipartisan package of 10 bills aimed at cracking down on shoplifting and property crimes by making it easier to prosecute repeat shoplifters and auto thieves and increasing penalties for those involved in professional scalping schemes.
The move comes as Democratic leaders work to show they are getting tough on crime while trying to convince voters to reject a ballot measure that would give even harsher sentences to repeat offenders for shoplifting and drug crimes.
While shoplifting has been a growing problem, large-scale looting — in which groups of individuals brazenly break into stores and take merchandise in plain view — has become a crisis in California and elsewhere in recent years. Such crimes, often captured on video and posted on social media, have brought particular attention to the problem of retail theft in the state.
The legislation includes the most significant changes in years to address retail theft, Gov. Gavin Newsom said. It allows law enforcement agencies to combine the value of goods stolen from different victims to impose harsher penalties and arrest people for shoplifting, using video or witness statements.
“This gets to the heart of the problem, and it does so in a serious and thoughtful way,” Newsom said, referring to the package. “This is real stuff.”
The package received bipartisan support in the Legislature, although some progressive Democrats did not vote in favor of it, saying some of the measures were too punitive.
The legislation also addresses cargo theft, closes a loophole to make it easier to prosecute car thieves, and requires sales sites such as eBay and Nextdoor to begin collecting bank account and tax identification numbers from high-volume sellers. Retail businesses can also obtain restraining orders against convicted shoplifters, under one of the bills.
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