As Colorado struggles with widespread retail theft, Wheat Ridge police takes proactive approach
FBI crime stats show Colorado is doing better than it has in the past when it comes to levels of violent crime. But the news isn't so good when it comes to property crime. Despite some improvement, Colorado remains far above the national average.
Wheat Ridge police are trying a new approach to stop retail theft.
Almost weekly, the police department in the city located in the western part of the Denver metro area has shared body camera video of arrests being made as soon as suspects walk out of a store.
Thieves are just "racing out"
The Applewood Plaza location of Mike's Camera recently was targeted by a retail thief. The cameras were rolling when thousands of dollars worth of equipment were swiped.
"(The criminal was) just was putting camera equipment into a bag and he was so large he didn't feel threatened by anyone in the store, so he just ignored my employee until his bag was full and then raced out," store manager Valerie LeBeau said.
LeBeau said she has witnessed other examples of retail theft firsthand.
"I know just shopping at the grocery store a lot of the time I see people run out of their safety doors. And it's just a shame that things have gone that way," she said.
New approach involves rack thieves in real time
According to Wheat Ridge Police spokesperson Alex Rose, in 2023 more than half of all theft reports in the city came from businesses.
"Frankly, our businesses don't deserve to deal with this constantly and constantly calling our department saying 'Hey we've got another guy walking out the front door after stuffing bags worth of goods,'" Rose said.
Rose says their new approach involves partnering with stores that are being targeted to track thieves in real time.
On one day operation he says they arrested six suspected thieves. Each, he says, was seen loading up on carts or bags and then walking out the door.
"That day we just basically gave radios to the folks at loss prevention, so we had real time communication with those folks and every single person they identified we got them coming out of the store that day," he said
Low-level crimes create challenges for law enforcement
The challenge is that theft below a certain dollar amount is often considered a low-level crime despite the widespread impact to businesses.
"It makes everyone's prices go up. We are already dealing with inflation, and more prices have to go up because the margins have to make it up somewhere," LeBeau said.
While the crime is all but ignored in some parts of the Denver metro area, Wheat Ridge Police hope going after every case will send a stronger message.
"We are going to work with these loss prevention teams and we are going to be waiting by the front door," Rose said.
Police say if you are shopping and witness a shoplifting attempt to call 911 and avoid getting involved.