Campbell police given much less money by state to combat retail theft than hoped
CAMPBELL — The Campbell Police Department said organized retail theft has become a big issue, with one business being robbed several times.
Chris Cismondi's family has owned San Jose Camera and Video for generations.
The store will be celebrating its 100th year in business in 2027. But Cismondi's said these past few years have been tough, bringing challenges the store has never seen before.
"It's brazen. Like armed robberies and people just running in with masks and guns, putting people on the ground, grabbing merchandise and running out," said Cismondi.
Earlier this year, five suspects robbed the store at gunpoint, stealing $60,000 worth of merchandise and shooting one of the employees.
Cismondi was there when it happened.
"It's an interesting feeling. I don't know how to explain it, just interesting. Yeah, scary but interesting as well," said Cismondi.
All five suspects were eventually arrested in Alameda County. But Campbell Police said this incident was just one of several organized retail thefts in the city this year.
That's why the department applied for a state grant, asking for over $6 million to expand things like its drone and license plate reader programs.
In its application, the department said the town's Home Depot has lost more than $300,000 from retail theft and a new Ulta Beauty store that opened just over a year ago has already reported over $56,000 dollars in theft.
But when the grantees were announced, Campbell's police department was awarded the least amount of money among all the recipients, just a little over $400,000, a fraction of what they were hoping for.
Cismondi told KPIX he was sorry to hear that. He thinks more funding could have helped.
"More funding is always beneficial to the businesses and even the people that live here too," said Cismondi.
For now, he and his family are relying on themselves to up security, adding more safety features to their building in the hopes that that will deter criminals.
"We added silent alarms, things of that nature to kind of help with when people come in, hopefully it can notify police quicker, and they get here quicker," said Cismondi.
It's a surreal feeling for Cismondi to have to think of safety features like that, but he believes the issue of organized retail theft is one that will be around for a while.
