On Tuesday, November 7, 2023, the Fremont City Council approved $2.5 million in grant funding awarded to the Fremont Police Department from the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) for Organized Retail Theft prevention. The Department applied for the grant to enhance technology assets to advance intelligence-led and data-driven methods to better serve our community in preventing and reducing these crimes. This funding will improve community safety and support multiple strategies to alleviate the significant impact theft has had on our valued retail partners. The grant award will primarily fund staffing and technology to realize FPD’s vision of a Real-Time Information Center (RTIC). The RTIC will provide invaluable intelligence to officers in the field to improve safety and mitigate crime. We will leverage a wide range of integrated technologies, such as community cameras, automated license plate reader (ALPR) data, and CAD/RMS, to enhance officer response and develop investigative leads.
Following a national trend, Fremont Police Department has been monitoring and analyzing Organized Retail Theft (ORT) data (theft, grand theft, shoplifting, and robbery) in retail centers across the City over the last couple of years. The most recent analysis found an 87% increase when comparing the first six months of 2023 to the same period in 2022. Additionally, there was a 24% increase from 2022 to 2021. FPD analysts looked deeper into the data, and as suspected, many of Fremont’s major retailers had been significantly affected by crime; ten retailers experienced increases of 100% or more, and five stores increased 300-400%.
Combating catalytic converter theft has also been a challenge. Utilizing an internal database, numbers show that in 2022, catalytic converted theft increased 22% from the year prior. Comparing 2021 to 2020, we saw a 112% increase with 807 incidents. Over 80 Fremont residents have been victimized two to five times, and in seven cases, a gun was used. One crew committed 20+ thefts in Fremont and more across the region.
Despite limited resources and the inherent challenges of preventing, investigating, and prosecuting this crime, FPD executed a coordinated operation, resulting in the closure of a local recycling business that had knowingly purchased hundreds of stolen catalytic converters. Thefts decreased for a few months afterward.
Earlier this year, the Department appointed a detective to oversee Organized Retail Theft crime. Since the appointment of the new detective position, the Department has bolstered its ability to identify and apprehend several offenders and prioritized efforts to strengthen relationships with retail and business centers, including security personnel and loss prevention teams employed by these businesses. Utilizing the community camera network, along with community involvement, numerous cases and/or arrests related to organized retail theft and robbery have been solved. The use of community cameras and automatic license plate readers (ALPR) were instrumental in the investigations. The Organized Retail Crime grant will further enhance the technology available to the Department to combat these crimes.
“The Organized Retail Crime grant will bolster our current efforts to reduce crime affecting local businesses and is a commitment to our priority of keeping our community safe,” stated Police Chief Sean Washington. “In addition to real-time support, we will focus on retail partnerships, data-driven patrol deployments, thorough investigation by our dedicated Organized Retail Crime Detective, and regional collaboration.”
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