SACRAMENTO, Calif. — This week, Gov. Gavin Newsom deployed 120 California Highway Patrol officers to Oakland to help the region crackdown on crime. 

The deployment is part of a statewide initiative to take on organized retail theft and address the root causes of crime.

“What’s happening in this beautiful city and surrounding area is alarming and unacceptable. I’m sending the California Highway Patrol to assist local efforts to restore a sense of safety that the hardworking people of Oakland and the East Bay demand and deserve,” Newsom’s office said in a statement. 

Last September, California sent over $200 million to cities to help combat the rise in smash-and-grabs, that have become viral videos on social media. 

Retail theft has become the target of many Democratic state lawmakers, who before had been hesitant to amend laws to increase penalties.

However, many feel changes need to be made to the state’s laws in order to address retail theft and property crimes. At the California Capitol, there is a bipartisan effort to reform Proposition 47 and a ballot initiative is also underway to amend the 2014 ballot measure.

Proposition 47 raised the threshold for shoplifting to be considered a felony to $950 of stolen goods and reclassified some drug charges from felonies to misdemeanors. It was heavily favored back then as a way for California to address the overcrowding in prisons.

Ten years later, several members of the legislature feel Proposition 47 has enabled organized retail theft to grow, with little legal resources available for law enforcement.

“It’s not about throwing it all out. It’s about fine tuning areas that are affecting our community,” said Assemblymember James Ramos, a Democrat from San Bernardino.

Ramos recently introduced Assembly Bill 1772, which would amend Proposition 47 to allow prosecutors to charge repeat retail thefts offenders on a cumulative basis for the amount of goods stolen. 

“When you look at small businesses — mom and pop businesses now being impacted by it — someone has to speak up and say enough’s enough,” Ramos added.

A coalition of prosecutors and law enforcement officials have started a signature-gathering campaign to launch a ballot initiative called the Homelessness, Drug addiction and Theft Reduction Act, which includes amending Proposition 47.

Greg Totten, Chief Executive Officer of the California District Attorneys Association, said there have been over 20 failed attempts to amend the law.

“This should not be a partisan issue. This is not a blue or red issue. This is a public safety issue front and center,” Totten said.

Although in previous years the reform effort has mainly been led by Republicans, which has made it harder to pass in a state with a Democratic supermajority.

This time is different, as the push for reforming Proposition 47 has become more bipartisan. Even progressives have joined in support of the ballot measure, such as San Francisco Mayor London Breed, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.

The Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act proposes creating a new class of crime called a “treatment-mandated felony.”

This would allow judges to order people charged with certain drug and theft charges to undergo mental health treatment. It would also make it so people charged with their third retail theft offense could be charged with a felony. 

Totten said the goal of the ballot measure is to get people into treatment to help curb the rise in crime, while also keeping people out of jails.

“The original vision of Prop. 47 unfortunately has not been realized. This idea of more treatment, less jail. In fact, it’s been just the opposite. We’ve seen less treatment because many drug courts have shut down because there’s literally no demand,” Totten said.

While support to rollback Proposition 47 has grown, there are still many who don’t feel making changes is necessary. 

“We believe Prop. 47’s been working, but it doesn’t mean we won’t have dialog with anyone and everyone around how we can do safety better in the state of California.” said Anthony Dimartino, the government affairs director for Californians for Safety and Justice.

DiMartino highlighted how Proposition 47 has been around for 10 years, while the rise in retail theft has occurred after the pandemic.

Newsom has been vocal about his displeasure with people looking to reform Proposition 47 as opposed to addressing the root cause of crime. 

During his January budget presentation, Newsom pointed out how California’s $950 threshold is one of the lowest-meaning tougher on crime-in the country.

“Everyone I know is rushing to reform to raise the threshold, OK, that’s not the fundamental issue,” Newsom said. “The nature of retail theft has changed…it has become deeply organized, and that’s what we need to go after.”

The Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act campaign has received 360,000 signatures so far. The petition needs 546,651 signatures by the end of April to qualify for the November ballot.

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