LOS ANGELES — In California, violent and property crime rates are currently up compared to recent years. According to the annual Crime In California Report, violent crime statewide is up 6.1% since 2021, with property crime increasing by 6.2%.

California has ramped up efforts to disrupt retail theft rings over the years, including California Highway Patrol’s Organized Retail Theft Task Force.

Established in 2019, the group has recovered more than $30.7 million in stolen merchandise, and arrested nearly 1,300 individuals statewide. 

On this week’s “In Focus SoCal,” host Tanya McRae sits down with Jim Newton, a continuing lecturer at UCLA and a CalMatters journalist, about how SoCal cities can better respond to and deter property crimes.

“Police strategies are definitely a part of that. Security is definitely a part of that. Watchfulness on behalf of just everyday people is a part of that, but just because there are a lot of ways to respond to it doesn’t, in my mind, relieve the police of responsibility,” Newton said. “The police have a responsibility to try to create and protect safe neighborhoods. And property crime undermines the sense of safety in those neighborhoods. So there is unquestionably an important role for police in this.”

Earlier this fall, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state’s largest ever single investment to prevent and investigate cases of organized retail theft, and to arrest and prosecute more suspects. Over $267 million was awarded to 55 local law enforcement agencies across California as part of the organized retail theft grant program.

Recently, the LA County Board of Supervisors secured a $15.6 million grant from the state to fund the LA County Sheriff’s Organized Retail Theft Task Force specialized unit to combat smash-and-grab crime.

Spectrum News reporter Anna Albaryan spoke to LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who helped secure the money. 

“I think people are going to start to feel that, hey, there are people working for you on your side. And we are going to be vigilant and we do care about especially our immigrant communities,” Solis added. “Whether it’s Armenian, Asian, Latino or whatever. If you’re a small business owner, my goodness, everyone is worried about who’s going to help protect me or what resources are available. So it’s a way of letting the public know that we’re vigilant.”

Another issue that the state is dealing with is wage theft, which can contribute to housing insecurity, poverty and homelessness. Wage theft includes failure to pay the minimum wage, failure to pay overtime, denying meal and rest breaks and requiring workers to perform duties before or after their shifts have ended. 

California’s independent state auditor is currently investigating the California Labor Commissioner’s office over backlogs and worker’s wage theft claims. 

By law, all workers’ claims are supposed to be heard in 120 days, and decided 15 days after that. But CalMatters reported that between 2017 and 2021, the state averaged 505 days. Last year wage theft claims reached a record 38,000, and wait times climbed past 800 days. 

An alarming 88% of all low-wage workers in Los Angeles County experience wage theft. McRae sat down with LA City Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez about efforts to strengthen enforcement of wage theft violations, including a package of motions he and fellow Councilmember Tim McOsker introduced recently. 

“The first one is to empower the city’s Office of Wage Standards to investigate violations that currently are only investigated by state law, which is things like overtime meal and rest breaks, and working off the clock tips violations. Something that the city had never done before,” Soto-Martinez explained. 

“The second motion is asking the Office of Wage Standards and the Civil and Human Rights and Equity Department to report back on how those two offices can better collaborate together.”

Send us your thoughts to InFocusSoCal@charter.com and watch at 9 a.m. and noon Sunday.