California targets smash-and-grabs with $267 million program aimed at ‘brazen’ store thefts

California will spend $267 million to help dozens of local law enforcement agencies increase patrols, buy surveillance equipment and conduct other activities aimed at cracking down on smash-and-grab robberies happening around the state. Officials from the California Highway Patrol and San Francisco and Los Angeles law enforcement agencies made the announcement. It follows a string of brazen luxury store robberies in recent months, where dozens of individuals come into a store and begin stealing en masse. Videos of the incidents have quickly spread online and fueled critics who argue California takes too lax an approach to crime. “Enough with these brazen smash-and-grabs — we’re ensuring law enforcement agencies have the resources they need to take down these criminals,” Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement about the grants. The spending comes from a pot of money Newsom first requested in late 2021, after he signed a law to reestablish a statewide task force to focus on investigating organized theft rings. The money will be given through grants to 55 agencies, including local police departments, sheriff's and district attorney's offices. The grants, to be distributed over the next three years, will help local law enforcement agencies create investigative units, increase foot patrol, purchase advanced surveillance technology and equipment, as well as crack down on vehicle and catalytic converter theft — an issue that has become rampant in the Bay Area. The money would also help fund units in district attorney's offices dedicated to prosecuting these crimes. California Highway Patrol Commissioner Sean Duryee called the money “a game changer.” “This is a sizable investment that will be a force multiplier when it comes to combating organized retail crime in California,” he said at a news conference. Retailers in California and in cities elsewhere around the U.S., including Chicago and Minneapolis, have recently been targeted by large-scale thefts when groups of people show up in groups for mass shoplifting events or to enter stores and smash and grab from display cases. This article was provided by The Associated Press.