Fremont Council Approves $2.5M Grant In Effort To Combat Retail Theft

FREMONT, CA — Fremont City Council approved $2.5 million in grant funding that was awarded to the Fremont Police Department from the Board of State and Community Corrections for Organized Retail Theft prevention during its Thursday, Nov. 7 meeting.

According to a news release on the grant, Fremont PD applied for the grant to "enhance technology assets to advance intelligence-led and data-driven methods" to better serve the community in "preventing and reducing" organized retail theft.

"This funding will improve community safety and support multiple strategies to alleviate the significant impact theft has had on our valued retail partners," the news release said.

The grant award will primarily fund staffing and technology to realize FPD’s vision of a Real-Time Information Center which will provide intelligence to officers in the field to improve safety and mitigate crime, the news release said.

"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," the news release said.

According to that release, the Fremont Police Department has been monitoring and analyzing Organized Retail Theft data , including 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 percent increase when comparing the first six months of 2023 to the same period in 2022," the news release said adding that there was a 24 percent 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 percent or more, and five stores increased 300-400 percent," Fremont Police said.

Combatting catalytic converter theft has also been a challenge for the city, the news release said.

Utilizing an internal database, numbers show that in 2022, catalytic converted theft increased 22 percent from the year prior and comparing 2021 to 2020, FPD saw a 112 percent increase with 807 incidents.

According to the release more than 80 Fremont residents have been victimized two to five times, and in seven cases, a gun was used. One crew committed more than 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," FPD said. "Thefts decreased for a few months afterward."

Since the appointment of the new detective position to oversee Organized Retail Thefts earlier this year, FPD has "bolstered its ability to identify and apprehend several offenders and prioritized efforts to strengthen relationships with retail and business centers," the news release said.

"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," Police Chief Sean Washington said. "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."