Police Officials Oppose Property Crime Legislative Change

Danvers, MA - Some local police officials are voicing their opposition to state legislation that would increase the felony threshold for a number of property crimes.

On Thursday, March 10, 2016, the Senate Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to take action on legislation that would increase the felony threshold amount contained in a number of the Commonwealth’s property crime statutes. The senate bill, an Act relative to larceny, seeks to increase the property value threshold of $250 to $1,500 in the state's larceny, use of fraudulent credit card, receipt of stolen property and destruction of personal property statutes.

“With the current opioid epidemic, this is only going to encourage more thievery throughout the community," said Danvers Police Chief Patrick Ambrose.

This dramatic increase allows for the theft or destruction of higher valued property with less consequence for the offender, Ambrose noted. Misdemeanor crimes result in a court summons; felonies result in arrests.

If the felony threshold is raised to $1,500, a thief could steal $1,499 worth of goods from your home or business and officers would not be able to arrest them, according to Ambrose.

This bill affects not only shoplifting from national retailers, but thefts from small businesses, residential and commercial burglaries, car breaks and vandalism.

However, according to a report from the Pew Charitable Trusts, raising the felony theft threshold has no impact on overall property crime or larceny rates and states that have increased their thresholds reported roughly the same average decrease in crime over the past years as the 27 states that have not changed their theft laws.