SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Police Department is working hard to crack down on retail theft this holiday season and could soon be given an extra boost.
A Washington State Department of Commerce $90,000 grant has been awarded to SPD in contract with the Washington Organized Retail Crime Association.
“The Washington Organized Retail Crime Association actually applied for the grant through the Department of Commerce, and they were granted this funding. They have been working with Spokane Police Department for a while on our retail thefts, we’ve done blitzes before, and they saw it as an opportunity to partner,” said Captain Tracie Meidl with the Spokane Police Department.
SPD is now waiting for the Spokane City Council to approve the acceptance of the grant. This grant would fund a retail theft pilot program where officers would work on combating retail theft across the city.
This is something SPD does already, especially during the holidays.
Officials call this strategy a ‘blitz’, where 10-20 officers are stationed in a certain area to combat retail theft.
“We communicate with all the loss prevention and managers from those stores in those areas to make sure that they know we’re in the area,” said SPD Sergeant Brian Eckersley. “We get in direct communication with them so if they have a known shoplifter enter their store, or they had somebody just grab something and run out, they can just call us directly and we’ll have units in the area to respond.”
Several retail stores told 4 News Now these blitzes are beneficial in reducing theft.
“Once these blitzes happen, people start talking. The bad guys start talking, the word of mouth gets out there and you have an extended length of reduced crime within the mall itself,” said Bradley Linn, general manager of the Northtown Mall.
Anywhere from half to all of the officers staffed for a blitz are working overtime. The grant, if approved, would offset those overtime costs and would allow for more blitzes to happen.
The grant would also award nearly $200,000 to the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office.
“The prosecutor’s office is going to have a designated prosecutor for this grant to include deciding on deferred prosecution diversion programs and deciding when or when not to prosecute prolific offenders,” said Captain Tracie Meidl.
SPD is hopeful city council will approve the acceptance of the grant in the next few weeks.
The timeline for this pilot program would end June 30, 2025.
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