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At a recent community policing meeting in Southwest Albuquerque, Cmdr. Rene Barraza told the gathered crowd that the department has noted an increase in shoplifting in the area this year as it works with stores to make it easier to report the crimes.
“The reason we have shoplifting increasing is because a lot of the commercial businesses are doing a lot more reporting, especially reporting online,” he said.
In a subsequent interview, Barraza told City Desk ABQ that when he took over the Southwest Area Command in 2021, police had a feeling that shoplifting was plaguing both area stores and stores city-wide, but retailers weren’t reporting it.
So, he said, police began meeting with store owners in the area “like Walgreens, just to make sure that we are being good partners with our retailers to see how we can help.”
But APD also made an effort to meet with store owners citywide, he said, because shoplifters weren’t staying in just one part of the city.
If stores could report these incidents to the police, they could share information with detectives in the department’s Organized Crime Unit who take the lead on targeting, tracking down, and arresting prolific retail shoplifters.
“We recognize that (the stores) may have an internal reporting system, but they would also need — in order for us to follow up and provide some relief — to identify these prolific shoplifters and retail crime offenders that are working in sync with each other,” Barraza said.
He said working with the Organized Crime Unit on these cases has helped to build a bigger case against prolific shoplifters.
In the Southwest, APD has partnered with Walgreens, Ross Dress for Less, and Burlington Coat Factory. The area has some of the lowest numbers of shoplifting incidents across the city, however, because it has fewer retail stores.
By contrast, the Northeast Area Command has the highest number of offenses, since it’s the city’s most populated retail shopping area, according to an APD spokesperson.
Barraza said APD doesn’t have data regarding shoplifting at smaller stores, but some of the gas stations in the area are having issues because they’re convenient to the big corridors.
“I don’t see the current stats targeting the smaller, local-owner retail stores. I see them targeting the bigger corporation stores,” he said.
If shoplifting isn’t addressed, Barraza said it could force retail partners to close their doors which would affect Albuquerque’s employment rate.
Barraza said he can’t pinpoint what is driving this type of shoplifting, but he said that it has become more prevalent after the COVID-19 pandemic. He said people are just plainly walking into retail stores and taking what they wanted to without the fear of being apprehended.
“It’s a good feeling to know that we are good partners to the retail shops to make sure they continue to keep their doors open,” Barraza said. “And that we’re actually making a difference holding people accountable when they continue to repeatedly victimize our stores.”
