CMPD Is Warning About Shoplifters In Charlotte
With the holiday season upon us. CMPD is warning about shoplifters as the holidays are approaching. They say this year, shoplifters have stolen more than $800k of merchandise. Police say the people they arrest usually have prior more violent offenses, making it even more dangerous.
At a Wednesday press conference, CMPD discussed a few cases of the 825 retail theft cases just this year. In January they created a task force dedicated to solving these crimes which are usually committed by professional and organized criminals. So far, the task force recovered more than $80,000 worth of stolen property, but $884,000 is the full amount of merchandise that has been stolen so far this year.
“As the Organized Retail Crime Task Force, we’re going to hold people accountable for their actions,” said Sgt. Jeff Brown with CMPD. “When you look at the businesses, your sons, daughters, fathers, mothers could be working at these stores.” Of the arrests they’ve made so far, police say many of the people are professionals and go into the stores with a plan to steal as much merchandise before the police get there. They then usually see the products online or on social media to unsuspecting shoppers. And police warn some of these people to have dangerous pasts. CMPD sent out a media release detailing some of the cases.
