Citrus Heights police and local business representatives met recently to discuss criminal activity affecting retail sales – the city's most important revenue stream.
With city property taxes still going to Sacramento County, it is all about retail sales and the taxes they generate.
"It is our No. 1 revenue source. Sales tax provides 36 percent of our general fund," said Stefani Daniell, city finance director.
Money lost because of shoplifting, counterfeiting and similar crimes drives up costs for honest consumers. It also may make it more difficult for the city to hire police officers or provide other municipal services, Daniell said.
About 60 people attended a one day "Retail Crime" seminar July 23 at Rusch Park. The event was organized by the Citrus Heights Police Department with help from Target and Fuddrucker's.
"One of the biggest upsides was development of more partnerships between the police and retail establishments," said Detective Michael Alway, one of the event coordinators.
Citrus Heights police investigators, U.S. Secret Service agents and loss-prevention specialists from several major retail chains gave presentations.
The Secret Service discussion about spotting and dealing with counterfeit currency got a lot of attention.
Local retailers get hit "in spurts" by people trying to pass funny money, Alway said. The activity may be attempted by a lone drug user trying for an easy score or it may be part of a larger organized crime caper.
The crooks' goal is to exchange their bogus money for the real thing. A basic play involves buying an expensive item at one store and exchanging it at another store in the same chain. If the crooks are successful on the front end, they have the merchandise and a valid receipt. "They are typically targeting stores with very forgiving exchange policies," Alway said.
To beat them, the counterfeit currency has to be spotted quickly, even if it already has been accepted by a cashier. Then loss-prevention specialists must notify other stores in their chain with as much information as possible, Alway said.
Another popular session involved check fraud and identity theft. It was scheduled for an hour but went 90 minutes without a break.
"That is a huge crime in our city," Alway said.
Checkbooks and other banking paperwork are main targets in residential burglaries, car break-ins and mail thefts, Alway said.
The need for better communication turned out to be a common thread running through many of the discussions. Stores working together can beat the counterfeiters and the identity thieves as well as the shoplifting crews and the people pushing knockoff merchandise.
Alway is seeing a positive trend. Retail chains are not just getting better at alerting other stores in their company. They also are uniting with competitors to fight common foes.
"It used to be that Store A did not want to tell Store B how it got victimized," Alway said.
Call The Bee's David Richie, (916) 608-7455.
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