Here’s how San Jose’s smash-and-grab prevention funds will be spent

Much of the money will go towards salaries and a controversial surveillance technology.

As Bay Area residents continue to be bombarded with videos of masked thieves breaking jewelry shop cases or plundering pricey purses from designer boutiques, San Jose’s police department plans to spend millions on salaries and a controversial surveillance technology to combat smash-and-grab crimes that have become a major worry for public safety and economic vitality across California.

Part of an injection of over a quarter-billion dollars in state money from Gov. Gavin Newsom, more than half of San Jose’s $8.4 million in funds will go towards salaries, benefits and overtime for a group of officers devoted to retail theft prevention.

Another chunk — $3.1 million — will be spent on purchasing automatic license plate readers, which advocates claim can help police rapidly identify criminals but have also raised privacy concerns.

The remaining half-million will be spent on an evaluator who will measure the effectiveness of the crime-fighting technology — as well as training and computer supplies.

“I’m hopeful this will have a lot of impact going forward,” said Rachel Michelin, President of the California Retailers Association, who helped lobby for the state funding to be doled out to local law enforcement. “I think on the organized retail crime side, we’re making a lot of headway. The challenge is, and it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out, is how (the funding) is utilized for retail theft and shoplifting.”

Smash-and-grab crimes, which usually involve a group of individuals charging into a store to overwhelm security and staff before quickly making off with a handful of merchandise, led Gov. Newsom on Sept. 14 to announce the largest-ever investment in combatting organized retail crime: $267 million.

Other Bay Area cities like Fremont, Palo Alto and San Francisco also received a cash boost. Oakland missed the deadline for the state’s application.

The incidents often are shared widely through video clips on social media and have played a role in sparking an ongoing debate about crime within the state.

While some argue the thefts are the product of California’s stark inequality and a reflection of a lack of economic opportunity, others see the smash-and-grab incidents as evidence that the criminal justice system has turned too soft on certain offenders.

Retail theft also has caused big-box stores like Target in recent weeks to shut down a handful of its stores, including in San Francisco. However, other pandemic-related trends, like the shift to online retail and worker shortages, also are being blamed for the closures.

According to data from the state’s Department of Justice, Santa Clara County reported the second-most number of shoplifting incidents in 2022 among the five core Bay Area counties, with Alameda county coming in number one.

San Jose made headlines last week after a 27-year-old Nevada man was arrested in connection with a smash-and-grab robbery at a Gucci store in Westfield Valley Fair mall. Fifty-thousand dollars worth of purses and other merchandise were taken. Video provided by police of the incident shows a group of five individuals in black sweatshirts forcing their way into the luxury shop for just 20 seconds before exiting with the stolen items.

Hamza Musid, an employee at Santa Clara Smoke Shop along downtown San Jose’s East Santa Clara Street, said his store has been subject to a rash of theft over the years.

“They just come in and grab sometimes,” said Musid, who has worked at the shop for about two years. “They’re usually here for the cash. Sometimes, they come in and take a bunch of products.” At one point last year, he said, a car backed into the shop in an attempt to break through its storefront.

“More funding would always be useful,” said Musid. “It’s just the way they use it. You could give them a million. You could give them a billion. If they actually have a set plan where they can stamp it and get approved, I’m one hundred percent for it.”

Others aren’t so convinced the injection of money will make much of a difference.

“The temptation to spend it on more police (or more police overtime) will be great but unlikely to make much of an impact,” wrote Jonathan Simon, a UC Berkeley law professor specializing in criminal justice, in a statement. “There are commercial theft rings that the detectives (state or local) can be helpful in taking down, but ordinary policing accomplishes little other than an expensive show of force if you place them as security guards in or around stores. Thieves will go where the police aren’t.”

Simon said the money could be better spent helping small businesses hire more employees — including security guards — “who can discourage less serious thieves.”

In a statement, San Jose police spokesperson Stacie Shih said organized retail theft is a “growing trend” that is impacting the city’s businesses and community.

“With the goal of curtailing this regional problem, our Department looks forward to utilizing this grant, given the personnel constraints we are facing,” Shih wrote. “The allocation of these funds were made by taking into account realistic staffing numbers, the current trends of criminal activity related to organized retail theft, and where we would get the best results.”

The San Jose City Council will vote on how the state money is spent on Oct. 24.