SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane City Council is anticipated to approve a grant of $90,000 to fight organized retail crime from the Washington State Department of Commerce at Monday night's meeting.
According to the City Council agenda, the funds will go to the Spokane Police Department to coordinate responses and patrols when retail crime happens in the city.
This follows a report from this past February by Forbes Advisor, which found that Washington state is the number one state impacted by retail crime.
"A lot changed with the laws that passed around 2020 in regards to what loss prevention was able to do," Sergeant Brian Eckersley with the Spokane Police Department said. "That completely tied their hands, the bad guys know it."
The Downtown Spokane Partnership said that organized crime is not the sole reason for businesses closing, but is a contributing factor, especially for local businesses.
"We track open and closed businesses within the downtown business improvement district, which is about 80 blocks of downtown," Emilie Cameron, CEO of the Downtown Spokane Partnership, said. "This is the first year since 2020 that we have seen more businesses close than open. Fortunately, it is a small delta."
City officials said the funding will allow Spokane Police more budget and more time to respond and carry out charges for organized retail crime.
"Patrol can only get to the shoplifters that they have time to get to, and so loss prevention can only hang onto them for so long, or they can't hang on to them at all," Eckersley said. "So those people go free and they are never held accountable."
This also includes an increase in organized blitzes, where officers will target specific stores and areas to arrest shoplifters.
City officials say Monday night's vote is a procedural vote, which is required for any funding over $50,000. The grant is expected to be approved by the City Council at Monday night's meeting. The grant is good until next June.