“There’s no question that organized retail crime is having a detrimental impact on the bottom line for New Mexico businesses, especially small ones. This cowardly crime also means higher prices for New Mexican consumers – it’s time to crack down on organized retail theft.”
— Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Jan. 30 news release
Our governor was channeling every retail business owner and every law-abiding customer in the state when she announced her support of House Bill 234, which will target the plague of theft rings that send folks out to steal $499.99 over, and over, and over again.
Because there are no six degrees of separation between New Mexicans and this criminal scourge; Journal employees alone have watched thieves push carts of alcohol out of drug and grocery stores, haul armloads of clothing and tools out of big-box retailers. Our readers share similar tales of retail criminality going unchecked. And it has become routine for local law enforcement to announce tactical operations after the fact that net double-digit arrests and thousands of dollars worth of stolen property.
State Attorney General Hector Balderas made the case for HB 234 last year, saying “it is more profitable now to go and steal from our local retailers than it is to sell drugs and guns in New Mexico.” He told KRQE-TV “what’s occurring is you have major drug dealers sending out armies of shoplifters into these retail centers, and they’re stealing these goods and exchanging them for fentanyl and other drugs.”
So it is heartening that so far, our state lawmakers are listening and voting to finally protect our businesses and our consumers. As Terri Cole, president and CEO of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce says, “employees are scared and employers feel helpless.”
HB 234, sponsored by Albuquerque Democrats Marian Matthews, Natalie Figueroa, Antonio Maestas and Speaker Javier Martínez, has been honed to focus on aggregating the crimes so these repeat shoplifters are charged with felonies, not misdemeanors, and on the coordinated and planned gang element of the crimes. Martínez says “no one is going to get tagged for stealing five candy bars. It’s (targeted at) the guy stealing five drills from the Home Depot on Coors and I-40, only to drive across to the Eubank Home Depot and steal another five drills and flash a gun as he’s walking out of the store at someone’s grandma, probably a woman of color who is working for $12 an hour.”
The bill is headed to the House floor, where it deserves swift passage. Ditto for the Senate.
The governor has made it clear she sides with business owners and consumers on this one, that no one should feel scared and helpless in the face of rampant retail theft. Her news release said “a 2021 report from the Retail Industry Leaders Association detailed the total estimated economic impact of stolen sales in New Mexico at $819.8 million.”
Let’s get HB 234 to her desk and take back our retail operations, for N.M. business owners and consumers.
