PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The district attorney on Tuesday addressed ongoing efforts to curb shoplifting along a West Philly commercial corridor, a week after Philadelphia City Council peppered him and police officials with questions about their handling of retail theft cases in the city.
With state money, new cameras now capture much of the activity along the Lancaster Avenue business corridor, running from Powelton Avenue to Girard Avenue, which has seen a rise in retail theft over the last few years. Video from the safety cameras is meant to help police identify thieves and build cases for prosecution.
District Attorney Larry Krasner's office cited reports, within the last year, including six shootings, one of them fatal; seven armed robberies; six unarmed robberies; dozens of retail thefts; and dozens of thefts from cars — along the Lancaster Avenue corridor alone.
Krasner says he met with top police commanders last week to discuss the citywide issue.
“We have a better way of gathering information about prolific offenders, and we have also provided more guidance to our own attorneys,” Krasner said at a press briefing on Lancaster Avenue near 40th Street.
In 2018, in the first few days of his tenure, Krasner set a policy to treat most retail theft under $500 as a summary offense, the lowest charge, which is usually handled by police.
“Under the policy, which we have had since the beginning, people who have minimal contacts in terms of retail thefts and who take less than $500 are going to have their cases charged as a summary offense. A summary offense can put you in jail for 90 days.”
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Police have said their statistics show about 75% of retail theft arrests were downgraded by the District Attorney’s Office to summary offenses, and the same few dozen people are reoffending.
Krasner says they are focused on going after those reoffenders who steal the most and people who resell stolen goods.
“Once you hit your third contact, you are no longer going to be in the bucket that is oriented towards mercy. You are going to be in the bucket where we are going to charge you at the highest levels permitted by the statutes.”
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