5.14.24 – ARDMORE, Okla. (KXII) –
An Oklahoma Senate Bill authorized by Pro-Tem Greg Treat is targeting organized retail crime, where criminals steal merchandise and then resell the stolen goods online.
The Buy Safe America Coalition stated these organized retail crime rings are often connected to drug crimes and human trafficking.
The bill outlines characteristics of organized retail crime, including having a getaway car, using tools to take off tags and security devices, and working with another person.
If a person matches two or more of those characteristics, they’d be guilty of organized retail crime.
SB1450 would make that punishable by up to 8 years in prison.
“This recommendation which would hopefully serve as a deterrent to those who seek to do this as a business enterprise to steal from retailers and resell to fund their various illegal activities,” Treat said in a recent senate session.
The bill would also change what’s considered felony theft.
Current law states theft of property valued at more than a thousand dollars is a felony.
SB1450 would make anything more than $500 a felony.
At the same session, Senator George Young argued that Oklahomans don’t want that.
“This is a direct contradiction to a state question that was passed some many years ago,” Young stated.
Oklahoma voters passed State Question 780 in 2016, reclassifying some non-violent crimes as misdemeanors, helping to lower the state’s incarceration rate.
Treat said crime has gone up since then, but the Oklahoma Policy Institute stated that’s a misreading of numbers due to a change in how the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation classifies crimes.
“State Question 780, that has been successful,” Young said. “The numbers that have been used to ‘prove’ that crime has gone up are in question.”