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A Sacramento Target has become the ire of its community.
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Residents have reported that the store is the location of a lot of criminal activity.
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Multiple police reports at the store allegedly prompted the city to make a threat.
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The city and police met with store officials to demand changes.
(NewsReady.com) – California’s problem with retail theft is well documented. Some cities, like San Francisco, have even seen a mass exodus of retailers because of the issues. The crime at one store has gotten so bad, that the neighborhood it’s in is fed up. After police responded multiple times, the store was allegedly threatened by the city.
A Fine?
A Target in a Sacramento neighborhood has become a favorite place for criminals. Neighbors have repeatedly called police to report crimes at the store. That led to an alleged altercation between the store and the Sacramento City Attorney’s Office.
According to a report in The Sacramento Bee, City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood’s office has threatened the Land Park Target location. An unnamed source told the newspaper that city officials threatened the store with an administrative fine for being a public nuisance for repeated calls to law enforcement reporting crimes at the store.
Wood’s office refused to comment on the allegations. Tim Swanson, a spokesman for the city, said that neither the Sacramento Police Department nor the City Attorney’s Office were aware of litigation threats.
Public Nuisance
A spokesperson for the Sacramento Police confirmed the location of the store when reporters asked about the alleged warning. That particular Target has reportedly been the topic of conversations among city residents because of the criminal activity at the location. Land Park Community Association members have said it’s so frequent that some residents have started recording the crimes.
The president of the association, Kristina Rogers, spoke to a local news station and said the crime at the store is bleeding into the neighborhood around it. She lives half a mile from Target and said she shops elsewhere because of the issues.
“There are plenty of places I can go shopping where I don’t have to deal with the crime, the theft,” Rogers said.
Residents have said the store is a “bad neighbor” and complained it’s absolutely a nuisance. Rogers said the neighborhood is sick of the crime, calling it “disturbing and disheartening” to see people walk out with carts full of stuff they haven’t paid for. And because thieves target the store (pun intended), they are also causing problems in the neighborhood. Neighbor Stephanie Duncan showed the news station multiple videos of people in her driveway, trying to get into her car.
Duncan said the company isn’t supporting the community, so residents have decided they won’t support the company.
Residents also said they were the ones contacting law enforcement. Duncan said she has called the police and shown them videos of people stealing from the store, but the Sacramento Police Department said that they couldn’t do anything without the company’s cooperation. Duncan explained that the managers at the store have told her that they “are not allowed to do anything about” the thefts because “[t]hat is corporate policy’s choice.”
City officials and the police met with the store after the local story ran and tried to create a safety plan called “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.” The plan required the store to take crime prevention steps, and Target has reportedly made some changes.
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