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New Maryland law targets organized retail theft
New laws go into effect on Oct. 1, including one in Maryland that targets organized retail theft. The law allows prosecutors to group certain crimes together for charges.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - Retailers and prosecutors have high hopes that a new Maryland law in effect October 1 will deter thefts.
What we know:
The new law allows for prosecutors to charge thefts in separate areas as one larger crime.
Let’s say, as part of an organized theft ring, someone steals $15,000 dollars worth of merchandise from a store in Montgomery County, then the same amount in Prince George’s County.
It’s charged as two, separate, often less severe crimes.
This new law means it can now be charged as a more severe $30,000 crime.
Not only can they combine the value of the stolen items, but the State’s Attorney from Montgomery County can prosecute the Prince George’s County case, as long as it’s deemed organized theft occurring within a 90-day span.
Montgomery County prosecutors say they’re in close contact with retailers and other state’s attorney’s offices constantly, and expect that to be the case as they look to build these cases.
What they're saying:
"Confronting retail theft is something that really does affect our community. Their ability to shop, their ability to shop safely, it affects the prices that they pay when they do shop. So this law just gives us another weapon to combat that shoplifting," said Dermot Garrett from Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Nolan Rodman, the president of Rodman’s, a drug and grocery store in DC and Montgomery County, says he deals mainly with petty theft, but has noticed a concerted effort recently by police and prosecutors to bolster partnerships across jurisdictions.
He’s a believer the prosecutors taking this seemingly small thing seriously improves the overall public safety picture.
"Reducing that kind of crime sends a bigger message about the sincerity of crime in general, which I think overall reduces the crime," said Rodman.