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Wisconsin lawmakers are proposing to make it easier to charge thieves with a felony. Currently, Wisconsin law says a thief needs to steal at least $2,500 worth of merchandise before they could be charged with a felony. State Senator Andre Jacque is al part of a proposals lower that threshold to $1,000. “We’ve put a little bit of a bigger target on our backs as a result of having that higher threshold,” Jacque told WISN 12 News on Tuesday. Wisconsin and Texas have the highest felony thresholds in the country , both at $2,500. Neighboring states like Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan and Missouri all have felony thresholds between $500 and $1,000. “I think it’s an artifact of not really being looked at by the legislature for longer period of time. A other states have revised those thresholds. Wisconsin has really remained higher for quite some time,” Jacque said. In Grafton, the police department said it was called to 125 thefts in 2022. The police chief said most of the thieves the y’re dealing with are stealing much more than $2,500. “A biggest portion of our thefts are coming from Kohl’s, Ulta, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Home Depot. Pretty much our big box stores are our primary problems,” said Jeff Caponera, Grafton’s police chief. “We’re seeing the criminals now are being more and more brazen, are just walking in and grabbing stuff and walking right out armloads of stuff.” Caponera said thieves are taking the highest-priced items and selling them online. thinks lowering the felony threshold wouldn’t help very much. “(Deter) low level thieves? Yeah. The organized retail crime? Probably not,” Caponera said. “We had one instance from Home Depot when a single shoplifting was over $10,000. “Caponera said a major thing standing in the police department’s way of stopping and preventing these thefts are the big box stores’ corporate policies, which direct employees not to call police during a theft incident. “A lot of them don’t want to be that store where there’s incid ents occurring, because they’re resulting in them calling the police,” Caponera said. “We’ve had employees call us and tell us, ‘These people walk out and they walk right by us and say, “Don’t touch me. We know you can’t touch us.”‘ That that to me is a problem.” In Menomonee Falls last year, Ulta reported multiple incidents when thieves bagged thousands of dollars in fragrances. In May, thieves netted $5,000 dollars in perfume. Caponera sits on Wisconsin’s Organized Retail Crime Association. He said the state should create an organized crime task force so it can catch thieves before they can target stores.
Wisconsin lawmakers are proposing to make it easier to charge thieves with a felony.
Currently, Wisconsin law says a thief needs to steal at least $2,500 worth of merchandise before they could be charged with a felony.
State Senator Andre Jacque is part of a proposal to lower that threshold to $1,000.
“We’ve put a little bit of a bigger target on our backs as a result of having that higher threshold,” Jacque told WISN 12 News on Tuesday.
Wisconsin and Texas have the highest felony thresholds in the country, both at $2,500.
Neighboring states like Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan and Missouri all have felony thresholds between $500 and $1,000.
“I think it’s an artifact of not really being looked at by the legislature for longer period of time. A lot of other states have revised those thresholds. Wisconsin has really remained higher for quite some time,” Jacque said.
In Grafton, the police department said it was called to 125 thefts in 2022. The police chief said most of the thieves they’re dealing with are stealing much more than $2,500.
“A biggest portion of our thefts are coming from Kohl’s, Ulta, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Home Depot. Pretty much our big box stores are our primary problems,” said Jeff Caponera, Grafton’s police chief. “We’re seeing the criminals now are Being more and more brazen, are just walking in and grabbing stuff and walking right out armloads of stuff.”
Caponera said thieves are taking the highest-priced items and selling them online. He thinks lowering the felony threshold wouldn’t help very much.
“(Deter) low level thieves? Yeah. The organized retail crime? Probably not,” Caponera said. “We had one instance from Home Depot when a single shoplifting was over $10,000.”
Caponera said a major thing standing in the police department’s way of stopping and preventing these thefts are the big box stores’ corporate policies, which direct employees not to call police during a theft incident.
“A lot of them don’t want to be that store where there’s incidents occurring, because they’re resulting in them calling the police,” Caponera said. “We’ve had employees call us and tell us, ‘These people walk out and they walk right by us and say, “Don’t touch me. We know you can’t touch us.”‘ That that to me is a problem.”
In Menomonee Falls last year, Ulta reported multiple incidents when thieves bagged thousands of dollars in fragrances. In May, thieves netted $5,000 dollars in perfume.
Caponera sits on Wisconsin’s Organized Retail Crime Association. He said the state should create an organized crime task force so it can catch thieves before they can target stores.
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