City Attorney Threatens Target Over Theft Reports

(DailyVantage.com) – A Target department store in Sacramento, California, reportedly almost received a citation and a fine from the city’s legal department for supposedly making repeated reports of theft in the store.

According to reports, the city deemed the calls a “nuisance” and threatened to issue a citation and fine the store, which is located at 2505 Riverside Blvd. in Land Park. Sources for the supposed threat have refused to be identified for fear of being retaliated against by city officials. The store supposedly has been experiencing a spate of thefts, with criminals often managing to get away with their stolen goods.

In response to the thefts, lawmakers for the Golden State, with the cooperation of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, are reportedly in the process of creating an amendment to the state’s retail theft bill. The bill will supposedly impose much harsher penalties for retail theft crimes. The new bill will reportedly run counter to California’s Proposition 47, which voters approved in 2014, allowing for more leniency towards petty theft and drug crimes. However, many now say that the passage of Proposition 47 is largely to blame for the rise in petty crimes in the state, retail theft included.

Republican lawmakers in the Democrat-dominated state are accusing Newsom of fudging the issue of rampant crime in the state by saying that the crime rate is actually going down.

“Now we know why,” James Gallagher, who leads the GOP faction in the California Assembly. On top of criminals being allowed operate almost indiscriminately, “victims are being threatened for even reporting crimes,” Gallagher said.

Alexander Gammelgard, who leads the California Police Chiefs Association as the organization’s president, testified before the state assembly that he did not understand why the Target store would be threatened with a citation for reporting crimes.

“I don’t think there is a place for that,” he told state lawmakers.

However, Susana Alcala Wood, Sacramento’s City Attorney, denied that her office issued any threat against the Target store, calling the claim a complete “fabrication.”