Overview
- Attorney General Russell Coleman outlined a request to the General Assembly for more than $1 million next year and nearly $1 million the following year to grow the statewide organized retail crime effort.
- The expansion blueprint calls for hiring three detectives, two investigative analysts and a resource prosecutor dedicated to linking cases and supporting prosecutions.
- Officials announced a statewide task force that will share intelligence with local police and Commonwealth’s Attorneys to target theft networks.
- Coleman cited a 30% year-over-year rise in organized retail crime and multibillion-dollar losses, including estimates of roughly $2 billion in impacts.
- The initiative builds on a detective sworn in earlier this year to coordinate responses, with the new funding request slated for consideration in the January legislative session.