New cooperation between crime fighters who work with New Law to set shop lovers Smackdown

Memphis, tenn. (WMC) – We have seen it again and again: organized theft rings that are aimed at shops in Memphis and then sell their prey online.

Now a new collaboration between Crime Fighter is working together with a new law to give shop theft of the smackdown.

Memphis shop owners who see red have so many smash-and-grave scenes.

“Very frustrating. It was money out of my pocket,” said Josh Hammond, who owns co-owner Busters alcohol and wines. “After our third break we ate the whole thing. It cost us damages of around 35,000 US dollars and I had to increase bollards worth around 40,000 US dollars.”

For years, companies have been targeted by the investigators throughout Memphis.

In 2023 it became so bad that the police from Memphis and the public prosecutor's office of Shelby County had brought the operation broken bottles on the market after organized crime rings were arrested and pursued by more than 30 thieves.

“The arrested persons were part of a well-organized network that was led by a handful of people who recruited others to carry out these crimes,” said MPD boss CJ Davis at a press conference on Operation Broken Bottles in 2023.

Hammond has had no break -in in business people since the start of Operation Broken, but he still wants to be strictly punished for culprits – especially repeated offenders.

“We have to have methods that work. If you want to arrest them and come out of prison the next day, the wrist just does not work, right?” said Hammond.

Forrest Edwards would agree.

“If these criminals met a business, it is not a single and you're done. They go to a shop and then drive to another and then go to another shop and put a number of crimes,” said Edwards.

Edwards is a former prosecutor and is now working with MPD to follow the trail and not only improve the fees against Smash-and-Grabber, but also against everyday shopping times.

“Gone are the days when you can constantly go to a shop and steal, serve time and be out the next day to commit the same crime,” said Edwards. “We calculate people who repeat themselves with break-in. This is a crime of class D who has 2-12 years in prison.”

Edwards continued: “If you aggregate the height of the theft and considering a business from a family.

Edwards works with Jonathan McGraw and the newly shaped Tennessee organized retail criminal alliance. It consists of more than 400 law enforcement officers and retailers who work directly with the legislators to withdraw their neighborhoods.

“If companies are affected, they unfortunately have to make very difficult decisions, and sometimes these decisions are to close a company in a community in which it is very needed, and they may talk about a grocery store, a pharmacy, a supermarket,” said McGraw.

At the beginning of this year, the McGraw group worked with the legislators to expand the law on organized retail crime. From July 1st, crimes such as removing anti-shop window devices, the interference of fire alarms or the use of online marketplaces for sale are increased punishments. Read more about the bill here.

“These people can be charged with organized retail crimes and the punishment could be higher,” said McGraw.

Eric Petrovski, Memphis police, takes care of shoplifting and theft for the district of Appling Farms.

In order to improve the response time for retail thefts in this area, around 60 shopkeepers work with a dedicated team of investigators and patrols to communicate in real time and share videos.

“It mainly started with the anchor shops, then it was bleeding in some of the smaller shops, chain storage,” said Lt. Petrowski.

The procedure seems to work. Since 2023, more than 150 people have been arrested in the Appling Farms region for retail theft – including this group of beer thieves.

“You would think that is not that big, but you were responsible for over 50,000 US theft of retail theft from West Tennessee and Arkansas. They are still in prison,” said Lt. Petrowkski.

In addition to working with Appling Farms, Stores Citywide Safety material can share the Connect Memphis program with the police, whereupon Josh Hammond has jumped after he had forced so many smash-and-greams to improve security in all shops.

At Buster, many of their cameras are directly connected to the real -time criminal center.

“You will be dialed directly during our surveillance. You can see what is going on in our parking lot when you need access to our cameras, and in the Highland Store you can actually see what is going on in the shop,” said Josh Hammond. “What is decent about these cameras, they are 360 ​​cameras, so they get the whole layperson of the country.

Whatever it takes to stop a swarm.

“It's time for changes. We are all full, do you know?” said swarm.

When a company links its surveillance cameras to the Connect Memphis program, it reduces the time that the police need to get out of video and publish a suspicious description. More than 10,000 business cameras are currently part of the program.

Here is the link to register.

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