Officers made more than 50 arrests and recovered thousands of dollars worth of stolen merchandise on Wednesday following a citywide retail theft operation.
Police began the operation before 8:00 a.m., focusing on theft operations targeting nine large retailers and grocery stores around the city. When the operation concluded around 10:30 p.m., officers had arrested 49 people for crimes including burglary, assault, organized retail theft, and shoplifting. Police were able to recover and return thousands of dollars of merchandise to the vendors. As part of the operation, police also identified several individuals who were purchasing stolen items at 3rd Avenue and Pine Street in the downtown core. Officers arrested four people for trafficking stolen property.
Sixteen of the suspects were booked into jail, and 37 were arrested and released. Police will be forwarding those cases to prosecutors for review.