Members of the Fresno City Council wore ugly Christmas sweaters at their regular meeting Thursday. Video feed screenshot

The Fresno City Council unanimously voted Thursday to accept more than $23.5 million from the Organized Retail Theft Prevention Grant, awarded to the Fresno Police Department from the State of California, Board of State and Community Corrections.

The grant, which will add 24 full-time police officers, one full-time police sergeant and two technician positions, will focus specifically on organized retail theft, aiming to reduce rates by 15% over the next three years, according to Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama.

When the grant expires, the officers hired will be phased into duty with Fresno police based on positions available.

The overall grant funding, of which Fresno received roughly 9%, will also pay for the installation of hardware, including cameras, as well as monitoring software, aiming at identifying criminals participating in organized retail theft rings.

During Thursday’s meeting, Fresno City Councilmembers Mike Karbassi, Miguel Chavez and Garry Bredefeld, along with Council President Tyler Maxwell expressed their appreciation of the work that Balderrama and Fresno police have done to reduce crime in the city.

“It’s not because of me; it’s because I have an extremely competent team,” said Balderrama. “This is going to really benefit our community; we focused on violent crime — and that’s the highest priority obviously, but we also have to take care of our business community.”

The grant will enable the police to identify retail crime rings and allow prosecutors to charge all criminals implicated in retail theft rings. They will also be prosecuted for combined retail theft prices, meaning if thieves have stolen more than a combined $950, it will be charged as a felony to all implicated in the retail theft ring.

Currently retail theft amounting to under $950 is listed as a misdemeanor offense; many city and state officials argue that the punishment is not enough, and encourages repeat offenders.

“These cases will be felony cases,” Balderrama said. “Once we start holding people accountable I believe it’s really going to help us meet our goal of dropping this by 15% over the next three years.”

Balderrama added that petty theft differs from organized retail theft. He added, however, the proposal would also affect random petty theft — a concern brought up by Bredefeld.

The grant will pay for 100% of the officers hired. 

“Congratulations to you and your entire team for bringing it home to us,” said City Manager Georgeanne White. “This is going to be really big for our businesses.”