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South Bay DA, police join forces to combat retail theft
The Santa Clara County District Attorney joined the SJPD on Wednesday and announced funding for a program that allows business owners to link their security cameras with the police Intelligence Center, which should allow faster response times to crimes.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office is donating $100,000 for small businesses to connect their security cameras to real-time monitoring by the San Jose Police Department.
A press release from the county said the pilot program aims to equip at least 200 businesses with high-tech security systems. When a security system at a business in the program is tripped, the technology allows SJPD to patch into the business' surveillance cameras to see the crime in progress, get descriptions of the suspects and their vehicles, and relay that information to responding officers.
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The department can also use automated license plate recognition cameras to identify the vehicles.
"Our small businesses are under threat. Organized retail theft gangs are terrorizing our community. They're not just destroying storefronts and stealing jewelry, they're destroying dreams, stealing livelihoods and making it difficult for mom-and-pop store owners to put food on the table for themselves and their children," Jeff Rosen, the Santa Clara District Attorney said at a press conference announcing the new program. "To respond to that threat, my office, the SJPD and other law enforcement agencies have created specialized units to track, arrest and prosecute criminals who are targeting our retail businesses."
The District Attorney's Office is also starting a program to donate concrete planters to put in front of businesses, to curtail smash-and-grab robberies in which perpetrators drive a vehicle through a glass storefront.
The money being used in the program is being given through proceeds from the DA's lawsuit against Google.
The program was inspired in part by a recent incident in a group of thieves crashed an SUV into a business in San Jose, smashed display cases and stole jewelry. The store's elderly owner was injured during the theft.
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