EL CAJON, Calif. — In an effort to crack down on retail theft, the El Cajon Police Department is posting photos of suspected thieves on social media to publicly shame them.
"I think there's this perception retail theft is exploding throughout the state and it's frustrating, because there are not a whole a lot of repercussions for retail theft at the moment, unfortunately," said Amanda Stills, Community Information Officer for the El Cajon Police Department.
"We just wanted to make it clear that especially in our community and hometown, retail theft will not be tolerated. If we can't prosecute it for a felony at least our public is going to be aware of who these thieves are," she said.
Stills said since the beginning of March, they've posted surveillance photos of suspected thieves from four separate cases on their Instagram account. She said all of them were identified, some were identified that same day. The suspects targeted stores including Home Depot, Dick's Sporting Goods, JC Penney, and Ulta.
In the Home Depot case, police said the two suspects walked in, filled up their carts with expensive toolboxes, and walked right out of the store.
"The community is loving it, they're really helping us out," said Stills.
Stills said some people are direct messaging their Instagram account, others are tagging the actual suspected thief in the post. She said one person turned himself in because he was embarrassed about his photo being up on their page.
"We have made it very clear to our retailers that we will do everything we can to prevent theft at our local businesses," she said.
Law enforcement and local leaders blame the rise in theft on Prop 47, which changed certain felonies to misdemeanors.
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