Some Aurora officials are pushing for more strident penalties against retail theft statewide, urging policymakers to adopt what the city has enacted.
Notably, the city lowered the threshold amount for mandatory sentencing for retail theft, increased the jail time for repeat offenders and tackled "dine and dash" type of crimes.
On Aug. 9, the city hosted a retail theft conference with retailers and law enforcement officials to discuss different ways of curbing the crime.
City Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky, who chaired the event, and Mayor Mike Coffman talked about how to improve the Aurora Police Department’s response time to theft, and they also encouraged retailers to report all retail theft to help identify repeat offenders, according to a Facebook post from Coffman.
Jurinsky said she plans to host more conferences on retail theft.
She has also been talking with lobbyist and President of Colorado Retail Council Chris Howes about the subject, she said, adding they plan to work together to bring Aurora's ordinances statewide.
“We want to make these ordinances on retail theft statewide laws, not just Aurora ones," Jurinsky said.
In March, the City Council lowered the threshold for the mandatory minimum sentence for retail theft from $300 to $100. The ordinance also increased the sentence for repeat offenders to 90 days in jail, from three days. And in cases where defendants have been convicted of retail theft at least twice, they will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 180 days.
Prosecutors can also combine retail theft cases that would individually be misdemeanors to be able to charge a repeat offender with a felony in order to get a lengthier prison sentence.
The second of the two ordinances applies mandatory minimum sentences on "dine and dash" type of crimes. It applies the three-day minimum sentence to offenders involved in "defrauding a public establishment" or not paying for a dinner that costs $15 or more.
Pete Schulte, the city's public safety client group manager in the city attorney's office, said the ordinance to strengthen the penalties for theft came from conversations with Aurora police officials, who said they are seeing a lot of cases where people stole goods just under the $300 threshold.
The problem of retail crime has grown exponentially in the state, and Aurora is not immune to that, according to Howes.
In 2023, the Aurora Police Department reported 1,702 instances of larceny shoplifting, or retail theft. The year before, the department reported 1,256 cases.
While retail theft is a problem within Aurora, not everyone agrees on how the city should combat it.
Supporters of the Aurora ordinances said strengthening the penalties and adding more stipulations would deter crime and make Aurora a more desirable place to own a business.
Opponents said the ordinances will cost the city a significant amount more money and not actually deter crime. They also criticized the severity of the ordinances.
Under state law, if the value of stolen merchandise is under $300, the maximum sentence is 10 days or a fine of no more than $300.
If the value stolen is over $300 but less than $1,000, the crime is considered a Class 2 misdemeanor and results in a maximum of 120 days in jail — 60 fewer days than the minimum jail sentence in Aurora for the same crime.
Data is not yet available on what kind of effect the ordinances have had on retail theft in Aurora since March, but Jurinsky said the city will be able to track those numbers soon.
In addition to meeting with Jurinsky, Howes spoke with the Aurora Police Department about expanding services to combat retail theft in the city, and Jurinsky said that she plans to meet with Howes a lot more in January once the Colorado General Assembly convenes for the regular session.
“We’re not talking about teenagers stealing candy bars," Howes said. "We’re talking about grown men who are felons stealing tens and thousands of dollars. We’re going after those big groups that are knocking off store after store after store.”
Denver Gazette Reporter Kyla Pearce contributed to this report.
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