Stanislaus County has a message for organized retail thieves: pay at the cash register or pay the consequences.

Either way … you pay.

The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s office hosted a meeting recently with members of the Organized Retail Theft Task Force and representatives from local businesses in an effort to protect business owners and consumers alike.

Billboards — hammering home the point that organized retail thieves will be prosecuted in Stanislaus County — soon will be popping up along Highway 99. And signs that echo the billboard messaging will be made available to any Stanislaus County business that would like to display one. Send an email to Chief Deputy District Attorney Wendell Emerson at wendell.emerson@standa.org to make request signage.

“The common theme you see with a lot of these thieves, because a lot of them come from out of town, they think it’s a free-for-all here because in the Bay Area, nothing happens to you,” said Emerson, who is helping to spearhead the task force. “We’re actually putting a reel together with these people talking as they’re getting arrested. They’re like, “What? I’m getting arrested? I’m going to jail?” They’re getting felonies and they’re actually doing real time. Whereas in the Bay Area they’d just get cited out, and that’d be it — maybe credit for time served on a misdemeanor, which these guys already 30 or 40 of, so what’s one more.”

The task force is made of representatives for the DA’s office, sheriff’s office, the California Highway Patrol, and the Turlock, Modesto, Ceres, Oakdale and Newman police departments.

“We’ve seen significant results because of these operations,” said Turlock Police Chief Jason Hedden. “I think it’s great, and we’ve had tremendous cooperation with the DA’s office, the sheriff’s office, the CHP … everybody involved.”

In 2023, Turlock Police Department recovered $48,000 in stolen property and made 67 total arrests. This year, TPD already has recovered $35,000 in stolen merchandise and made 101 arrests.

“We have two meetings a month with local retailers and stakeholders involved in the Organized Retail Theft Task Force,” said Emerson. “A lot of the store owners have asked for a sign that they can use (on premises). And Turlock has been very involved. They do a lot of enforcement and operations at the Monte Vista Crossings Shopping Center.”

Organized retail theft has become a hot-button political issue.

At the center of the escalating political fight is Proposition 47, a ballot measure passed by voters in 2014 that reduced certain theft and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors in an effort to mitigate overcrowding in jails and prisons. In part, Proposition 47 increased the total threshold amount for misdemeanors from $450 to $950 and increased the number of disqualifying prior convictions from one to three or more.

Last month, state lawmakers want to advance legislation to crack down on retail theft, and announced that they plan to send the measure to voters in November despite a tough-on-crime initiative already backed by retailers and law enforcement agencies.

The lawmakers’ plan, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, seeks to put fewer people behind bars for stealing compared to the other plan. Newsom and lawmakers negotiated the plan in June after failing to convince the coalition of law enforcement and business groups to drop their initiative.

Both proposals would make shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders and increase penalties for fentanyl-related charges. But the lawmakers’ plan is narrower in scope.

Under the retailers’ plan, any prior theft-related convictions, even if they happened years ago, would count toward a three-strike policy for increased sentences. Lawmakers also are proposing harsher punishment for repeat thieves, but the convictions would have to happen within three years of each other.

“I think we're seeing the negative impacts of (47),” said Hedden. “And they’re rolling that back a bit. The proposed legislation doesn’t go nearly as far as should, but it’s a great start.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.