Seven suspects arrested after crackdown on retail theft | Crime Watch

MEDFORD, Ore. — Seven people were arrested for retail theft during a Medford police operation at the Burlington Coat Factory and TJ Maxx inside the Medford Center.

According to a Facebook post from the Medford Police Department, MPD partnered with loss prevention employees at local retailers and agents from the Oregon Department of Justice. This operation took place from noon to 8 p.m. and targeted thefts in retail businesses, which resulted in the arrest of seven people.

“MPD is seeing an increase in confrontations between loss prevention employees and suspects,” the post states. “Suspects often armed themselves with weapons such as pepper spray, knives and firearms in case they were confronted with loss prevention measures. This problem resulted in loss prevention measures were not confronted with the suspects for fear of being injured.”

For this reason, the police have set up an operation aimed at “proactively reducing thefts in stores”.

“By dedicating resources to these areas, law enforcement can apprehend suspects and dismantle organized retail theft rings,” the post said. “Due to the great interest from retailers, further operations are planned.”

Isabela Lund is the digital content manager at NewsWatch 12. You can reach her at [email protected].