An accused California shoplifter was stunned to learn she might be slapped with a felony charge after “new laws” that crack down on low-level theft, police video shows.
The Seal Beach Police Department in Orange County published a montage of security, dash and body camera videos that show three women allegedly lifting more than $600 in merch from an Ulta Beauty before officers caught up with the gals, slapped them in cuffs and shoved them into a squad car.
That was when one suspect asks if they could be charged with a felony, to which her accomplice delivers the sobering news: “B—h, new laws. Stealing is a felony.”
Security footage of three alleged shoplifters in an Orange County Ulta.
Seal Beach Police Department
Footage from the back of a squad car showed the suspects discussing their fate.
“This is Orange County, b—h. They don’t play,” lamented the alleged thief.
The new laws in question are Proposition 36 — a ballot initiative that went into effect Wednesday undoing soft-on-crime policies limiting law enforcement’s ability to crack down on lesser crimes like shoplifting.
Under one law passed in 2014, thieves could only be charged with a misdemeanour if the stolen items they were less than $950.
But that law coincided with a surge in retail theft, prompting an outcry from citizens and businesses alike and pushing politicians to finally reverse course.
Nearly 70% of voters cast ballots in favour of Prop 36.
“Here in Seal Beach we never believed in the cite and release program, but this new proposition only strengthens our commitment to combatting Organized Retail Theft,” Seal Beach PD wrote in the caption of the video, which was set to Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots are Made for Walking.’”
“Remember folks, Don’t Steal in Seal,” it added.
