SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Arkan Somo’s a local business owner with convenience stores near downtown and the College area.
“It’s been a nightmare and it has been for years,” Somo said. “Maybe a couple dozens if not more, maybe three dozens - of theft by College.”
He told ABC 10News it’s been a prolonged problem since Prop 47- which in 2014 changed particular low-level theft and drug offenses from felonies to misdemeanors - passed nearly 10 years ago.
“There was a lot of unintended consequences and it just got worse and worse and worse,” Somo said.
As we reported, the San Diego Police Department released the yearly crime stats this week which show nearly a three percent drop in crime overall.
“They tell a story of police officers, community working hard to make sure our community’s safe,” District Attorney Summer Stephan of San Diego County said.
Stephan and other local leaders have been proponents of trying to reform Prop 47.
Stephan told even the crime numbers are promising and show an overall drop in crime, they shows there’s still a need for Prop 47 to be reformed.
“Where you have to look on the data, in that in the area of theft - larceny - that has actually gone up by more than 5 percent. And, when you look at the drug category, it has gone up by almost 10 percent,” Stephan said. “So, year after year, we see that there’s not a positive change when it comes to theft and hard drugs that are impacting our community.”
A spokesperson for SDPD told ABC 10News retail crime falls under the larceny category but a lot of the retail crime isn’t being reported.
“The only time we report is when there’s an egregious incident,” Somo said.
“From, you know, my personal visits to store owners that they’ve given up. They’ve stopped reporting much of it because they know the result is a citation.”
For Stephan and Somo, they hope to get to get the reform to Prop 47 on the November ballot.
“San Diego’s still one of the safest urban continues in America. We want it to remain so and we want it to be so in every category,” Stephan said. “Violent crime but also crime that affects the daily lives of people every day.”
“This is our communities need to be safer issue.” Somo said
