Keller @ Large: Theft at Massachusetts stores now "low risk and high returns"
BOSTON - Jon Hurst, the President of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, was this Sunday's guest on Keller @ Large and he talked about about why the state needs updated laws to stop rising theft at stores.
"Massachusetts made a very big error about six years ago in raising the felony threshold for theft from $250 way up to $1,200. A lot of people complained about California, but their felony threshold is actually lower. It's about $950. So you have an incentive really for thieves, this is their job. They're criminal thieves. They're going out there and they're "buying" because it's low risk and high returns," Hurst said.
"They steal it and then they sell it online and marketplaces and so forth. What we need to do is raise the penalties, and we need to find the real bad actors and prosecute them and then put them behind bars."
Hurst also spoke about the holiday shopping outlook and how inflation has been hurting local businesses this year.
You can watch the entire interview in the video above.