The Albuquerque Police Department was honored last week at the National Retail Federation’s 2010 Loss and Prevention Conference and Expo in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Albuquerque Police Department was honored last week at the National Retail Federation’s 2010 Loss and Prevention Conference and Expo in Atlanta, Georgia.
APD was honored for forming a business partnership that combats retail crime. The group Albuquerque Retail Assets Protection Association (ARAPA) was formed four years ago and is a partnership between the Albuquerque Police Department and local businesses. ARAPA members work together by posting information on a website accessible only to ARAPA’s business and police members.
Using the website retailers exchange information on shoplifters and information on new methods thieves have been using in their stores. The group is the first of its kind to be formed in the country.
Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz and APD Strategic Supports Division Manager Karen Fischer accepted the award in front of thousands of chief executive officers from companies across the country. At the conference in Atlanta, Chief Schultz and Ms. Fischer gave a presentation on ARAPA. Agencies from across the country have contacted APD in attempts to duplicate their success.
“Our retail partners have really bought into ARAPA, because they see, on a day-to-day basis, that their involvement makes a difference in actual cases,” Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said. “With the system we have in place, retailers help the police to identify the repeat offenders who are hurting their businesses- and get them put away for extended prison terms.”
ARAPA has helped police identify and arrest dozens of offenders who have committed more than $1 million worth of retail theft.
“This national recognition is well-deserved,” Mayor Richard J. Berry said. “By simply working together with the (police department) ARAPA has helped APD take dozens of thieves off the streets. They have made Albuquerque a bad place to be a criminal.”
Since ARAPA was formed, APD has helped organize similar groups with the construction and financial industries, hotel and motel owners and car dealers. APD is in the process of forming a similar group for apartment complexes.
For the past several months, Chief Schultz has been working with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department, the New Mexico State Police, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office, and New Mexico Department of Corrections to expand ARRAPA to a regional level.
