Berkeley police go undercover to target store burglaries

Shoplifters and commercial burglars in Berkeley beware: There may be an undercover police officer waiting to nab you just outside.

With property crime on the rise in recent years, the Berkeley Police Department has been doing more proactive work to curtail the trend.

Property crime was up about 10% in Berkeley last year, with commercial burglaries alone seeing a 32% increase, according to BPD's annual crime report.

While Berkeley has a number of popular targets for commercial burglaries and retail thefts, REI on San Pablo Avenue has been one of the hardest hit.

There have been nearly 100 documented burglaries and thefts at the outdoor goods store since November, according to BPD data.

Around that time, a serial commercial burglar who was hitting REI stores around the Bay Area started popping up in Berkeley.

"He was just prolific," said BPD property crime detective Jaylon DeBruin. "That's when we decided to do an op over here."

The department began doing undercover operations at REI every few weeks, setting up surveillance teams outside who work with store security inside to help identify people who are stealing.

When they walk out with stolen property, or sometimes make a run for it, officers are waiting to arrest them.

During the first undercover op, BPD had a felony arrest at REI within just 30 minutes, DeBruin said.

Nearly every subsequent REI operation has netted at least one arrest, police said.

It's not just the Berkeley REI that sees regular commercial property crime.

Detectives said thefts nearby on Fourth Street began increasing after BPD stopped putting officers outside the Apple Store and North Face Outlet in 2022 — a result of BPD's ongoing staffing crunch, with officer staffing stuck at historic lows in recent years.

"As soon as they pulled them, we immediately started noticing a big increase," said BPD property crime detective Wesley Grover.

The combination of high-end goods and easy freeway access have made the area attractive to thieves.

In addition to North Face and the Apple Store, Lululemon and Sephora have been regular targets.

Even before BPD staffing dropped, detectives saw commercial burglaries start rising during COVID when shifting policies led to more people being released from jail before trial.

That trend has continued, with property crime arrests generally resulting in release from custody, even when people have multiple open cases.

The proliferation of masks since COVID, which makes it harder to identify suspects, hasn't helped either, police said.

Even when there are felony convictions, the sentences are light: sometimes a short stint in jail — but a year on probation is even more common.

"It can be disheartening sometimes," DeBruin said.

Detectives said many property crime crews have gone from being local or regional to operating up and down the state. As a result, investigators are casting increasingly wider nets when attempting to identify suspects and collaborate with other agencies.

In its annual crime report, BPD noted that it "works in collaboration with regional loss prevention agents to identify organized retail theft offenders."

BPD has also been working with other police departments and their retail units to "share suspect information, including surveillance photos/videos, suspect vehicles, and suspect MO to link cases committed by the same groups of suspects throughout the Bay Area."

That increased collaboration and enforcement may be having an effect: So far this year, commercial burglaries are down in Berkeley about 20%, from 144 incidents last year at this time to 114 this year, according to BPD data.

This week, police estimated that there may easily be monthly losses of more than $10,000 from the Berkeley REI alone.

Not all the thefts reach the felony level, above $950, but the "constant leak" of goods can still be a serious drain.

"You could sit out here probably any day and someone would steal something," Grover said.

Detectives said organized retail theft in the neighborhood spiked last summer. As a result, BPD began doing undercover operations at numerous Berkeley businesses as staffing has allowed.

And word may be getting out. A suspect arrested by BPD recently told police he'd heard about the department's stepped-up enforcement from a friend.

Detectives said that's a good thing: Police said they hope to see a deterrent effect as more people find out about the ongoing proactive enforcement.

Read more about crime in Berkeley.

On a recent afternoon, The Scanner got a firsthand look at an undercover operation at REI, sitting in an unmarked car with detectives DeBruin and Grover as they monitored the store from the outside.

Now and then, store security would call with an update about suspicious behavior inside.

Sometimes it didn't amount to anything. Other times, if the culprit actually left with stolen goods, BPD quickly moved in.

Over the course of several hours, police arrested two shoplifters: one who had walked out with a Patagonia shirt and another who had put on a North Face puffer jacket and walked out wearing it.

Both individuals were taken to jail for booking and then released with citations.

Police said the arrests pose a moderate inconvenience at the very least, which may make people think twice next time.

"You want them to have in the back of their mind: Are there undercover officers sitting out front?" DeBruin said. "I would be willing to bet they won't do it here again."