LYNNWOOD- Today officers and detectives with the Lynnwood Police Department conducted a special retail theft emphasis at the Lynnwood Fred Meyer. During this eight-hour retail theft emphasis, Lynnwood officers made 15 arrests, and all were cited for theft and trespassed from the location.
While the focus of these emphasis’ is to hold accountable those that choose to come to the City of Lynnwood and commit retail theft, several of the individuals arrested had outstanding warrants and several were possessing illegal narcotics.
Some of the outstanding warrants included: A DOC escape warrant for failure to register, a theft 3rd degree warrant and a felony burglary 2nd degree warrant. Drugs confiscated from suspects included methamphetamine and fentanyl.
“These emphasis’s will continue within the City of Lynnwood, and we want those to know that if you choose to commit retail theft in Lynnwood, you will be held accountable to include the possibility of spending time in our jail,” said Commander Joe Dickenson with the Lynnwood PD. “The Lynnwood Police Department is committed to making our city a fun and safe place to shop.”
Retail thefts have been steadily skyrocketing in Lynnwood since 2015 – by a rate of 666%. According to Commander Joseph Dickenson, Public Information Officer for the Lynnwood Police Department, this is both a combination of placing more emphasis on tackling retail thefts as well as a higher frequency of occurrences happening in general.
In 2015, for example, there were a total of 446 thefts (including larceny) in Lynnwood with 41% of these resulting in arrest. Just 217 of these were incidents of shoplifting. By 2024, however, total incidents of theft in Lynnwood jumped to 2,364, of these 56% resulted in arrests and 1,594 were solely shoplifting.
The Lynnwood Police Department does not currently receive funding from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office as part of its Retail Theft Task Force. The Department does, on the other hand, receive funds from the Washington Organized Retail Crime Association (WAORCA) but those funds are scheduled to dry up by next year.
During a special retail theft emphasis operation at the Lynnwood Fred Meyer on Saturday, March 29, officers and detectives with the Lynnwood Police Department made a total of 17 arrests and 1 trespass—half of those arrested were not residents of Lynnwood.
On January 29, 2025, Lynnwood Police made 14 arrests conducting a similar special retail theft emphasis at the Lynnwood Fred Meyer.
Commander Dickens informed the Lynnwood Times that organized retail theft rings are attracted to Lynnwood not only across the state, but the country.
“We had a case a couple years ago when we did an emphasis at Target and we ended up arresting a group of individuals who had made their way here from Florida,” said Dickens. “They had gone across the country, and they were in the millions of losses and we just happened to be the agency that caught them.”
Author: Kienan Briscoe
