Thurston County Chamber of Commerce to talk about crime impacts on businesses tomorrow

The Thurston County Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) will hold a forum tomorrow, November 9, to discuss how crime is affecting businesses.

According to a post on the JOLT’s Facebook group, the Chamber will host a conference with Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Washington Retail Association President and Chief Executive Officer Renee Sunde at the Indian Summer Golf & Country Club, November 9 at 11:30 a.m.. They will talk about how crime impacts businesses.

The Chamber’s website cited a December 2021 report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that said 60% of the 8.9 million reported crimes in 2020 were property crimes which include:

• Larceny-theft
• Burglary
• Motor vehicle theft
• Arson
• Vandalism

The Chamber furthered that these crimes cost companies 17.2 billion in losses, citing Entrepreneur.com.

“While businesses have changed how they provide goods and services, criminals have found new ways around security gaps, on its website the Chamber said, alluding to the National Retail Federation saying that the pandemic has “allowed organized retail crime to expand attacks” with ‘smash-and-grabs’ and other “brazen in-store attacks."

Among others, the forum will discuss the following topics:

• Public safety, retail theft, and Organized Retail Crime - what are their impacts?
• What needs to change?
• The importance of giving law enforcement, prosecutors, retailers, and local governments the necessary tools and resources.
• The work of the state's Organized Retail Crimes Task Force

Entry to the meet will be $30 for Chamber members who pre-registered, $35 for pre-registered non-members, $35 for Chamber members registering on-site and $40 for non-members at the door. Questions and concerns can be sent to Operations and Events Coordinator Jessica Houchin at 360.357.3362 or register here.