‘The problem is big in Deschutes County’: DA targets organized retail thefts, says it’s often underreported

(Update: Adding video, comments from DA and business owner)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels is trying to prevent those dramatic organized retail thefts going viral on social media from occurring here.

"It's a less dramatic, smaller scale here, and we want to keep it that way," he told us this week.

Thanks to the state Criminal Justice Commission's Organized Retail Theft Grant Program, $18,000 will be used to train retail businesses with local law enforcement. Out of the roughly 1,000 cases filed every two years in the county, only five are organized retail theft, but the DA believes that number doesn't reflect the bigger problem in the area.

"The problem is big in Deschutes County," the DA said Wednesday. "The organized retail theft part is, we believe, underreported because there's not enough communication between different retail outlets and law enforcement and among retail outlets."

A business owner in downtown Bend who wished not to be named said her 25-year business has its own practices to prevent theft.

"The way we've laid out our business and other businesses that are more experienced and mature, know how to play the game," she said. "And I think that having the backup of the police is great We call - I've had not a lot of theft, but when we do, I call the police."

She says the few thieves she catches are young teenagers, but believes there's a bigger fear for many of the businesses downtown.

"So that probably a bigger problem downtown is, how we take care of mental illness and the homeless and how they behave," she added. "That is probably more scary than just some teenager or adult or whoever they may be."

Here are the answers provided to questions asked by the state agency distributing the grant funds: