"We take crime seriously, we put resources towards it and we will arrest you," Chief Mindy Casto said.
She confirmed her department is using a boots-on-the-ground approach.
"We actually have a tactical team that operates every day, during the day, for retail theft in progress," Casto said. "The results are starting to speak for themselves, with the huge reductions we've seen in theft."
Fresno's River Park, once a prime target for brazen thieves and high-profile smash-and-grab thefts, now reports a more than 50 percent drop in retail theft.
RELATED: River Park hails Prop 36 as 'greatest thing that's happened'
"Victims now can say that the person who robbed them, stole from them, vandalized their property, actually have consequences," District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp told Action News.
Smittcamp supported Proposition 36, which stiffens penalties for retail theft, bringing it from a misdemeanor to a felony for thieves with at least two prior convictions.
"What we're doing now is we're training our people in-house to look back at priors, to look back to see how many misdemeanor convictions people have for both theft and drugs," Smittcamp said.
In seven months on the books, Fresno County prosecutors have reviewed 335 cases of potential felony theft.
Data reviewed by Action News reveals 287 have resulted in formal charges.
"That's 287 people that are now facing felony charges that were before, simply running amok," Smittcamp said.
Proposition 36 has united prosecutors, police and retailers. River Park has a retail task force that meets with police weekly.
Fresno police officers have real-time access to dozens of cameras around the property.
"It's important because if we don't make good cases, the district attorney can't prosecute," Casto said. "That additional evidence that the cameras provide is invaluable."
The law has already resulted in 84 local convictions. Chief Casto now vows to push retail theft down even further.
"It won't continue by itself. We have to put our part in," she said. "People want something done about theft. That's a message to us as well, that it's important to keep resources towards preventing theft in the city of Fresno."
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