King County Council member proposes retail crime task force

King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci wants to use a portion of new sales tax revenue to form a retail theft task force in an effort to reduce crime at stores such as Fred Meyer, which is closing county locations in Kent, Redmond and Seattle.

Balducci plans to propose the measure as part of the county’s 2026 budget discussions this fall with a goal of starting the task force in January 2026. The task force would include two King County Sheriff’s Office detectives and a prosecutor from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. She estimated the cost at $600,000 per year.

“It would be a permanent retail crime task force to address the causes of retail theft. …with the goal to dramatically reduce retail theft in King County,” Balducci said during a Thursday, Aug. 21 press conference in Kent outside the Maleng Regional Justice Center.

Ohio-based Kroger revealed Aug. 18 that it will close the Kent East Hill Fred Meyer at 10201 SE 240th St., in October.

“Unfortunately, due to a steady rise in theft and a challenging regulatory environment that adds significant costs, we can no longer make the store at 10201 SE 240th in Kent financially viable,” according to the statement from a company spokesperson. “Despite doubling our safety and security investment over the past years, these challenges remain.”

The reasons for the closures in several cities go beyond crime.

According to United Food and Commercial Workers 3000 union, Kroger “claims that those facilities (Kent and Everett) represent some of the region’s lowest performers in terms of sales.”

Kent Mayor Dana Ralph spoke at the press conference and pointed out that Kroger admitted it’s trying to improve profits. But she also knows retail theft plays a role in that and backs the proposal by Balducci, who is running this fall against fellow King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilayto become the new county executive.

“It will be significantly impactful to Kent,” Ralph said about the proposed task force. “We know retail theft is driven by a lot of different things. Our officers are on the ground doing work but once cases are pushed up to King County there are not the resources to prosecute.”

Ralph said working with the county will be a benefit to reducing retail theft.

“We know having a partner in King County in the sheriff’s office and prosecutor’s office makes us all stronger and makes it more effective,” Ralph said.

Former King County Sheriff Sue Rahr spoke at the press conference, sharing her background about fighting retail theft.

“Retail theft is a complex regional issue and it’s critical to approach it as a regional issue,” Rahr said. “With case filings retail theft rings can be held accountable and the court can see how many cases are together. If every jurisdiction operates independently it’s less efficient, you miss patterns. A task force can focus on predatory retailed theft rings for prosecution.”

Rahr supports a task force of two detectives and a prosecutor. She said the county recently had a prosecutor focused on retail theft but grant money ran out and the position went away. She said restoring that position is a key to coordinate cases and reduce retail theft.

“It holds accountable the kingpins of retail theft rings that use an army of shoplifters to do the dirty work,” Rahr said.

The former sheriff said with organized retail theft rings, it involves hundreds of million dollars of merchandise moved as the leaders literally give shopping lists to people to shoplift and then warehouse products to resell.

The funding for the proposed tax force would come from a sales tax approved in July by the King County Council. It’s an 0.1% sales tax increase, equal to 10 cents on an $100 purchase, to go toward criminal justice, behavioral health and public safety systems.

The sales tax hike will bring in an estimated $95 million per year, according to county officials. The tax will take effect on Oct. 1, 2025, with revenue collection beginning in January 2026. Counties or cities can adopt the tax without going to voters under a bill approved by the state Legislature earlier this year.

Balducci, whose District 6 includes all or parts of Bellevue, Kirkland and Mercer Island, said the task force is needed.

“You will hear the cities reporting retail crime is on the way down and it’s in the right direction, but that’s partly because we had a dedicated approach,” Balducci said about the extra prosecutor. “But we are not where we need to be. Let’s make a modest investment.”

Ralph said the city of Kent didn’t know about Fred Meyer closing until when everyone else found out on Aug. 18. She said members of the city’s economic development team will meet with Fred Meyer’s real estate team to find out what their plans are for the property along SE 240th Street. She said the city will work to help meet the needs of the neighborhood that is losing a store that’s been there since the 1990s.

“It means our neighbors can no longer walk to get groceries, diapers, prescriptions and other essential supplies,” Ralph said. “It means our neighbors will struggle with food insecurity. Our neighbors who are being impacted here on the East Hill are not that affluent. They are working class people doing everything they can to get by and this is a major blow to their quality of life.”

Ralph said it’s also a blow to the city as a whole.

“Our local government will see significant sources of sales tax revenue be significantly impacted,” Ralph said.

Kent Mayor Dana Ralph speaks at an Aug. 21 press conference outside the Maleng Regional Justice Center about how a new King County retail crime task force could help the city. STEVE HUNTER, Kent Reporter