By Jesse Jones
Most crimes in the City of Vision are down, with shoplifting being one of the few exceptions.
According to the Rio Rancho Police Department’s 2024 Annual Report, shoplifting cases have increased by 13% since 2022, likely due to economic pressures and city growth.
“Shoplifting is something that we’re always after,” Mayor Gregg Hull said on the Mayor Hull Podcast.
Shoplifting rose from 610 offenses in 2022 to 692 in 2024. One high-profile arrest occurred on Aug. 24 at the Rio Rancho Walmart, where the former top editor of the Albuquerque Journal was caught “skip scanning” items at the self-checkout.
Hull said rising shoplifting often reflects economic conditions, noting inflation and rising costs for gas, bread, butter, and toilet paper.
In 2023, Albuquerque saw 7,540 shoplifting incidents, which is over 10 times more than Rio Rancho, even though Albuquerque’s population is only about five times bigger. With 560,000 people, Albuquerque stands out when it comes to retail theft compared to Rio Rancho’s numbers.
Hull said many Albuquerque business owners have told him the police department is “horribly understaffed,” making it hard to respond to every incident, which leads to underreporting.
“That’s not true in Rio Rancho,” Hull said. “We respond to everything we can,” adding that he often hears from citizens about quick police response times.
The city offers an Online Crime Reporting system where residents and businesses can report non-emergency issues, such as shoplifting under $500, fraud, criminal damage and harassment.
According to the report, Rio Rancho’s Property Crimes Unit (PCU) investigates property crimes with one sergeant and five detectives.
In 2024, the PCU handled 292 cases, charged 178 people, and referred 14 cases to the District Attorney’s Office. It also reviewed 616 online reports and worked with retailers and banks to combat fraud and retail crime.
Alongside the PCU, the Special Services Unit focuses on violent crime and narcotics but also handles property theft and shoplifting cases.
The FBI defines property crime as offenses involving stolen property or money without force, including burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson.
More than half of the unit’s cases involve larceny-theft, the most common crime in the U.S., according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
However, according to the report, the unit handles fraud, embezzlement, burglary, vehicle theft and larceny-theft.
More than half of the unit’s cases involve larceny-theft, the most common crime in the U.S., according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
Theft is the most common property crime in the U.S., leading all property crimes in 2022, followed by motor vehicle theft and burglary, according to the Pew Research Center. Property crime is far more common than violent crime, with 1,954 property crimes per 100,000 people in 2022 compared to 381 violent crimes.
Other business-related crimes include:
- Burglary rose 2%, from 206 offenses in 2022 to 210 in 2024. Hull said the city is “keeping an eye on that one.”
- Embezzlement dropped slightly from 40 offenses in 2022 to 38 in 2024.
- Credit card and ATM fraud jumped 65%, from 46 offenses in 2022 to 76 in 2024.
- Counterfeiting and forgery, down from 22 offenses in 2022 to 18 in 2024.
- Bad checks, with arrests falling from six in 2022 to four in 2024.
- False pretense, swindling, and confidence games dropped 23%, from 433 offenses in 2022 to 331 in 2024. These crimes involve tricking victims into giving up money or property.