The question asked to state treasurer Zach Conine on Nevada Newsmakers recently was about lowering thresholds that turn shoplifting or other retail threat crimes from a misdemeanor into a felony.

Conine, running for attorney general as a Democrat in November's election, immediately pivoted, saying protecting the citizenry against violent crimes such as murder, rape and assault should be the main priority of law enforcement.

"When you talk to members of law enforcement, what they want to make sure is that they can focus on their main mission, right?" Conine told host Sam Shad.

"Whether or not the (retail theft) threshold goes up or down, people could argue it either way," Conine continued. "But they (law enforcement) want to make sure they've got the resources to take care of violent criminals and make sure we keep violent criminals off the street.

"That's where we should be focusing," Conine continued. "That's where a majority of the attention should go."

Retail crime, however, continues to grow in Nevada.

In Las Vegas, reported retail theft increased 12 percent from 2024 to 2025, according to Metro Police weekly crime reports that were reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The Summerlin area was especially hard hit.

North Las Vegas had a significant surge, with a 172 percent increase in reports in 2024, compared to 2023, according to news reports.

In Northern Nevada, one outlet mall in Sparks reported a 48 percent increase in theft-related police calls between 2022 and 2024, according to reports.

Sparks City Attorney Wes Duncan has initiated a program with the Sparks Police Department -- "Back Our Businesses" -- to cut down on retail theft in the Rail City.

Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks testified before the 2025 Legislature that one Sparks outlet mall experienced a 248 percent rise in theft calls to law enforcement between 2022 and 2024.

In an apparent tactic to combat the theft, many stores have put products inside locked display cases. It can be frustrating for customers who must wait for a store employee to unlock the display cases before purchase.

Conine, however, said that tactic is not driven by retail theft.

"It's important to realize that's not a retail crime thing, that's a staffing
thing," Conine said. "So, those businesses have made a choice to have fewer staff in their building ... if somebody needs something, they press a button to do it.

"Those aren't going away," he added.

"We could make the felony level for retail crime, $0, and those buttons would still be on shaving cream for the rest of our adult lives," Conine continued. "That is a change in the market. And those businesses, which are all public companies, major corporations, have made the choice to save on labor, and their way to save on labor is to control all of the product on the floor.

"It's not driven by retail crime. That's a great excuse," Conine said.

Currently, Nevada's threshold for felony retail theft is $1,200. Only 16 states have a higher felony threshold. Texas and Wisconsin lead the nation in this category, both with $2,500 thresholds.

Many states have $1,000 thresholds. New Jersey, however, is exceptionally tough, with a $200 felony threshold.

Nevada's felony threshold for retail theft was changed from $650 to $1,200 by the 2019 Legislature.

Gov. Lombardo's unsuccessful "Safe Streets and Neighborhoods Bill" from the 2025 Legislature would have dropped the threshold to $750. At the current level of $1,200, Nevada's threshold is $250 higher than neighboring California's.

If elected as attorney general, Conine would combat retail theft by other means, rather than just locking up perpetrators.

One strategy is helping people find decent housing. He mentioned the work his treasurer's office has done with the Nevada State Infrastructure Bank, "which is building some of the largest union-built affordable housing projects."

Then there's the work Conine said his office has done with Gov. Lombardo to create the Attainable Housing Fund.

"We've spent more than $2.5 billion into affordable housing in the state. That's a record over any seven-year period, he said.

Those actions will help lower crime, including retail theft, Conine said.

"We have done more housing work in the state than ever before, and the reason we're doing it isn't just because housing it is important," Conine said. "It is because housing is essential to public safety. When individuals are secure in their homes, the amount of property crime goes down significantly.

"When people have a place to live, they do not feel the desperation that drives some amount of retail crime," Conine said.

"I'm not focused on putting people in jail," he continued. "We need to put violent criminals in jail. We need to get them off the street. My focus is on lowering crime by lowering the things that cause crime."

If elected as attorney general, Conine sees his role more as the state's top lawyer rather than the state's top cop.

"The majority of the work that the attorney general does is, you know, is being
a lawyer for the state," he said. "There's very little criminal work that gets done in the AG's office, but one of the things that we can do is look to fight the underlying causes of crime.

"Here's what we know," Conine continued: "When Nevadans are hungry, crime goes up. When Nevadans are out of work, crime goes up. When Nevadans don't have a place to live, crime goes up.

"All of those things, all of those economic factors, all of those social factors, we can work to solve," Conine said. "We need to deal with the underlying root causes of crime. That's where my skill set fits, and that's where we are going to spend our time."

We're in the money

Conine also touted his work in his two terms as state treasurer. His office has proven to be a responsible steward for Nevada's finances, he said.

"We have a credit rating that's never been higher because of our strong financial management and the strength of our reserves," he said. "We were able, last year, to add more than $400 million worth of investment returns, which now brings our total investment returns, since I've been in office, to more than $1.3 billion."

That return on investment tops all of the treasurers in the 161-year history of the State of Nevada -- combined -- Conine said.

"I'm the 23rd treasurer," he said. "If you take the first 22 treasurers, you add them all up, stack them on top of each other, multiply that number by six, it's still less money than we've made over the last seven years.

"We're in a great cash position from a state perspective," he said.

Conine, however, was critical of the impact the Trump administration has had on Nevada.

"The state is facing a ton of economic headwinds right now, primarily caused by this (Trump) administration," he said.

"(They have engaged in) absolute -- what seems to be relentless -- attacks on our way of life, whether it's tariffs or making it harder for people from other countries to come here, or even making it harder for people in Nevada to travel around."

A toxic sense of fear has drifted across the nation, hurting Nevada's economy, Conine said.

"This sense and permeation of fear that's around the entire country, shows up in Nevada's economy," he said. "We're seeing it in sales tax, we're seeing it in gaming revenues, and all of those put cities and counties in a place where they're hurting a little bit. Right?

"And so, the state has the resources to help, but the state doesn't have the resources to make up for the damage that's being caused by the federal government."

Times like these exhibit the good and bad qualities of Nevada's small, lean state government, Conine said.

"So when there's any shock to the economy, any slowdown in sales tax, any
slowdown in gaming tax, we feel it right away because it's not like we have this large government that has a ton of people sitting around doing nothing," Conine said.

"We run relatively lean and mean," he said. "And that's good, but it also means we don't necessarily have the cushion when tough times show up."