The Growing Threat of Organized Retail Crime

[Ptarmigan]

The Growing Threat of Organized Retail Crime
https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-growing-threat-of-organized-retail-crime_4735905.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BonginoReport

The massive wave of retail thefts in the United States over the past two years have become a major challenge for both the retail industry and law enforcement.

Weakened law enforcement policies and lesser penalties for these criminal bandit gangs have hit a critical juncture, as crime in the United States has hit proportions not seen in three decades.

The number of increasingly professional organized retail crime (ORC) rings and their frequent attacks have reached crisis scale, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF) in a Sept. 14 report.

These crimes have hurt thousands of businesses and have contributed to higher prices for consumers and loss of key retailers in many communities, as countless stores have closed to due to lack of security.

“The factors contributing to retail shrink have multiplied in recent years, and organized retail crime is a burgeoning threat within the retail industry,” said Mark Meadows, NRF vice president for research development and industry analysis.

Thefts against stores are increasing. They cause prices to go higher. Some have closed because of crime. They happen in leftist run cities.

Wealthy liberal enclaves throughout the country with district attorneys thought of as “soft on crime” appear to be the regions most affected by the crime wave and which has only grown worse since the pandemic.

The top five metropolitan areas affected by store bandit gangs in the past year were the Californian cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland; New York; Houston, Texas; and Miami, Florida.

Retailers across the country are calling for stronger legislation, especially at the federal and state level, along with better enforcement of existing laws to quell increasing acts of violence and theft, which are hurting their survival.

[SVPete]

Contrary to what some conservatives might wish to believe, this is not an SF or California problem. It's every major city where police and DAs don't "sweat the small stuff". And until DA start nailing retail thieves' @$$e$ to walls, it's not going to change to a significant degree.Nail enough small fry and eventually they rat out the big bosses.

[Eupher]

Contrary to what some conservatives might wish to believe, this is not an SF or California problem. It's every major city where police and DAs don't "sweat the small stuff". And until DA start nailing retail thieves' @$$e$ to walls, it's not going to change to a significant degree.Nail enough small fry and eventually they rat out the big bosses.

In fairness to what the article clearly states:

The top five metropolitan areas affected by store bandit gangs in the past year were the Californian cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland; New York; Houston, Texas; and Miami, Florida.

Nowhere in that article does it say the problem is strictly a CA problem. But it does point out that the thuggery and thievery in the top 3 (out of 5 cited) belong to CA.

Agreed that the Soros-planted soft-on-crimes DAs across the country are at least partially responsible. But I'd argue that the largest incident rate belongs to the West Coast in general, and probably Portland, OR as the most pronounced example.

Not surprisingly, the correlation isn't related to a specific state. It's related to SOROS and his installation of DAs across the country.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/george-soros-has-bankrolled-da-s-in-cities-with-highest-crime-rates/ar-AARrjGK

[SVPete]

My comment about "not an SF or California problem" was not soley in reference to the OP article, nor necessarily about folks on the Cave. I've been seeing - and posting? - articles about this problem for 2 or 3 years.

That SF and the Land of LA make the top 5 list doesn't surprise me, though. For example, Walgreen's has closed, last I heard, 18 or 19 stores in SF due to shelf-clearing thieves. However, I would quibble listing SF and Oakland separately. Many/Most theft gangs doing their thing in SF are based in Oakland, using the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge for SF access and egress. Oakland is less compact and has plenty of unused warehouse/storage and industrial buildings from which to operate the resale back end of the theft operations.

Expanding some, CA's ballot proposition that raised the $$ value threshold for theft to be a felony has contributed to theft gangs, though I think mostly indirectly. Clearing just one shelf in a Walgreen's into a large garbage bag will quickly exceed the limit. The key contributing causes (ignoring the theft culture of the thieves) are DAs who won't prosecute "small stuff" seriously, "Bail Reform", and police knowing that these factors mean hunting down retail thieves will be wasted effort and risk.

Other than increasing the risk and seriousness of consequences, government can't do a lot to eliminate thug culture. As long as kids are raised to think that theft is OK if the targets are white or big corporations or ??, some kids will make theft a career. As long as kids are raised to think that assault, rape and murder are OK if the targets are white or Asian or ?? or assertions of power and dominance, some kids will be violent thugs until a "bigger" thug takes them out, they try to shoot it out with the police, or they get caught after committing a crime bad enough that they actually get prosecuted and convicted.

[Eupher]

I'd posit that while government's ROLE isn't to affect thug culture (other than to punish criminals), the government's propaganda machine in the form of Hollyweird and the government-sponsored media most certainly do affect all manner of "culture" in this country.

Typically (and classically) stepping outside of the limitations posed by COTUS, the federal government especially makes it a point to drive leftist/socialist themes. PBS, VOA, and other media outlets supported by taxpayer dollars routinely drive their narrative.