Holy smoke, it's not just the Left Coast, it's back to the Wild West

California's Prop 47 leads to rise in shoplifting, thefts, criminal activity across state

By Barnini Chakraborty

Published November 01, 2019

Fox News
SAN FRANCISCO – In a lighted garage on one of San Francisco's busiest streets, a young man in baggy trousers and messy brown hair pulled down his pants. He had been hiding two pairs of stolen jeans with the tags still on them. He handed them to another man waiting nearby, took some money, pulled up his pants and headed back into another store on Market Street — home to the city's high-end designers and big-chain retail shops.

The incident wasn't a one-off. These brazen acts of petty theft and shoplifting are a dangerous and all-too-common consequence of Proposition 47, a referendum passed five years ago that critics say effectively gives shoplifters and addicts the green light to commit crimes as long as the merchandise they steal or the drugs they take are less than $950 in value. The decision to downgrade theft of property valued below the arbitrary figure from felony to misdemeanor, together with selective enforcement that focuses on more “serious” crimes, has resulted in thieves knowing they can brazenly shoplift and merchants knowing the police will not respond to their complaints, say critics.

Over in the City by the Bay's famous Tenderloin district, Cassie, a 21-year-old mother of two and a former heroin junkie, told Fox News that when times were tough, she too has stolen from stores.

"If my babies need diapers or formula, who is going to get that for me? No one. I have to do it," she said. "They ain't out here arresting people for (shoplifting) and everyone knows it."

Proposition 47 is seen by critics as one of California's biggest blunders. Supported by the state Democratic Party and championed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the referendum was passed by a wide margin in 2014. The idea behind it was to reduce certain non-violent felonies to misdemeanors in order to free up resources for cops and prosecutors to focus on violent offenders.

Since Proposition 47 was passed, there has been an increase in theft across the state. Cities like San Francisco have seen organized crime rings turn shoplifting into a well-organized racket involving desperate thieves and unscrupulous black-market resellers.

Among the nation's 20 largest cities, San Francisco now has the highest rate of property crime, which includes theft, shoplifting and vandalism.

Del Seymour, founder of the non-profit Code Tenderloin, told Fox News that fencers – often from Mexico and Guatemala – set up shop in the middle of the day and night around the city's United Nations Plaza area. He said he's also noticed that the stealers and dealers have gotten bolder by the day. The retail heists taking place, he said, aren't some small-time operation but instead a sophisticated network of international dealers who cross the border to buy stolen goods. What's worse is that a majority of the handoffs happen in view of San Francisco's City Hall.

"Of course it sends a message," Seymour said. "They're doing it right here in the open."

Other hot spots include the Tenderloin as well as 7th and Market streets.

Seymour believes San Francisco is stuck in a cycle and, until it's able to pull itself out, the problem will continue. Drug addicts, who are often homeless, need money for a fix so they walk into a store, steal merchandise, sell it for half the value and use the money they made to buy more drugs. Seymour added that the mayor and elected city officials have been spending too much time and money trying to coddle addicts and have done nothing to eliminate San Francisco's drug problem.

"My thing is – and I tell them this all the time – if we end the fencing, prosecute the fencing or do something with the fencing, people won't have money to buy the drugs," he said. "Most of the drugs bought are from shoplifting and breaking into cars. If they don't have a market for those goods, they won't break into cars or (shoplift) anymore."

The problem isn't just San Francisco-based. Across the state, retailers say they have been hit hard by shoplifters since Prop 47 went into effect.

Across the bay, in Oakland, business owners say shoplifting is a problem. Spoiled Boutique owner Mika McCants told Fox News she worries about theft, especially at night.

"I've had situations where I've had to call the authorities."

In San Diego County, 7-Eleven franchise owner Jassi Dhillon told NBC 7 that he has to deal with shoplifters at all six of his store locations.

"It's happening every day, hour by hour," he said.

Dhillon said shoplifting isn't a priority to law enforcement and said when cops do show up, the shoplifter has left the store or isn't concerned about the citation they are issued.

"It's becoming a lifestyle for us now because we can't do anything much except take the loss," he said.

Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Association, said shoplifting is not only hurting retailers but is also "becoming a public safety issue for consumers."

She said black-market dealers frequently cross state lines because they know California will go easy on them if caught.

"They know what they're doing. They will bring in calculators and get all the way up to the $950 limit," Michelin told Fox News, adding that "one person will go into a store, fill up their backpack, come out, dump it out and go right back in and do it all over again."

Michelin said she's seen footage from member retailers that she described as "completely insane."

"They will go into a grocery store, steal alcohol and walk out the front door with it," she said. "They know no one is going to prosecute them. The district attorneys aren't."

She added that there are even more sinister acts afoot. Many out-of-state crime rings use children to do their dirty work because they know they're low on the totem pole of prosecutions.

"There are folks that are using and exploiting children," she said. "But I also think that teenagers know that there are no consequences anymore. It's part of a game. If you get caught, all you have to do is get out of the store."

She, like several others Fox News spoke to, said the situation has strained the relationship between police officers and prosecutors.

"Law enforcement [officials] are trying to protect the streets and then they might do a sting and arrest a bunch of people but then the district attorney will drop it or downgrade the charges," she said.

It's a frustrating dynamic for sure, but until the state finds a fix, retailers have been reaching into their own pockets to hire private security guards but even then there are no guarantees that the stealing will stop. In fact, all that private guards can do is observe and report thefts.

"They aren't going to chase someone down the road," Michelin said.

She also took lawmakers to task over a seemingly well-intentioned plan that actually backfired and made the situation worse.

California is one of a handful of states that doesn't hand out plastic shopping bags. To get one, the purchaser has to pay an additional dime. Residents looking to save ten cents and spare the environment typically put merchandise in a purse, backpack or have it in their hand when they walk out, an unintended consequence of which is shoplifters can easily "fit in and walk out" with the paying crowd.

"It's nuts," Michelin said. "Stores are going to be forced to lock up all their merchandise."

Frustrated business owners say they feel their needs are being ignored by elected officials.

Fox News asked Democratic Mayor London Breed's office six separate times for an interview or to comment on this story. Her office did not respond to a single request about the growing crisis. Fox News also reached out to the district attorney's office multiple times but did not get a response.

The San Francisco Police Department pointed Fox News to "Operation Wrecking Ball," an eight month-long investigation that began in April 2018 and culminated in a dozen arrests and the recovery of stolen retail items valued at $750,000.

"Big and small businesses are hit hard financially by these thefts, which often endanger employees and discourage law-abiding customers. SFPD is collaborating closely with local businesses and our partner agencies to deter and investigate these crimes to make our city even safer and enable businesses to prosper," San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said in the press release forwarded to Fox News.

You can find Barnini Chakraborty on Twitter @Barnini.
Fox News

There is a societal collapse in California.

A broken window that is not fixed will eventually destroy a building.

Build the wall. Keep that shit there.

So, you may steal with impunity as long as you don't utter the incorrect pronoun?

Calizuela.

California's fucking themselves over again?

HILLARIOUS. I'm past caring about that shit-hole of an entity.

In MA, Suffolk County DA Rachel Rollins, which includes the City of Boston, has a list of crimes she does not intend to go after:

CHARGES TO BE DECLINED
Charges for which the Default is to Decline Prosecuting (unless supervisor permission is obtained).

Trespassing
Shoplifting (including offenses that are essentially shoplifting but charged as larceny)
Larceny under $250
Disorderly conduct
Disturbing the peace
Receiving stolen property
Minor driving offenses, including operating with a suspend or revoked license
Breaking and entering — where it is into a vacant property or where it is for the purpose of sleeping or seeking refuge from the cold and there is no actual damage to property
Wanton or malicious destruction of property
Threats – excluding domestic violence
Minor in possession of alcohol
Drug possession
Drug possession with intent to distribute
A stand alone resisting arrest charge, i.e. cases where a person is charged with resisting arrest and that is the only charge
A resisting arrest charge combined with only charges that all fall under the list of charges to decline to prosecute, e.g. resisting arrest charge combined only with a trespassing charge
Instead of prosecuting, these cases should be (1) outright dismissed prior to arraignment or (2) where appropriate, diverted and treated as a civil infraction for which community service is satisfactory, restitution is satisfactory or engagement with appropriate community-based no-cost programming, job training or schooling is satisfactory. In the exceptional circumstances where prosecution of one of these charges is warranted, the line DA must first seek permission from his or her supervisor. If necessary, arraignment will be continued to allow for consultation with supervisor. Thus, there will be an avenue for prosecuting these misdemeanors when necessary but it will be appropriately overseen by experienced prosecutors.

It was pitched to the public as a way to ease perceived heavy-handed prosecutors and police actions. Impressionable house wives, ideological teachers, pathetic twenty-somthings and anti-law n'order types, all bought-in that petty crime is insignificant, and such enforcement is a misallocation of resources.

Five years later since it passed, not only has shoplifting skyrocketed, it's resulted in organized groups of retail thieves, that has driven the closure of many stores such as here and here. The stupidity won't end until these areas resemble the 70's era shitholes: boarded up store fronts and smut peddlers.

Massachusetts, the California of the Northeast.

It's not confined to California.

You might be aware that I have a small business, supplying rental equipment mainly to independently owned hardware stores, like local Ace Hardware and True Value Hardware.

Several years ago I made my regularly scheduled stop to re-supply one of the stores here in Central Florida, and was surprised to find the doors locked. There was a "To Whom It May Concern" letter taped to the inside of the glass door.

The letter stated that the store owner had supported the community for years, sponsoring local kids' activities, sports teams, etc. His reward was a high level of shoplifting to the tune of thousands of dollars a month, so one day he said, "enough is enough!" and closed that location.

The letter actually said, "Fuck you very much."

quote:

Five years later since it passed, not only has shoplifting skyrocketed, it's resulted in organized groups of retail thieves, that has driven the closure of many stores such as here and here. The stupidity won't end until these areas resemble the 70's era shitholes: boarded up store fronts and smut peddlers.

It worked out so well... let's take it another step: Let's make it a crime…to try to prevent a crime.

California bill would ban retail employees from trying to stop thieves

Lawmakers in the erstwhile Golden State of California are hoping to push through controversial legislation that would ban retail staff from attempting to prevent thieves from stealing from their stores. Senate Bill 553, which was submitted by State Senator Dave Cortese, has been passed by the State Senate and will now progress to policy committees in the State Assembly. Cortese claims he hopes the proposed law will prevent workplace violence and protect staff from being injured during robberies.

Note that Senator Cortese is not indicating how much can be shoplifted under his bill. He is addressing another matter on the floor of the California State Senate.

But many retailers, from store managers on down, are furious over the plans. The California Retailers Association characterized the move as “an open invitation for thieves to come in and steal." As if yet another incentive to steal were somehow necessary in a state where theft of up to $950 isn’t even prosecuted. Retailers, small and large, are closing their stores in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Portland because of asinine policies just like the one proposed by Sen. Cortese.

If SB 553 passes, it would effectively make it a crime…to try to prevent a crime.

Could there be a more perfect illustration of progressive lunacy than that?

https://www.americanthinker.co...to_stop_thieves.html

I remember working retail decades ago, I did it for 3-years, made asst manager. The shoplifting was a morale killer, I had to toe the company line:
'its not worth it'
'touch a shoplifter, you run the risk of the company becoming liable for any claim and you get fired'

We ended up having to 'kill them with kindness', follow them around incessantly, pestering with 'helpful questions'. Some would catch-on that we were just going hover over them like flies on shit. The female thieves, which there weren't many then, were the worst as they would get confrontational to the point they'd get distracted with their ego instead of grabbing product. I had one employee right up a complaint letter to senior management, while we didn't condone it, we all privately thanked him. Company hired security guards afterwards.

Today, these thieves just roll right in and start bagging the merchandise, absolutely zero hesitancy.

What’s stopping these thieving scum from simply walking in and taking cash right out of a register if there’s no repercussions and the store personnel aren’t allowed to lift a finger to stop it?

A serious what the fuck? Why don’t they just tell retailers to put their shit on the sidewalk for the taking by any scumbag that walks by!

What a wonderful way to chase even more businesses out of the land of fruits and nuts (emphasis on nuts in this case).

It's to benefit the people that sell drugs and stolen property, more sales for the cartels.
On a side note, I assume California has a sales tax, I wonder how much revenue is lost on these $950 thefts. Less money to enforce the rules maybe.

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
There is a societal collapse in California.

Not just there but all over the U.S..

I firmly believe that these lefties (and I don’t mean the left handed) are trying to destroy the system and bring on anarchy. The morons in Sacramento are a little further along than the Commie bastards in DC and other states, but I believe they all have the same goal. Install anarchy, then “save us” by taking over completely. I do wish they would all go find a comet and get themselves underneath it before it arrives. Sigh…

For people obsessed with sustainability, it’s curious they facilitate an economic parasite like theft.