Legalize Shoplifting San Francisco

In an interview with NBC News last week, Scott suggested that California`s Proposition 47, which voters passed in 2014, reduced penalties for certain nonviolent crimes, such as shoplifting and checking forgery, which are exploited by those who want to commit theft. The initiative set a threshold of $950 for shoplifting, which can be considered a misdemeanor, prompting law enforcement agencies not to make an arrest, but to a crime that could carry harsh penalties such as jail time. Being charged with shoplifting can be an embarrassing and scary ordeal. The good news is that you have defenses in place that can be used to reduce fees or abandon them altogether. In other words, it`s shoplifting when you walk into an electronics store with a plan to steal a cell phone and get caught red-handed. It`s not shoplifting if you`re trying to steal something right now. (Depending on the circumstances, the second example would be a petty theft.) Instead, shoplifting in neighboring counties changed from 2019 to 2020: we probably shouldn`t call it shoplifting anymore, as that term refers to the idea of a person trying to hide their crime. In San Francisco, there is no attempt to hide the theft, and there is almost never any effort on the part of store employees, including security personnel, to confront thieves. Most of what they do is record flights with their mobile phones. The key question is not whether Target experienced 100+ shoplifting in a single month, but whether this was a sharp change from historical trends. I don`t think the data supports that narrative, but it doesn`t dispel it either.

That`s why it`s important to use the variety of perspectives I`ve followed in this article. As the sources correctly note, the policy was introduced in California in 2014. Thus, even based on their own limited facts, it makes no sense to blame the recent alleged waves of shoplifting on the new AD or on a law that has been in place for several years. www.wsj.com/articles/san-francisco-shoplifters-theft-walgreens-decriminalized-11634678239 It`s difficult, cases are down, but most are pandemic effects. Relative to the state as a whole, neighboring counties saw a relatively small decrease in shoplifting (with the narrow exception of San Mateo). This is exactly the opposite of what one would expect if criminals followed their supposed incitement. Entering an open store with the intent to steal goods valued at less than $950 constitutes shoplifting under California law (Criminal Code 495.5). Shoplifting is generally treated as a misdemeanor — unless you have a significant criminal record — that can be punished with six months in jail in the county and fines of up to $1,000. We can explore the claim further by looking at individual Walgreens. While some of the five stores whose closures were announced in 2020 saw a significant increase in shoplifting, SF Chronicle reports that the 2550 Ocean Avenue site reported only 3 cases throughout the year, which is similar to the 4 cases reported in 2019. The 4645 Mission Street location reported only 3 cases of shoplifting in 2021 (closure was announced in mid-October). Unfortunately, it`s not just shoplifting in San Francisco that makes headlines, though San Francisco`s rampant drug problem makes it far worse than it would otherwise be.

What I`m really saying is that store closures are bad, but they`re pretty well explained by existing factors that aren`t shoplifting, including the general decline of Walgreens and, of course, the global pandemic and subsequent economic shocks that occur over the same period. If you were convicted of shoplifting for burglary, you can apply for a new shoplifting conviction under state law. Instead of naively concluding from the share price, it`s worth taking a closer look at the chain`s financial grievances. During a phone call with investors on 6. In January, Walgreens` chief financial officer explained how the chain`s discount rate — loss of inventory due to shoplifting, employee theft and other causes — reached 3.25 percent, up from 2 percent a decade ago. The phenomenon was not unique to San Francisco. According to data collected as part of the National Retail Security Survey and recorded by SF Chronicle, takedown rates have increased across the country: [Shoplifting decreased in San Francisco, adjacent counties, and California in general from 2019 to 2020. California Department of Justice data compiled in this Google sheet.] If you or someone you know is accused of shoplifting, the best thing you can do is talk to a criminal defense attorney to start building your defense right away. Call 800-834-6434 today for your free case evaluation. The head of the office, Thomas Fuller, even admits that he had already witnessed blatant shoplifting in the city in 2016. But back then, it seemed like a unique thing, and in 2022, it now seems to be part of a larger narrative. They believe that the Development Agenda is too progressive.

That the BLM protests were too destructive. That the city is too bright. Whatever. None of these macro narratives are a good reason to believe that your anecdotes are representative of broader trends, if anything, it is reason to believe that you suffer from confirmation bias. Many police say the law is a major factor in the wave of shoplifting that has hit cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles and closed many stores. Five years later, shoplifting in San Francisco has only gotten worse. Why is shoplifting so prevalent? Because state law states that stealing property worth $950 or less is just a misdemeanor, meaning law enforcement probably won`t bother to investigate, and if they do, prosecutors will drop it. CVS and Walgreens say shoplifting in San Francisco surpasses theft from their stores across the country. In October, the California Attorney General`s Office announced the dismantling of a major Bay Area theft ring that allegedly stole $8 million worth of cargo from Target, CVS and Walgreens and then sold them in other countries, with the proceeds being laundered in the United States. The link between fighting crime and social inequality doesn`t get much media attention, but Walgreens` decision last week to close five more stores in San Francisco due to rampant shoplifting is another reason why it should be. In a Marginal Revolution article on the alleged shoplifting in San Francisco, economist Tyler Cowen highlights a popular explanation for criminals` blatant disregard for the law.

As his New York Times article explains: Boudin and like-minded Big Apple politicians may think that removing barriers to shoplifting shows great empathy for offenders or enlightened indifference to „low“ crime. In fact, such neglect underpins drug addiction and professionalizes criminal fencing circles. This shows no compassion for abused store workers, whose daily work involves inconvenience, humiliation and danger from spirited scammers – and ultimately unemployment in at least 17 locations around Frisco. You see, I admit that this sounds bad and that it is not enough to appeal to the higher faculties to dismiss clear, egregious and frankly shocking cases of shoplifting in a city that simply does not seem to care. Unfortunately, it`s Gavin Newsom. Create a political moment to sign an almost meaningless shoplifting law that is rarely enforced. React defensively to criticism and do everything you can to distract it. Failure to lead. A governor of a state of nearly forty million people, with no realistic vision of a better future. [2] Although I must admit that it is ironic to see so much attention on shoplifting of less than $950 in goods, and so little on Walgreens, which admits millions of wage thefts in California alone.

Governor Newsom recently signed a new law in which shoplifting is a crime, even if it is below the $950 limit, if — and this is a big „if“ — the theft is part of an organized ring with the intent to sell the stolen goods. Unfortunately, this can have little impact on shoplifting, as most of these thefts are committed by individuals rather than groups, and it will always be up to police and prosecutors to prosecute them as crimes. What we need is a change in state law that makes shoplifting a crime at a much lower level in order to create appropriate incentives for individuals not to commit these crimes. On the other hand, when I say, „There were thousands of shoplifting in San Francisco in 2020 and 2021, I`m just not convinced that this represents a sudden increase over previous years.“ And you say, „But I`ve seen people shoplifting!!!, that proves next to nothing. You could show me hundreds of videos, and I don`t care, because you could have done the same thing in 2019, and you could have done the same thing in dozens of other cities. So of course, this is evidence of something, but not the question that is actually relevant to this debate. (One could argue that this only proves that the problem goes deeper than D.A. Chesa Boudin and deeper than San Francisco, and that it is really California as a whole that is too soft and liberal.

But think again about what the data tells us. It`s not just that Marin County has more or less shoplifting than the state as a whole, it`s that with one particular intervention (the election of a new DA), shoplifting in Marin County has decreased less, indicating a lack of replacement in San Francisco.) As mentioned earlier, shoplifting is usually a crime with possible penalties of: What about October and November? Again, this is usually just that one destination. In October, in a city of nearly one million people, 39% of all shoplifting took place on a target. In November, it was 35%. To put this in context, during these three months, this target reported a total of 465 cases, compared to 201 cases it had reported together in the previous 44 months.