Shoplifting has become a serious problem in San Francisco. Buisnesses have lost money, employees have lost jobs, and the rate of shoplifting has gone up dramaticly.
Shoplifting has drove stores like Walgreens and Target to shut down and cut store hours. What is being done about this problem? What can be done?
The suspect seen in the viral San Francisco Walgreens heist video, caught in the act of another attempted theft.
We chose this topic for two reasons, the first being that shoplifting is creating multiple problems within the city, including buinesses losing revenue, workers losing their jobs, and much more.
The second reason is a personal connection, we have both been impacted by shops closing in our areas.
In San Francisco, shoplifting is a big problem. A quick internet search will bring you countless videos of shoplifters in just the past couple of years.
The Los Angeles Times says that San Francisco and Oakland alone lose $3.6 billion a year due to organized shoplifting. In 2021, individuals and groups were stealing up to $10,000 each day from just CVS.
Employees and security guards are mosty told not to interfere, which begs the question, why are securtiy guards there? A local Andronico's owner says that they don't try to stop shoplifting because insurance covers whatever is stolen.
Shoplifting is obviously a problem in San Francisco, but what has been done about it? What are we doing about it right now? Well, in 2018 the SFPD announced "Operation Wrecking Ball," this was an eight month long investigation that led to a dozen arrests and the recovery of thousands of items, valued at about $750,000.
In 2019 SFPD began rehiring retired officers to patrol union square in order deter shoplifting attempts.
In december of the same year, "Operation Focus Lens" was able to recover almost $2 million worth of stolen items. In 2020, an even more sucessful operation called "Operation Proof of Purchase" recovered $8 million in merchandise.
Something I think stores can do about the shoplifting problem is to firstly, have cameras in their stores. If cameras are not in the store's budget, I think having security guards or employees that monitor the customers, will be helpful in preventing shoplifting. Other simpler methods of preventing the shoplifting is optimizing the store's layout and adding mirrors to your store.
Doing this can make the shoplifting more visble, making customers less likely to shoplift.
Chief of Police giving a presentation on theft rates.
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