Seattle police arrest 53 shoplifters in a single day during citywide theft operation

Q13 Fox ^ | 6/11/21 | Franque Thompson

[Libloather]

SEATTLE - The Seattle Police Department is cracking down on ongoing organized shoplifting groups, leading to a retail theft operation that resulted in 53 arrests in a single day and thousands of dollars recovered in stolen merchandise.

"These are organized groups that hit retailers with the sole purpose of stealing to either resell them or use them as currency for other things," said Sgt. Randy Huserik, public information officer for the Seattle Police Department.

The big bust occurred at nine stores on Wednesday in just under 15 hours. Of the 53 people arrested, 16 of them were booked in King County Jail. Four of them had warrants.

"We had officers, both in plainclothes working with those stores’ loss prevention personnel and then a uniformed officer acting as arrest teams to target the suspects that are committing these crimes," explained Huserik. "An officer is up in their surveillance room that’s watching it. They’re easily and quickly communicating with our officers that are in the store via radio making them aware of suspect description, the items that they’re concealing, where they’re concealing them, the location on the store at that point. And once they start heading to the door, that’s when officers will move in and make the arrest."

Huserik said large retailers and grocery stores have been losing thousands of dollars in merchandise due to ongoing problems with organized theft groups. He said some places are still struggling to recover from the pandemic.

[Flick Lives]

I don’t understand how liquor stores stay in business. Walk in, pick up a bottle, walk out. What are they going to do???

—

In a sketchy inner city neighborhood I lived in many years ago, there was a liquor store around the corner. It did well. It was a brick building with a roll-down grate which covered the entire front of the building off-hours.

Went in there one time to buy beer. Everything was behind heavy plexiglass. The booze. The register. The store clerk siting behind a large wooden counter. Place was scary.

Heard later from neighbors that the clerk had a shotgun stored behind the counter all ready to go aimed out toward the customer area. Any trouble and he would fire the shotgun right thru the wooden counter. Perhaps it was just a rumor, but there never was any trouble.

[vpintheak]

What’s the use? Pantywaist prosecutors will drop charges. Judges will hand out wimpy sentences. It’s all expensive theater.

[SamAdams76]

I don’t understand how liquor stores stay in business.

It's actually a very high margin business (which is why so many businessmen compete for liquor licenses).

Especially those "nips" that they sell behind the counter (airplane bottles). I was always curious why people would buy liquor that way as it's much cheaper on a per drink basis to get the larger bottles.

I always assumed that the street bums bought those with their panhandling money but I was set straight a few years ago by somebody in the business of liquor retailing. Actually the people that mostly buy those nip bottles are working people who are about to commute home for the day and they pay in cash. Evidently, they are using them to pour into their sodas or coffees, etc., for the trip home and don't want to explain a purchase of a full bottle to their spouses (or just as likely, an open container to a police officer at a traffic stop).

The street bums go for larger containers of rotgut found on the bottom shelves of the store.

Very high margins on those nip bottle by the way.

[seowulf]

Pete Holmes, Seattle City Attorney, will refuse to prosecte.

[healy61]

I would expect they were out in force the next day. How long can one expect the police, jails and courts to continue this “operation”? I would guess only one day.

[hanamizu]

Also, anyone remember the idiot American kid in Singapore who vandalized a car and was going to get flogged?

---

The amusing part was when his parents went on TV to try to shame Singapore for its barbaric punishment. Americans, responded by saying we should do the same here.

I worked with delinquents many years ago. Although they had no qualms about inflicting pain, they absolutely hated the idea of receiving any. Made me think that perhaps corporal punishment wasn’t such a bad idea at all. Intense pain for a half hour, bad pain for a week might be a more humane punishment than being locked up for a year.

[Cowgirl of Justice]

Criminals have NO consequences.

A former friend’s son stole money from my wallet - denied he did it and said I was a liar. The next week, he snatched a young mother’s pocketbook at a fast food restaurant as she was having a lunch with her little girl.

He never had to apologize to anyone. He was never held accountable and his parents and then the state paid for his legal defenses as his crimes escalated over the past several years.

Now, he sits in jail as his present charges pretty much assure he will be in the state prison. He was never punished for anything by his parents and he ran their house pretty much.

The inmates are indeed running the asylum.

Oh, and the criminal’s mother gave him ‘immunity’ and he confessed at stealing from me. Even though he had spent years stealing from her and her husband she told me she ‘had’t to believe him as he was her son. Good bye 40 year friendship.

And good riddance.

[Vaduz]

Shoplifting looting before arson greater selections.

[zeugma]

I like the airline-sized bottles if I want to try something new. Better to buy a tiny bottle, and decide it wasn’t my thing, than a bigger one and have it go to waste.

[LouAvul]

I saw that once. Raley's supermarket in Ceres, CA. Some dirtbag hippy looking addict alky stole a fifth of Vodka. Had it in his pants. A linebacker manager followed him outside and physically force him on the hood of a car and held him for cops.

This would have been circa 2003.