Posted on 07/25/2024 7:35:22 AM PDT by dennisw
Shoplifting has spiked across the country so far this year — even as many major crimes like homicide dropped back to pre-pandemic levels, a major national crime study showed.
Rates of shoplifting rose an average 24% during the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to the Council on Criminal Justice’s (CCJ) Mid-Year Crime Report released Thursday.
The study reviewed crime statistics from 23 cities across the US, finding shoplifting has steadily been on the rise since the country began emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic around 2022.
Shoplifting has gotten lots of attention in recent years, as alarming videos have spread online showing gangs of hooligans staging brazen “smash-and-grabs” where they overwhelm a store and make off with armloads of goods at once. Others show thieves flagrantly snatching merchandise time and time again.
The problem has become so prevalent across the country that pharmacies and big box stores have begun locking up their aisles up with barriers to curb thievery — much to the frustration of honest customers.
Ernesto Lopez, a senior researcher with CCJ who helped compile the report, noted that a sharp increase could come in part because stores are reporting shoplifting more frequently due to the heavy attention on the problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Good thing it is no longer a crime in many places or crime would be going up.
My understanding is that for some violent crimes, some cities, like New York, simply stopped reporting statistics to the FBI, so in national statistics, it appears their crime rates are dropping - and leftist/woke politicians will claim as much.
Last Christmas season, I saw at least one case of blatant, in-your-face shoplifting every time I went to one of the two Wal-Marts around here. Openly carrying stuff right out the door without being challenged.
yeah.. because of defund the police and decriminalizing theft below $1,000
liberals like Kamala couldn’t do more harm if they were trying to.
None of them can compare with the crimes committed by foreigners when they enter the U.S. illegally with the help of the RATS and the Border Patrol “Hi-Fiver” Bowling Team.
Yutes hard at work doing the jobs they love...
With a 24% increase in shoplifting I can’t help but wonder how that factors into government statistics which claim (The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.8 percent in the second quarter of 2024, according to new Commerce Department data released Thursday. )
Stolen goods must certainly account for a large percentage of the manufacturing industry which replaces the empty shelves due to bidens shoplifting surge.
Some big cities have put out a whole list of crimes where police will not respond. For example, suppose someone breaks into your car, but is gone before you notice it.
The police will not respond. You’re just told to report it by phone.
At some point, people will say, why bother reporting? And then the crime stats magically improve.
Living here in CA, i know how these crime numbers are massaged. Use SF as example #1.
Law Enforcements reaction, or lack of action, reflects directly on the crime numbers. More gas lighting. That is all the govt and MSM is currently good at.
Curiously this summer, the shelves of suntan lotions are not locked up.
Raise prices to offset shoplifting losses. Lock up high-priced merchandise to thwart shoplifters. Inconvenience honest shoppers. Check receipts at doors? What if they walk or run past the receipt checker? Apprehend, prosecute, incarcerate criminals? Criminals know what they can get away with. They have the upper hand in a no consequences lawless atmosphere.
Everywhere?
This will force many retailers out of the city. The democrat urban ghettos will become business ghost towns. The Rats will have to travel further out to shoplift, which will be harder to do among the law-and-order crowd. Eventually the pygmy cannibals they will starve. I approve. /spit
So many common, every day products are now locked up behind plexiglass that I’ve taken to ordering off of Amazon. Otherwise, I have to find someone with the key to unlock the cabinets, and hope it’s the right key (as it wasn’t at Lowe’s the other day, took about 20 minutes to find help, find the key then get the right key) - so why bother?.
Ditto for laundry detergent and personal hygiene products.
> Openly carrying stuff right out the door without being challenged. <
I get why stores like Wal-Mart have that policy. They’ve done the math, and decided that shoplifting is preferable to lawsuits.
But in doing so, these stores have become enablers, and are contributing to the decay of society.
What’s the solution? Perhaps they should hire off-duty police officers to patrol the exits.
I read earlier this week that one jurisdiction has begun fining shop owners for calling the police too often to report shoplifting and purse-snatching in their stores.
I live in a small town in rural south central Kentucky. We are just barely big enough to have a “small sized” Lowes. I get a fair amount of my materials there.
Anyway, I had a sheet metal building built in early 2020 and did most of the wiring. I needed to add a 20 amp line a couple of months ago and was in the wiring section and noticed that they have now locked up all the Romex wiring. I talked to a guy there and he said they were losing enough to shoplifting that they had to finally lock it up.
Even in small town Kentucky...
Our culture is coursening more and more.
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