The cops rarely show up even in states that don’t have this stupid law.
They simply have too many other priorities to be responding to dozens of petty theft calls. A quarter-century ago the retail industry went to something called “civil recovery” where you basically sue the thief for the value of the item plus 10x damages.
Of course most of these people are generally impervious to judgments, making it all pretty pointless. Can’t get blood from a stone.
I used to work in the retail industry so I know something of this. The law also said if you caught a minor shoplifting you could only release him to the police or his parents. In one particular town where civilization had largely collapsed the cops would not come, and the parents were often either dead, in rehab or in prison. So we had to regularly break the law by cutting the kids loose. You can’t detain them forever.
I am just kinda surprised that California hasn’t become a “Crime Tourism” destination. Visit, steal $950 in merchandise a less per day, fence some, keep the rest and go home.
“......cutting the kids loose.” I’ll bet in this case more than half are adults, career victims with a sense of entitlement.