During an appearance last year on the morning show, “Fox and Friends,” a former chief executive of Home Depot described a rise in shoplifting in dire terms. “Today, this thing is an epidemic,” he said. “It’s spreading faster than COVID.” The executive joined a long list of industry leaders, from Walmart to Walgreens, encouraging police and prosecutors to crack down on theft. Retailers say they’ll be forced to raise prices or shutter affected stores without help to address a growing threat — organized bands of shoplifters ransacking stores with the intent to resell the looted merchandise. This article was published...
