Shoplifting Stats: New York Up 64% - Los Angeles Up 61% - Dallas Up 73%
Shoplifting up 73% in Dallas as retailers rush to put merchandise out of reach

Shoplifting in Dallas was flat throughout the pandemic but started to spike late last year, according to the Council on Criminal Justice.

The shopping experience in Dallas is starting to change as retail theft increased 73% through the first six months of this year, according to a report released Tuesday.

Dallas and Los Angeles, where shoplifting increased 109%, experienced the highest reported retail theft in the first half of this year, according to an analysis of 24 major cities by the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice.

Many cities saw a decline in shoplifting during the COVID-19 pandemic because more of their stores were closed. That wasn’t the case in Dallas where shoplifting rates were flat throughout the pandemic, but started to rise in November and December of last year, said Ernesto Lopez, a research specialist and co-author of the Council’s report.

“Going into 2023 you start to see the steady climb in shoplifting in Dallas,” he said.

So far this year, shoplifting cases reported to the Dallas Police Department increased by 56.1% from the same period last year ended on Nov. 5.

But the trend may be shifting and some efforts by retailers may be working.

Reported shoplifting cases to Dallas police declined in the most recent month, both vs. the prior month and the same month last year.

It’s unclear if shoplifting statistics are increasing because incidents are rising or from an increase in reporting to police or both, Lopez said. “Shoplifting, especially ‘smash and grab’ episodes caught on video, has received extensive attention from the media and policymakers, and retailers have cited theft concerns in closing stores and placing goods in locked cases.”

Better data from law enforcement and the retail industry are needed “to help strengthen our grasp of shoplifting trends,” he said.

But Dallas retailers wouldn’t be going to the expense of adding locked cases and more security guard hours if they didn’t have a theft problem, Lopez said.

Kroger said its new safety measures were a response to a rise in theft.

Gary Huddleston, grocery industry consultant at the Texas Retailers Association, said it’s more than shoplifting. Texas is seeing an increase in “organized retail crime,” or the coordinated theft and reselling of merchandise for profit by criminal groups.

Shoplifting incidents across the 24 cities increased 16% in the first half of 2023 compared to a year ago. New York has had the largest increase in shoplifting since before the pandemic to mid-2023 with a 64% increase and Los Angeles was next with a 61% rise. Dallas’ rise since mid-2019 was 20% and ranked fourth behind New York, Los Angeles and Virginia Beach.

Among the studied cities, shoplifting in the first half of 2023 declined 35% in San Francisco, where so many of the alarming videos surfaced last year and where high-profile permanent store closings resulted. Likewise, Seattle had one of the largest declines of 31%. dallasnews.com