The Impact of 'The Great American Shoplifting Scare'
The shoplifting scare might not have been real - but its effects are

It turns out shoplifting isn't spiraling out of control, but lawmakers are pushing for tougher penalties for low-level and nonviolent crimes anyway.

Evidence of a spike in shoplifting, it turns out, was mostly anecdotal. In fact, there's little data to suggest that there's a nationwide problem in need of an immediate response from city councils or state legislatures. Instead, what America seems to be experiencing is less of a shoplifting wave and more of a moral panic.

What we actually know about shoplifting

Part of the reason so many retailers and lawmakers have sounded the alarm on a rise in thefts might be because reports of shoplifting had plummeted when Covid first hit, and then shot back up after stores reopened. That created the impression that the problem was spiraling out of control when in reality, shoplifting rates remained below pre-pandemic levels.

"People don't know if something is high or low or medium on some scale, historical or otherwise. But they have a sense of whether it's getting better or getting worse," Gelb said. "And when things are moving in the wrong direction, people want to see action."

The great American shoplifting scare has already had consequences

As shoddy data about shoplifting helps stir up fear of a potential crime wave, voters are becoming less tolerant of those kinds of criminal justice reforms, and progressive prosecutors have faced tough election cycles in recent years as a result.

Legislatures have also started passing stricter laws. Since 2022, at least nine states have imposed harsher penalties for organized retail crime offenses, according to CNBC. But given that preliminary data from 2023 shows that the apparent shoplifting trend might actually be moderating, it's worth waiting for more data before drafting up laws that could have lasting consequences. vox.com


Calif. Lawmakers Try to Fix the 'Unintended Consequences' of Prop 47
Democrats want to make it easier to prosecute repeat shoplifters

While there's little chance the current Democratic controlled Legislature will reinstate the kinds of tough on crime policies passed in the 1980s and 1990s, there does appear to be a growing appetite in Sacramento to go after at least certain types of criminals.

Responding to a dramatic increase in shoplifting in recent years, two prominent Democrats announced proposed initiatives Thursday that could make it easier to prosecute people repeatedly convicted of theft.

Assemblyman James Ramos, D-San Bernardino, announced AB 1772, which would allow courts to consider a criminals prior convictions when imposing sentence for theft. Under AB 1772, a thief convicted two times could be prosecuted as a felon, even if the value of goods they stole would be deemed a misdemeanor under Proposition 47. Ramos said this would allow authorities to target repeat criminals, who could face additional penalties of six months to three years.

Because it would modify a previous initiative, AB 1772 would need to be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and be passed by a majority of voters. Proposition 47 passed with nearly 60% of the vote in 2014 amid concerns about California's large and growing prison population.

Also, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, announced that he would introduce an initiative to modify Proposition 47. In a news release, McCarty said AB 1794 would "hold repeat retail theft and substance abuse offenders accountable."

"Californians expect their leaders to address public substance abuse and the rise of retail crimes," said McCarty. "We know voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 47 in 2014, but it is now our responsibility to look at and correct any unintended consequences."   dailyjournal.com sfist.com

   RELATED: New bill would provide stricter penalties for retail theft


Data Shows Retail Theft & Robbery Have Risen in California
Testimony: Crime Data on Retail Theft and Robberies in California

PPIC policy director and senior fellow Magnus Lofstrom testified at the inaugural hearing of the Assembly Select Committee on Retail Theft on December 19, 2023.

Beginning with a statewide overview of the last decade or so, shoplifting remains 8% below pre-pandemic levels, despite a 29% jump in 2022 from 2019. However, both commercial burglary and robbery have been ticking up: by 16% and 13% in 2022, compared to 2019.

Recent trends in retail theft and commercial robbery varied widely across the state. For shoplifting, the Bay Area had the highest reported rates-and the biggest recent jumps. Of the 15 most populous counties, San Mateo had the highest rate in 2022, followed by San Francisco. Rates in these counties increased 53% and 24% compared to 2019. However, in 5 of the largest counties, rates fell at least 20% between 2019 and 2022. Furthermore, reported shoplifting did not increase in the state's smaller counties.

Commercial burglary, however, increased across the state; in 2020, it became more commonly reported than shoplifting. Commercial burglary rose in all five of the Bay Area's counties that are among the state's largest-varying from 9% higher in San Mateo to 65% higher in Alameda. Commercial burglaries also jumped in Coastal Southern California, rising 29% in Los Angeles and 54% in Orange County. As with shoplifting, commercial burglary fell in smaller and rural counties.

Robberies of commercial establishments were up in 9 of the 15 largest counties in 2022 compared to 2019. After rising 13% between 2019 and 2022, the state's largest county, Los Angeles, had the highest commercial robbery rate in 2022. The biggest increases among large counties, however, were a 51% jump in Fresno and a 29% rise in Sacramento.

The monthly crime numbers show that San Francisco's increase in shoplifting is driven by a jump from mid-2021 to mid-2022. By the second half of 2022, it returned to its pre-pandemic level. Shoplifting in Los Angeles, however, has climbed steadily since mid-2021. By late 2022, it was 10%-15% above pre-pandemic levels.  ppic.org

Holiday Larceny Theft in San Francisco Cut in Half
Crowds give downtown SF a holiday lift as crime plunges
Larceny theft was down by nearly half in San Francisco over the holidays compared to the previous year, hitting the lowest level since 2017, while the number of people visiting downtown destinations - including Union Square - over the same period jumped, according to data touted Wednesday by San Francisco Mayor London Breed and other officials.

The news was welcome for Breed, who is facing competition in her quest to keep her job in the November election. Breed credited additional law-enforcement presence and aggressive enforcement by District Attorney Brooke Jenkins with helping knock the crime numbers down. Local police, including undercover officers, have focused on disrupting car break-ins and retail theft citywide and making shopping areas safer.

Their work has coincided with local, state and federal efforts to shut down drug markets around Market Street and in the Tenderloin neighborhood, though significant issues remain in some areas.

"What we saw in terms of the major reduction in larcenies - in car break-ins in particular, theft in our retail establishments - I think that it has a lot to do with the additional resources that we have to do undercover operations, to make arrests, to make sure people are charged and held accountable," Breed said. sfexaminer.com

Editor's Opinion:

Question is For How Long & Did the Drugs Ever Leave & Will Stores Return?

One Would Expect the Shoplifting & ORC Numbers to Significantly Decrease After:

May 29, LA Times With 26 Stores Closed in Union Square & Half in SF's Retail Hub - Is it Turning into A Ghost Town

May 2, sfchronical: S.F. drug dealing crackdown: Here's what happened on first day of CHP, National Guard arrival

June 29, LA Times: Newsom doubles CHP deployment in San Francisco to crackdown on fentanyl crisis

Nov. 10 NY Times: Before World Leaders Arrive, San Francisco Races to Clean Up


'Shoplifters Unite!'
Ominous flyer urges criminals to ransack DC grocery store, 'take everything that's not nailed down'
Washington, D.C.'s crime spiral took a new turn this week when a flyer calling for shoplifters to "unite" and ransack a local grocery store was discovered outside a vacant building in Columbia Heights, a report shows.

"Shoplifters unite! Take everything that's not nailed down. Bust windows," the flyer stated, calling on people to reportedly ransack a Safeway location in the city, according to Fox 5 DC.

The flyer was found on an empty storefront window on Irving Street NW, according to the outlet. The outlet did not post the flyer's message in its entirety, as it is unclear who posted the flyer and if their intentions to ransack the Safeway are legitimate.

"I think it's a bunch of crap," one Safeway shopper told FOX 5 of the flyer. "That's what I think. You know, I see people come in this Safeway right here, and I see them take stuff and steal. You know, I don't say anything, but you know the guard is right there. He sees it too, and he don't do anything."

Retail theft has exploded in cities across the U.S. in recent years, most notably in California, where smash-and-grabs and rampant shoplifting has led to dozens of stores shuttering due to crime and public safety concerns.

A study published by Forbes Advisor in November found that Washington, D.C., had the second-highest retail theft index out of any city examined in the study and cost residents an average of $336 per person.

Washington, D.C., had a violent and crime-riddled 2023, with police data showing violent crime increased by 39%. nypost.com


New Philly Mayor Declares Citywide Public Safety Emergency
San Francisco & Philadelphia Both Cleaning Up Open-Air Drug Markets

Philly Mayor Cherelle Parker says she'll do something her predecessors couldn't: End the Kensington drug market
Minutes after she delivered her inaugural address, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker was whisked away to her first neighborhood visit, and she landed in arguably the city's most embattled community.

At a school in the heart of Kensington, Parker administered the oath to Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel. Her administration's 100-Day Action Plan says Parker is charging Bethel with developing a strategy to "permanently shut down open-air drug markets, including in Kensington."

It was specifically named in her first executive order that directed police to employ "any lawful means necessary to abate the public safety emergency" citywide.

The attention on Kensington and the pledge to clean it up is no surprise given Parker's campaign centered on ending "lawlessness" in the city. But delivering on that promise will be challenging, expensive, and likely controversial. She's rejected more progressive strategies like supervised drug consumption sites, and she floated seeking assistance in the neighborhood from the National Guard. inquirer.com


'The Tragic Consequences of the Defund Police Movement'
FOP: 2023 Set Record for Most Police Officers Shot in Line of Duty
Last year, 378 police officers were shot in the line of duty, the most the Fraternal Order of Police has ever recorded, the agency said as it released its end-of-the-year statistics.

Nearly 380 police officers were shot in the line of duty in 2023, setting a dubious record, according to the Fraternal Order of Police.

"With the COVID-19 pandemic behind us and after so many Americans have seen the tragic consequences of the defund the police movement, it was our hope that these numbers would be a high-water mark. We were wrong," Patrick Yoes, the FOP's national president, stated in a news release this week.

"Instead, 378 officers were shot in the line of duty in 2023, the highest number the FOP has ever recorded."

Last year's total is up 14% from 2022. Of those officers shot in 2023, 46 of them were killed, down 25% from 2022. Yoes credited "dramatic improvements in medical trauma science and anti-ballistic technology" with helping officers survive shootings.

Ambush-style attacks also continued to be a problem for law enforcement in 2023. There were 115 ambush attacks last year, resulting in 130 officers shot, 20 of them fatally.

Texas led the country with 39 officers shot in 2023, followed by Pennsylvania (25), California (22) and Tennessee (21). officer.com


Vermont House panel weighs legislation to increase retail theft penalties

Walmart shoppers livid over anti-theft measures locking up everyday items

Packetalk CEO Duped Agencies into Buying Banned Chinese Surveillance Products
DOJ: Chief Executive Officer Charged in $35 Million Fraud to Sell Prohibited Security Cameras and Equipment to Law Enforcement
NEWARK, N.J. - The chief executive officer of a Lyndhurst, New Jersey, company was charged with falsely representing to law enforcement customers that the security cameras and equipment he sold were compliant with the National Defense Authorization Act, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Tamer Zakhary, 49, of Toms River, New Jersey is charged by complaint with three counts of wire fraud and one count of making false statements.

From August 2019 through December 2022, Zakhary, the owner and chief executive officer of a company that sells surveillance and security cameras and equipment, sold millions of dollars' worth of surveillance cameras and equipment to public safety and law enforcement agencies in New Jersey, including prosecutors' offices, sheriffs' offices, police departments, and townships. Zakhary fraudulently misrepresented to these customers that his company's products were compliant with Section 889. Zakhary, in fact, obtained the cameras and equipment he sold from a Chinese company specifically identified in Section 889. The customers purchased at least $35 million in surveillance cameras and equipment from Zakhary's company, over $15 million of which consisted of federal funds and grants.

In one instance, Mr. Zakhary emailed a banned manufacturer to ask that it produce cameras with a different color and logo to hide the maker's identity, according to the complaint. That exchange, federal prosecutors said, showed that Mr. Zakhary knew he was purchasing banned technology and was "attempting to conceal that fact."

The wire fraud charges each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; the false statements charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. All counts are also punishable by a fine of $250,000, or twice the gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greatest. justice.gov nytimes.com


Retailer Faces Backlash Over Founder's Diversity Criticism
Lululemon hits back at founder's anti-DEI comments: They 'do not reflect our company views'

Lululemon has distanced itself from founder Chip Wilson's criticism of the brand's inclusivity initiatives.

The athleisure brand Lululemon has distanced itself from its founder and former CEO Chip Wilson's comments about diversity. Wilson, who left the company in 2015, criticized what he called the "whole diversity and inclusion thing" that the company has embraced in an interview with Forbes published earlier this week.

"They're trying to become like the Gap, everything to everybody," Wilson said. I think the definition of a brand is that you're not everything to everybody," he added. "You've got to be clear that you don't want certain customers coming in."

Lululemon, which says on its website that it stands "for humanity, diversity and empathy-without exception," has since issued a statement distancing itself from Wilson's comments.

"Chip Wilson does not speak for Lululemon, and his comments do not reflect our company views or beliefs," a spokesperson said in a statement, per The Business of Fashion. "Chip has not been involved with the company since his resignation from the board in 2015 and we are a very different company today," they added.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have become a hot topic among execs in recent years.

Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has said DEI is "the root cause of antisemitism" at Harvard University, while Elon Musk has claimed DEI was "just another word for racism." businessinsider.com


Creating 'Intelligent Borders' Using Facial Recognition
Facial recognition could replace passports at UK airport e-gates

Border Force director reportedly hopes to create 'intelligent border' after being impressed by schemes in Australia and Dubai

Plans reportedly proposed by the government's borders agency will eliminate the need to present passports on arrival in the UK, replacing it facial recognition technology. Phil Douglas, the director general of Border Force, said he had been "really impressed" by e-gate schemes in Australia and Dubai.

The paper reported that he said he wanted to create an "intelligent border" that used "much more frictionless facial recognition than we currently do". According to the Times, trials are expected to begin at airports this year, with a procurement process for the hardware needed to introduce the system across the country due to follow if it succeeds.

Douglas has been touting the potential benefits of biometrics and data security in managing the UK's borders in recent months. In February 2023, he suggested the paper passport was becoming largely redundant - even as some celebrated the post-Brexit return of the blue document.  theguardian.com


UK Retail's Store Closures & Job Cuts
120,000 retail jobs lost & 10,000+ shops closed in 2023
More than 10,000 shops closed down in 2023, with almost 120,000 retail jobs lost according to figures from the Centre for Retail Research. The figures showed a total of 119,405 retail jobs were lost and 10,494 stores shuttered during the period. Store closures were down 38.8% compared to 2022 - retail's worst year for store closures since 2008 - while the number of redundancies in 2023 fell by 21.3%.

"Retailers themselves have suffered increasing energy and occupancy costs, staff shortages and falling demand that have made rebuilding profits after extensive store closures during the pandemic exceptionally difficult."

The research foundation said 2023 saw a continuation of the trend started in 2022 where most store closures and retail jobs lost were caused by company reorganisation and cost cutting programmes rather than business failures. retailgazette.co.uk


Openings & Closures in 2023: A Tale of Home Goods, Drugstores & Dollar Stores
Tenants closed 4,600 stores in the U.S. in 2023, an 80% increase from 2022, according to a CBS News article citing Coresight Research. Still, the 5,500 stores that opened more than offset those closures. Failed home goods retailers made up a big chunk of the closing stores. Bed Bath & Beyond, which filed for bankruptcy protection and liquidated in October, shuttered the most stores of any retailer: 866. Tuesday Morning, which filed for bankruptcy in February, came in second, with 463. Drugstores also closed a hefty sum: Rite Aid closed 335, CVS Health 300 and Walgreens Boots Alliance 172. Among the 580 closures announced thus far for 2024, CVS Health and Walgreens lead the pack. Dollar stores, meanwhile, remained a growing business in the U.S., with 1,600 openings in 2023, about one-third of all openings for the year. icsc.com


Yellen Declares US Economy Has Achieved Soft Landing
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen declared Friday the US economy had achieved a long-sought soft landing, a historically unusual event in which high inflation is tamed without significantly damaging the labor market.

7-Eleven Japan to Open 10,000 Locations With Lawson by 2026

Why People Are Camping Out at Target for the Valentine's Stanley Tumbler


Last week's #1 article --

Retail trends that shaped the holidays in 2023

FBI Expands Cybercrime Focus
Cyber-Focused FBI Agents Deploy to Embassies Globally

The bureau is adding six new positions placed in locations that include New Delhi and Rome.

The FBI is adding six new positions to American embassies in order to combat global cybercriminal issues, according to reports.

The positions will be located in Brasilia, New Delhi, and Rome, bringing the total number of cyber-related FBI agents in American embassies up to 22 (a 40% increase in cyber assistant legal attachés globally). That's according to Brian Abellera, an FBI cyber assistant legal attaché stationed in Ottawa, who said that the program is meant to bolster coordinated international law enforcement actions.

"What if 60 agencies across 16 countries, across 10 time zones, within one day, were able to lash up as one unified team and conduct an action together?" Abellera said, speaking to Cyberscoop.

The added positions highlight the FBI and Justice Department's increasing focus on actively combatting cybercrime in a time when it is difficult to coordinate and investigate certain threat actors that are located internationally. The cyber agents are tasked with disrupting the work of these criminal threat actors, allowing for fewer ransom payments being paid and targeting the criminal acts as they happen instead of after the fact. darkreading.com


Will Banning Ransomware Payments Actually Make the Problem Worse?
Opinion: Ransomware payment ban: Wrong idea at the wrong time

Won't stop the chaos, may lead to attacks with more dire consequences

A general ban on ransomware payments, as was floated by some this week, sounds like a good idea. Eliminate extortion as a source of criminal income, and the attacks are undoubtedly going to drop.

But unfortunately, it's not going to work - at least not now, and probably not in the foreseeable future - for a number of reasons. Plus, it would inevitably lead to more attacks on critical infrastructure targets such as hospitals, power grids, water systems, and the like, which isn't exactly great.

This is because a payment ban would inevitably have to include an exception for incidents where not paying the ransom poses a serious risk of death, bodily harm, or terrorist attack. In other words, there's got to be an exception for critical infrastructure.

We've seen this with the US Securities and Exchange Commission's new cybersecurity incident disclosure rules: The SEC allows delayed reporting if disclosing the attack poses "a substantial risk to national security or public safety." And no one faulted the Colonial Pipeline CEO's decision to pay off the crooks in 2021 to prevent further fuel supply shortages. theregister.com


US Says 19 People Charged Following 2019 Takedown of xDedic Cybercrime Marketplace
Justice Department says 19 people involved in the xDedic cybercrime marketplace have been charged to date following its 2019 takedown.

The xDedic Marketplace was a site on the dark web where users sold and bought stolen server credentials and personal information. Authorities said over 700,000 credentials associated with servers housed by government, healthcare, transportation, higher education, financial and other types of organizations from around the world were offered on the website.

An international law enforcement operation dismantled the cybercrime enterprise in 2019 and investigators have since been working on identifying and prosecuting xDedic administrators, buyers and sellers.

The United States has charged 19 individuals, including Moldovan national Alexandru Habasescu and Ukrainian national Pavlo Kharmanskyi, who were the website's administrators. securityweek.com


Law firm that handles data breaches was hit by data breach
An international law firm that works with companies affected by security incidents has experienced its own cyberattack that exposed the sensitive health information of hundreds of thousands of data breach victims.

San Francisco-based Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe said last week that hackers stole the personal information and sensitive health data of more than 637,000 data breach victims from a file share on its network during an intrusion in March 2023.

Orrick works with companies that are hit by security incidents, including data breaches, to handle regulatory requirements, such as obtaining victims' information in order to notify state authorities and the individuals affected.

In a series of data breach notification letters sent to affected individuals, Orrick said the hackers stole reams of data from its systems that pertain to security incidents at other companies, during which Orrick served as legal counsel. techcrunch.com


2017 tax law hurting cybercrime victims - now Congress wants to make it permanent

Fire Sale: Zeppelin Ransomware Source Code Sells for $500 on Dark Web