Portland's Shoplifting Crime Web is Out of Control
Shoplifting up 50% or more in many places

Retail theft linked ‘to drugs, stolen vehicles’ in Portland
Retail theft is out of control. It’s up more than 50% in many places. In recent months coordinated shoplifting operations with retailers led to the arrests of dozens of people.

On Sunday, Portland police, Multnomah County deputies and TriMet police worked together on a shoplifting sting at Mall 205 and the Gateway Shopping Center, their 3rd sting since December. Security staff inside the stores communicated with police and deputies stationed outside. A mobile booking unit allowed officers to stay in the area.

Some store owners have cited repeated theft as a reason for permanently closing and leaving The Rose City. In many cases store employees are told by their companies to not confront shoplifters for their own safety.

Authorities told KOIN 6 News shoplifting is just one aspect in a larger web of crime underway in the Portland area and that missions like this make a difference.

“Right now retail theft, it also is associated to our drug issues, our stolen vehicle issues,” said Jordan Zaitz with the PPB East Precinct Neighborhood Response Team. “They’re all kind of combined together and all of it’s affecting our community.”

Ezequiel Gutierrez, who owns Mi Cava Cocina, said they “see broken windows along the area. That’s an everyday scene nowadays.”

In the 2 previous coordinated shoplifting stings at these same locations, a total of 104 people have been arrested, Multnomah County officials said. Additionally, 130 warrants were serviced, 10 stolen cars were recovered and about $11,000 in stolen retail items were recovered.

Police are stepping up the shoplifting crackdowns and letting the community know about it. koin.com


Walmart's Crime Closures Making More Headlines
Retailers are fleeing Portland amid a relentless shoplifting wave

Walmart to close Portland stores as crime-ridden city battles shoplifting wave
Walmart will close its last two stores in crime-plagued Portland, Ore., as the city contends with a relentless wave of shoplifting that has hammered retailers.

The two stores, located in the North and Southeastern sections of the Rose City, will shutter on March 24. The closure announcement followed a “careful review of their overall performance,” a Walmart spokesperson told local news outlet KPTV last month.

Nearly 600 employees who worked at the two stores face potential layoffs or transfers. The company did not say whether retail theft was a factor in the store closures.

However, Portland police carried out a retail theft “blitz” earlier this month to crack down on shoplifting throughout the city, KPTV reported.

“We’re having big retailers leave,” said Jordan Zaitz, a member of the Portland police Neighborhood Response Team. “I mean, to have Walmart close two of its stores is a really big deal. The people in those neighborhoods, that’s where they shop.”

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon warned in December that the company was seeing a spike in “shrink” — a term the retail industry uses to address losses related to in-store theft or fraud.

Other major retailers with stores based in Portland have experienced issues with shoplifting. Last month, Nike asked city officials for permission to post off-duty police officers at Portland-based stores with the authority to arrest shoplifters, The Oregonian reported.  nypost.com


SF's Overwhelmed by 'Retail Crime Driven by Drugs'
'Fixing San Francisco means eliminating the drug scene'

How to Fix 'Broken' San Francisco, Calif.

SF Must Stop Open Drug Use, Dealing

Michael Moritz’s February 26 NY Times Op-Ed on a “broken” San Francisco unleashed strong responses. Most agreed with or challenged the structural causes for the city’s alleged breakdown.

For me the inquiry focuses on: What changed in San Francisco in recent years? What spurred the growing belief the city is “broken”? And most importantly: How quickly can what is breaking the city be fixed?

The answer to the first two questions is obvious: The city is besieged by flagrant public drug use, cartel-driven drug markets, and retail crime driven by drugs.

Repairing San Francisco means eliminating the drug scene that defines the city as broken. And San Francisco can do this. It’s always been a question of political will. Now that the 2024 elections are on the horizon, the politics are aligning to fix San Francisco.

Restoring Pre-Covid San Francisco

San Franciscans and many others don’t understand why drug cartels freely operate only blocks from City Hall. They don’t understand why people are free to shoot up drugs on sidewalks where children pass. They don’t understand why retail businesses are robbed time and again with little police response.

They don’t understand why other cities don’t have the sidewalk drug scenes common in San Francisco. San Franciscans know that other cities don’t have drug dealing or open drug use in public spaces. That’s what’s changed since COVID arrived. The pervasive sense of drug-driven lawlessness is why many see the city as broken.

Restoring Public Safety - From Silent to Vocal Majority: beyondchron.org


San Francisco is Held Hostage by Politics
Opinion: Even Democrats Like Me Are Fed Up With San Francisco
The state of San Francisco — mirrored by conditions in other cities around the country — has much to do with the way machine politics, with its many defects, has given way to a splintering of power in City Hall. This makes it much harder for there to be old-style fights between a well-defined machine and an equally animated reform movement. The hollowing out of city newspapers, in our case The San Francisco Chronicle, also contributes to poor governance. And San Francisco, like a growing number of blue cities, suffers a dearth of minority, middle-class voters who could offer steadying influences.

Fortunately, there is increasing agitation for changes to the mechanics of San Francisco city government. In 2020, frustrated by the condition of the city, I helped start and finance TogetherSF, which is now an active organizer of community events and has started to play a role in election contests through its sister organization, TogetherSF Action. Several parents’ action groups are also clamoring for improvements. Last November, an elected incumbent supervisor was not re-elected for the first time in 20 years. The district attorney and three of the city’s school board members were also recalled last year.

There are plenty of reasons to believe that Democratic San Francisco can again become a bellwether for the nation — this time by turning around a city that’s been held hostage by the political classes. There’s an increasing recognition that voters have been repeatedly duped. And there is a growing clamor for change. It won’t be easy. It will take time, tenacity, magnanimity and the contributions of many. nytimes.com


Biden to Focus on Crime Prevention & Policing
The White House seeks more funding for its 'Safer America Plan'

Biden bucks liberals and tells Democrats to get tough on crime

It shows how powerful the issue has become, says James Carville, who helped Bill Clinton counter soft-on-crime attacks during the 1990s crime wave.

President Joe Biden’s decision Thursday on a local crime law sends a national message to fellow Democrats about how he believes they should address Republican criticism of the nation's rising crime rates.

Democrats have focused predominantly on police reform since the George Floyd protests reignited a national debate over race and law enforcement three years ago. But rising violent crime rates and growing perceptions of unease in major cities have prompted a chorus of party strategists and officials to call for a tougher approach to counter Republican attacks.

Biden — who has a history of pushing for stauncher crime laws — has tried to straddle the Democratic divide but was forced this week to choose sides when he said he wouldn't allow the Washington, D.C., city government to enact laws that would lower some criminal penalties.

Next week the president will ask for an increase in funding for his Safer America Plan, aimed at crime prevention and policing, in his 2024 budget proposal, according to a White House official. Biden is also expected to continue publicly emphasizing his record on crime issues.

Violent crime is up nationwide and in major cities, Democrats’ main support base, as downtowns struggle to recover from the pandemic. nbcnews.com


Retail Violence Across the Pond
Violence against retail workers has doubled, new data revealed

Retailers seeing ‘appalling levels’ of violence

Sussex police and crime commissioner, Katy Bourne, acknowledged the remaining gaps in reporting processes and police response.

Retail workers are experiencing “appalling levels” of violent incidents at nearly double the rate of pre-pandemic figures, data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) crime survey has revealed. The incidents include physical assault, racial and sexual abuse, and threats with weapons.

The 2023 survey, released on 2 March, revealed that stores experienced 867 incidents a day with 8 million incidents in total in 2021/22. This is down from 1,301 incidents a day at the height of the pandemic but has nearly doubled the pre-pandemic figure of 455 incidents a day in 2019-20.

Retail crime brings a big financial cost to businesses with the survey showing that £953m was lost to customer theft in the last year whilst retailers spent £715m on crime prevention, totaling the cost of retail crime at £1.76bn.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: “The pandemic has normalised appalling levels of violent and abusive behaviour against retail workers. While a confrontation may be over in minutes, for many victims, their families and colleagues, the physical and emotional impact can last a lifetime. To make the UK a safer place to work the Home Office must improve its reporting around the amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, and the police must prioritise adequately resourcing retail crime. Surely everyone deserves the right to go to work without fear.”

Sussex police and crime commissioner, Katy Bourne, acknowledged the remaining gaps in reporting processes and police response. To bridge these gaps, she is encouraging businesses to “report incidents and provide evidence” to help identify offenders, so that PCCs can ensure that retailers concerns “get national and local policing attention”.  betterretailing.com


Carbondale PD to receive a grant to fight organized retail crime

UK: SGF & RAC set to host joint Retail Crime event at Hampden Park
 

The COVID Impact?
How CVS evolved from retail pharmacy into health care behemoth

A look at how CVS came to dominate the retail pharmacy industry

CVS Health Corporation (CVS) has emerged as a pioneer in the pharmaceutical industry in the 21st century.

With roughly 85% of Americans living within five miles of a CVS pharmacy, the company is the most profitable retail pharmacy in the U.S. While Rite Aid has a net worth of roughly $200 million and Walgreens is worth $30.52 billion, CVS's net worth is a whopping $104.57 billion as of March 3, 2023.

CVS came to dominate the retail pharmacy industry and beyond through ever-expanding operations fueled by acquisitions, mergers, and partnerships. When the coronavirus pandemic swept through the U.S. in 2020, all of CVS's assets were put to the test.

In November 2021, CVS announced its plans to close 900 stores over a span of three years as the prospect of "a CVS next door" was replaced by Amazon goods at the doorstep. Nevertheless, revenue remained steady for the company, enabling more acquisitions and partnerships. finance.yahoo.com


Full-Time Office Work is ‘Dead’
Labor experts weigh in on the future of remote work

Share of full-time, remote work seems poised to flatline at a level 5 times that of 2019.

The pandemic-era trend of working from home remains a key feature of the U.S. job market — and is likely to stay entrenched as a permanent perk for a broad swath of the American workforce, according to labor economists.

The pre-pandemic baseline of going into an office five days a week “is dead” for many workers, said Nick Bunker, an economist at job site Indeed. “Remote work is here to stay,” Bunker said.

In 2019, about 5% of full-time work was done from home. The share ballooned to more than 60% in April and May 2020, in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Nicholas Bloom, an economist at Stanford University who has researched remote work for two decades.

That’s the equivalent to almost 40 years of pre-pandemic growth virtually overnight, his research shows. cnbc.com


Going Remote: The Long-run Effects of Working From Home

How Scientists Got the Covid Lab Leak Wrong

Family Dollar's Effort to Clean Up Stores & Boost Safety
Family Dollar making its shelves even taller so that it can fit hundreds more products in its 'chaotic' stores

Family Dollar's stores are often cluttered. Dead rodents were found at a distribution center last year.

Family Dollar is making its shelves even taller to enable it to add hundreds more products to its stores. Family Dollar stores are already bursting full of merchandise. Dreiling, who took over as CEO in January, emphasized his desire to clean up Family Dollar and Dollar Tree's stores during the call.

"We must improve our store and DC conditions, and we are in the process of doing so," Dreiling told investors, referring to its distribution centers.

The chain's stores are known for their mess and disorganization, with one worker telling Insider the store they worked at was "unhygienic and disgusting."

Concerns about Family Dollar's stores escalated when federal inspectors found live and dead rodents, dead birds, and animal droppings inside a distribution center last year. Family Dollar temporarily closed 404 stores that had received products from the facility – 5% of its total US store count.

A retail consultant told Insider that inventory pile-ups and staffing shortages could be to blame for the infestation.

Dreiling discussed some plans to change the layout of Family Dollar's stores, including adding more cooler doors for frozen and refrigerated items. The chain's goal is to have 30 doors per store, he said. businessinsider.com


Chinese Surveillance Blacklist Grows
US adds two dozen Chinese groups to trade blacklist

Targeted companies include chipmakers accused of assisting China’s military and surveillance tech exporters

Washington has put 28 Chinese groups on a trade blacklist for allegedly breaching US sanctions by sending technology for nuclear and missile programmes to third countries or procuring banned products for China’s military.

The commerce department placed the groups on its “entity list”, which in effect prohibits US companies from supplying them with technology produced in America. Some of the companies were blacklisted for providing technology to an Iranian entity previously targeted by US sanctions.

Among the better-known Chinese targets are BGI Research and BGI Tech Solutions, part of BGI Group, the largest genomics research company in the country. The US is increasingly concerned that China could use groups such as BGI to obtain Americans’ genetic data.

The move is the Biden administration’s latest effort to punish Chinese groups that allegedly violated export control rules by providing or trying to provide technology that would assist the People’s Liberation Army in its rapid military modernisation.

The blacklistings are also a response to a range of other activities, including providing Pakistan with nuclear and missile technology and supplying Myanmar and other Chinese groups with surveillance technology that enables repression and human rights abuses. ft.com


Amazon Go Closures - The Impact
Will Amazon Go ever get going?
Amazon.com announced last week that it plans to permanently close eight of its 28 Amazon Go convenience stores, representing its latest brick-and-mortar retail operations pullback.

The first Go opened in January 2018 and featured the debut of its “Just Walk Out” technology. The technology is now used in Amazon Fresh locations, two Whole Foods, sports arenas and a few third-party locations.

The number of Go units is well below Amazon’s original growth projections calling for around 150 by the close of 2020, although the pandemic might have interrupted expansion. In early 2022, Amazon opened some slightly larger formats to target suburban markets and last week indicated more expansion was in the works.

Amazon said, “We remain committed to the Amazon Go format, operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the U.S., and will continue to learn which locations and features resonate most with customers as we keep evolving our Amazon Go stores.”

CEO Andy Jassy, in January, expressed confidence in Amazon’s brick-and-mortar grocery opportunity. He told Financial Times, “We’re hopeful that in 2023, we have a format that we want to go big on, on the physical side.”  retailwire.com


California Cutting Ties with Walgreens?
California to cut ties with Walgreens over abortion pill sales, Newsom says
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Monday that the state will not do business with pharmacy chain Walgreens after its recent announcement that it will not distribute abortion pills in some states where abortion is legal, as drugstores become the latest battleground for abortion rights in the United States.

“California won’t be doing business with @walgreens — or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk,” Newsom said in a tweet.

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Newsom told Reuters that “all relationships” between Walgreens and California were now under review, without providing further details.

Walgreens is one of the largest drugstore chains in America, operating about 9,000 retail stores.

The Washington Post reported that Walgreens had committed to not selling the drug in 20 states following legal threats by Republican state leaders last month. These included Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana, where abortion medication can be accessed, according to the sexual rights research group Guttmacher Institute, though those rules are being tightened. washingtonpost.com


LPF Announces LPC & LPQ Professionals for February
The Loss Prevention Foundation would like to recognize and congratulate the following individuals who successfully completed all of the requirements set forth by the board of directors to be LPQualified (LPQ) and/or LPCertified (LPC). View Full List Here


Retailers Lay Out a Downbeat Outlook as Inflation Squeezes Low-Income Shoppers

Here's how much the typical worker makes at 19 retail companies