Totally embarrassed by all the nasty things conservatives have been writing about rampant shoplifting in San Francisco, officials decided to crack down and make an example of a few retail thieves. They actually promise to prosecute for a change. Even the “misdemeanors.” It may be petty theft but $950 is a lot to merchants. That’s the magic number where it becomes a felony. Anything less than that wasn’t considered worth bothering to arrest anyone.
Shoplifting sting nabs dozens
San Francisco police dusted off some of their cop equipment and set up an undercover shoplifting sting. They staked out “retail and grocery stores to catch shoplifters.”
Without even trying, they nabbed 60 criminals already. It’s only been running a couple of weeks. “Retail theft is not a victimless crime. It hurts our local business,” SFPD spokesperson Adam Lobsinger finally admitted.
“It hurts our workers who are getting their hours cut or losing their jobs. It hurts people who are shopping to feed their families, and it hurts our seniors who depend on neighborhood pharmacies that are forced to shutter.”
— Kilgore Trout (@Kilgore73862013) December 12, 2022
The shoplifting crisis is getting to the point that people from Oregon, Washington and California are going to need to cross state lines for groceries. Into a less liberal jurisdiction which still believes in prosecuting criminals for crimes instead of rewarding them.
While they want to put a dent in shoplifting by announcing the crackdown, they don’t want to give away enough of the details for thieves to escape their clutches.
“Details of the operation are slim, but police said that officers have been deployed to monitor pharmacies, grocery stores and retail stores across the city.” Just a few are “Walgreens, Old Navy, Target, Whole Foods, CVS and Macy’s.” All high profile targets.
Arrests will continue
The retail theft arrests, police promise, will continue. “These operations have resulted in 13 felony bookings, over 47 misdemeanor citations, and they will continue,” their statement notes.
Around half the ones snagged so far “were offered diversion, while the other half are facing prosecution ranging from commercial shoplifting to grand theft.” According to Raj Vaswani, deputy chief of the department, “the operation will last at least another month.”
“We’re going to assess it and see how successful it is,” Vaswani explained. “Of course, we also have to look at the overall resources and how sustainable it is.” They don’t get much money out of their liberal bosses these days. The Mayor and the District Attorney are both surprisingly behind the shoplifting sting.
#Target #RetailTheft #ElevatorShaft #Fall https://t.co/bdo9SfUIUp
— Kilgore Trout (@Kilgore73862013) December 11, 2022
Normally, they would be complaining about how unfair it is to target minorities out stealing to support their family needs. They were forced to admit the reality amateur thieves quickly went professional when they had the chance.
“Addressing retail theft is a priority for my office and we have been working closely with the San Francisco police to ensure that there is accountability and appropriate consequences in all cases,” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins cringingly admitted in a statement. Mayor London Breed wants to send a message.
“Operations like this not only yield results in arrests and prosecutions, they also send a message that there will be consequences when you cross the line in San Francisco.” In other words, steal someplace else. The woke administration suddenly woke up when merchants in Chinatown offered to solve the shoplifting problem on their own, permanently. One quiet missing person’s case at a time.
