The $100B Cost of Risk-Free Shoplifting – The Consequences of “Woke” Crime Policies
In today’s America, the startling surge in organized shoplifting has spotlighted the worrying side effects of certain “woke” policies. With losses amounting to an astounding $100 billion in 2021 alone, businesses are being crushed under the weight of these so-called “progressive” approaches to criminal justice.
Former Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli pointedly remarked, “Biden’s America has become a lawless society.” And this, in turn, is having catastrophic repercussions on businesses. Giants like Whole Foods, Walmart, Walgreens, Nordstrom, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Lululemon have all felt the pinch, not to mention the countless mom-and-pop stores that are on the brink of bankruptcy.
“The kind of theft that’s mostly happening isn’t run-of-the-mill shoplifting. It’s organized crime,” said Mark Mathews of the National Retail Federation. Indeed, the scale of this issue is monumental, and shockingly, many liberal policies seem to be indirectly fanning the flames.
The NRSS reported that “Many offenders target multiple retailers. If these retailers are not collaborating with each other and law enforcement, then they will not be able to detect that offenses against their organization are part of a larger pattern of organized criminal activity.” Yet, how can collaboration truly thrive when a culture of leniency and disregard for small-scale crimes permeates the justice system?
A critical point of contention is the decision by many liberal-led urban areas to classify petty theft and similar offenses as “quality of life” crimes. There’s a profoundly flawed belief that these crimes don’t cause any genuine harm. Not only is this categorically false, but it also shows a stark disconnect between policy-makers and the reality on the streets.
Blake Mohs, a 26-year-old security official at Home Depot, and Gary Rasor, an 83-year-old worker at another Home Depot, tragically lost their lives to incidents related to shoplifting. It’s just the tip of the iceberg.
“When businesses shutter because of the unacceptable risks and loss caused by repeated thefts, local residents…have to travel longer distances (and pay higher prices) as a result,” highlights the tangible and immediate impact of these policies.
This “woke” wave has created an environment where criminals brazenly exploit the laxity in the system. Brian Cornell, Target’s CEO, lamented that they are battling “an unacceptable amount of retail theft and organized retail crime.” Target’s projected losses for the year from theft alone are an eye-watering $500 million more than the previous year’s staggering $800 million.
This dramatic uptick in theft and its visible impact on businesses has finally pushed CEOs to publicly voice their concerns. Yet, many remain hesitant, fearing backlash for seeming too political. “Until recently, CEOs have been reluctant to admit that rampant theft in their stores has been a problem,” because acknowledging the direct implications of certain policies could stir a hornet’s nest.
However, it’s essential to recognize that the long-term consequences of these “woke” policies are not sustainable for businesses. They are costing jobs, causing stores to close, leading to increased prices for consumers, and, most alarmingly, resulting in lost lives.
A return to the fundamentals of law and order is the need of the hour. It’s high time for district attorneys in major cities to step up and ensure that every criminal, no matter the scale of their crime, faces the consequences of their actions. Only through strong law enforcement and just legal proceedings can this growing menace be curtailed.
Biden should be arrested on the RICO act like they are trying to do with Trump.
After all, this is again, ORGANIZED CRIME!
We didn’t try to arrest Trump on a RICO charge, we did arrest Trump on a RICO charge. He is innocent and so will try to delay, shift venues, replace DA and maybe even the judge.
Feel free to arrest Biden when you are ready. Maybe right after his impeachment but after Jorden/Comer de-weaponize the DOJ, FBI, NSA, Capitol Police, DC Police, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Figure Darren sees this as ORGANized crime. He’s so gay.
Off topic: so, the guy in PA now has a gun. Wanna bet he got it from a Republican. Let’s see. It was loaded. It was in his garage leaning against the wall in a corner. It has a scope and a spot. Just a 22 rifle, but with scope can be pretty good offense. Oh yeah, as the guy took it, the probable-Republican got of a few rounds from his pistole. Of course he missed. Probably had it in his jockeys as he went for the trash….. freakin should arrest the guy for keeping a loaded gun, unlocked, in a garage which is probably unlocked…..or open……a lot. EZ enough for a guy on the run to grab n go. freakin should arrest him for negligence.
It’s a shame that the owner didn’t kill the bastard. He needs more marksmanship training. And yes, the rifle shouldn’t have been left out. And holy shit!!!!!! Most democrats own guns too. Most just want more restrictions and want to dictate who can have guns and who can’t. And the cunt governor in New Mexico is in for a rude awakening. Even many democrats are calling her out. But I’m also skeptical of how much they really care. Even David Hogg molester , the punk kid from Marjory stoneman high school spoke against the idiot governor. Now that does make me wonder
Like I said, should be arrested for negligence. He’s just lucky it was an escaped killer with a long sentence versus some dumb kid.
If you have a pool and you don’t have a proper gate, it’s a negligence fine in the offing. Why not for loose guns. In open accessible areas.
Given the location, given he had multiple guns, I am still betting Republican, but sure, I am a Democrat with a number of guns — sure. You can’t just pick them up at my garage though. Plus, you would never make my garage before being accosted.
Guns are the greatest death threat to kids. It’s guys like this that make that possible.
Another aside: so, they are OJ-ing this guy to jail, takes about an hour, and the transport is a military grade bigger-than-a-humvee like vehicle only marked as “special operations team” or something vague like that. No city name, no police, etc. I figure it’s 9/11 money spent and they lend it out so don’t want another town’s name involved in your mil-spec festooned domestic issue. The freaking thing has a turret on top, nothing embedded in it, but it’s a turret waiting for what: water cannon, satellite dish, machine gun, all of the above an more —- so, probably a lot of options gear back at the shop….. And the police are all in fatigues because camo is a cop’s best defense…. 9/11 changed us in so many ways. First, the cops got all the new spiffy gear. Then they had to find ways to use it…… Nah, can’t see future problems of unintended outcomes in any of that….
But 12 guys in fatigues marching this little guy from truck to jail is priceless. Maybe DeSanctimonious is on to something.
I just remember the days it took one Texas Ranger, in a cowboy hat, to bring the bad man to justice. He didn’t look like GI Joe, he looked like Chuck Norris.
Didn’t some marxist minority nutjob say that blacks were entitled to take whatever they wanted for 200 years as reparations? Comments like that enable insane policies.
Yes. That’s the thoughts of idiots on the left. We might not stop the stealing but we can break them of the habit
Like watching Law and Order, a story stolen from the headlines of FOX News, Forbes, and downstream, The Heritage Group. I sigh, alas, as I read many a news story from anywhere nowadays in that it all seems to start over there, get copied with more opinion inserted by the next guy, and so on and so on. Sometimes they add in a new fact, often new opinions to make it theirs. But they don’t do a critical analyze or add much factual value. Often the story is not complete, off base, or both, to begin with and only gets worse in the “aging.” The younger set seems to have lost that investigative journalistic spark.
This story is a copy/paste with no added value which is sad mostly because there is so much to add and the story he copied from is biased and wrong. He should have done some work.
Shoplifting. Pretty broad. Kids do it. Teens do it. Girls do it. Guys do it. Little ole ladies do it. Some for fun, some for need, some for profit, some for greed. Some are just nuts. It’s a broad market basket of facts. Now we are faced with a new twist often using new tech to boldly go where no thief has gone since Bonnie and Clyde got up front and personal hitting banks. And instead of covering the entirety, the author focus on smash and grab while using the overall numbers as if all shoplifting is smash and grab. That’s like saying all gun deaths are mass murders. It’s just a bigger story than that.
Smash and Grab which can be anything from a flash mob of folks unconnected except by the technology of the e-broadcast TO organized groups of criminals that set up a factory line of stolen products to be sold via internet outlets like e-bay. Caught 41 in one clip in NYC for example. These groups might control the entire “value” chain or just specialize in a portion, like fencing goods. Even smash and grab is bigger than just blaming Democrat’s policies and beliefs.
Shoplifting Statistics; the data is bad and everyone lies. Stores blame low revenues on it, even store closures. The numbers skyrocketed during and after the pandemic, they are coming down now, but are still too high coupled with the newsworthy smash and grabs that garner a lot of attention. While the number of events may be lower, the value is way up, people are stealing more expensive stuff pointing more towards organizational crime. By this, it does not mean Mafia type, but could be a group of someone’s acting together.
Shoplifting Trends; undoubtably the trend is up, and even if slightly down, it’s too high. The smash and grabs affect our minds, our daily lives, they change us. Just like mass murder, may be few in number, but the effect on our psyche is national. On top of that there’s probably a pandemic effect or two. Undoubtedly inflation alone means the amounts are going up. HOWEVER, it is also clear that people are migrating to stealing more expensive stuff.
But do we really know the whole story and does this article actually cover that. No.
Frank likes to babble nonsense. Who cares what the escaped killer was transported in? And my guns are secure but easy for my wife and I to access. I also keep one of my guns on my person. Can’t beat that. And the killer deserves a rope around his neck
I don’t see anything in the article about the store’s responsibility. Do they try to catch shoplifters? Probably not. If they’re in a high-risk area or carry expensive easily-portable goods, do they have trained security guards or off-duty police? They’ve given up on that because minorities get profiled and harassed, and then they get sued. Do they have cameras? Probably. Do they submit video to the police? Probably not. If it’s clear who the offender is, then they should be hounding the police… but it’s probably not worth the time, and insurance will pay for the stolen goods. Have insurance companies tried to do anything about this? No, loss is what drives stores to buy more insurance. As always, premiums will cost more than the actual losses. What stores are failing because of shoplifting? The ones who pay their CEOs $10’s of millions.
Somehow, the article is trying to blame Democrats or Liberals for being “woke”. I would guarantee you that the biggest problems are in States with Republican-held legislatures. If you want to assign blame, start there.
As a patriotic citizen, I CARE when the police becomes militarized. Aren’t you from the fearful crowd expecting a government takeover at any time. Thus, one of the main reasons you have all those guns and support the 2A? If it’s a armored Humvee sporting a machine gun in the turret, does it matter whether federal, state or local? I do not support our police becoming the military because I have seen how they police Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam and even Syria, and I do not desire that on Main Street.
I remember, and Horist may too, when Nixon put the White House Guard in fancy uniforms with giant gold epaulets (Trump would have loved it) which they called The Banana Republic Uniform. That was the day I started protesting and never stopped until he left. Nixon was embarrassed at the press, pulled them back and the Meriden-Cleghorn High School Band bought em for $10 a pop.
That’s what real patriots do to this authoritarian crap, even of the non-threatening showboating nature. We are Americans.
Our Presidents are equal under the eyes of the law, nothing more. We don’t like to mix church and state, military and state, and all things King. Stand up. Take a stand. We are Americans. Our politicians are people of the people, not kings, not dictators, not thugs and not peacocks with bright feathers. They don’t get their own private armies. Fancy banana republic outfits. Horist should be massively offended by such a blatant transgression of abuse of power.
But wait…..I am sure there will be more. First you train the relief workers to be soldiers, then you use them. After all, they report to you, King DeSantis of DeSantistan.
Maybe we should give law enforcement horses and 5 shooters And demonstrate are more likely to weaponized the police. And no, you ain’t a patriot or you would ditch the democrat party since they have mostly turned Marxist
I am a big believer in law enforcement having superior firepower and high-tech support tools. Also against militarizing the police. Also while I understand the concept of de-funding, not sure I want a streamlined police organization just for policing.
One problem with organizations is that when they specialize in a certain aspect, they tend to try to grow it. Thus, militarizing the police gets you military, not police. Defunding police may put other services like those needed in domestic disputes over to social services. I am against this in that once you have police that solely handle use-of-force and worst-case scenarios to reduce potential threats, you get robocop without a heart. Since most cop encounters start with conversation, I would like a well-trained, well-rounded police that focuses on peaceful outcomes versus violent ones. Military have a different focus.
I am a pretty visible capitalist, and a patriot for the democratic vision of all people are created equal and should be treated that way. You just gotta hate to feel better about yourself. So sad.
Actually I don’t hate anyone. I’m just observing what I see. Like people in government and schools meddling in gender bullshit and trying to punish parents for realizing that people with dicks are guys. People with pussies are girls. I’m just glad that Trump didn’t grab dicks. Like Obama. And police are mostly well trained. It’s just that liberals get pissed off when a street punk forces a cop to shoot him. And yes, sometimes the cop is wrong. But usually not
If that’s what you call people you don’t hate, you sure are sending the wrong message. I mean you just make up that Obama is gay because you like him? You denigrate Blacks all the time. And are you showing how much you like me when you say f-bomb your mother?
Being venally vile is a character flaw and pretty much neuters any character positives you might posses.
Tucker Carlson interviewed a guy who said that Obama is queer. I don’t know and don’t care. The rumors have been circulating for years. And I said nothing bad about blacks. I said street punks. Many of them are white. Everyone except democrats like black people. That’s why your party tries to dictate how they vote and think
Re the blacks, my bad, I get darren and dan confused —- D-men’s both (get it?)
On Tucker, the conman, and the queer fantasy. Can you really be this STUPID or is it just a convenient rationale for you to stick your head up your ass once again? Remember, the myth is Obama is gay, Michelle is trans, and the kids are adopted midgets. Tucker is fired for lying, probably. He’s on X now, the land of misinformation as a way of life where even Alotta Mush says this story seems bogus. The conman got 14 years once, arrested numerous times. Tucker said he took a lie detector so it’s all good. The lie detector test said he lied. But you are now buying it lock, stock, and barrel.
You’ve been had, Tucker’s a cad. At least, at last, you know. You ARE really this STUPID if you believe it and can confirm it by saying “Tucker interviewed a guy.” Tucker, liar, fired, sure.
And keep saying what you say about democrats, blacks, street punks — it’s all working for us, carry on.
I didn’t say that I believe Tucker. And I don’t care. And quite the opposite about our pet name’s working for you. People are seeing what liberals policies are doing to the crime rate.
Dan, I heard you like to suck dog dicks in hell. I don’t know, but that’s what the gay guy said. You like dogs, don’t you? I eas thinking it might not be true, but he totally believes it.
Sucking dog dicks ain’t as much fun in hell. A kennel is better. I can’t even keep a secret anymore