San Francisco police cite data indicating retail theft crackdown is working
San Francisco police have been promising to crack down on retail theft this holiday season, and recent results show their strategy appears to be working
The City has become notorious for videos showing thieves running out of stores with armfuls of merchandise and often getting away with it.
In addition to stepping up the police presence in Union Square and other popular shopping areas, the efforts have included what the SFPD has termed a "blitz" on retail theft.
On Thursday, police offered details on an operation that netted 17 suspected shoplifters at a single store on Mission Street near the SFMOMA and Yerba Buena Gardens earlier this week.
They didn't name the exact store, but said it was on the block where the Target at the Metreon is located.
Residents say they have noticed an improvement.
"There was a group," explained Suzy Guglielmino. "They weren't the smash-and-grab type, these people were actually shoplifting. But they would come in and it would be pretty scary."
Guglielmino is a regular at the Geary Street Walgreens location that at one point was said to be the most shoplifted in the city. She says that has changed.
"By and large, because they locked so much stuff up, you know, it makes it harder," Guglielmino said of the security measures now in place at the store. "And there's so many other places to steal from. I'm sure people just got tired of coming here, frankly."
"We're not saying that this is over," Chief Bill Scott said Thursday. "We know that this is a challenge that we have to sustain this effort. But we believe that our city has gotten off to a great start."
San Francisco Police say the city is, in fact, seeing less of the rampant theft that has made international headlines for several years. They point to one set of data suggesting a 35% drop in the first six months of the year.
For that, the chief credits the department's so-called "blitz" operation targeting everything from high-end boutiques in Union Square to corner pharmacies.
"These are retail theft abatement operations," Scott explained. "Where our officers are inside of retail establishments, from Walgreens to some of our bigger retail outlets."
Another set of numbers suggests a drop in theft this November compared to last year. Might that have been partly the result of APEC security?
"Could that factor in, yes," Scott acknowledged. "But we will take it as well. You know, APEC was very successful, I believe, in terms of the policing aspect of it."
Shoplifting, compared to some other crimes, has long been described as a one where the reporting and the statistics might not match the actual numbers.
"Like you said, homicides, they're pretty spot on," Scott said of shoplifting stats. "We know when people die, it's going to get reported. Shoplifting not so much. But we have to take that as part of the calculus."
So are things better now? Possibly, but that answer might also depend on your time frame.
"It's gotten a lot better, but it wasn't bad before the pandemic," Guglielmino said of recent months.
Another piece of the retail crime crackdown is obviously the prosecution of those charged with crimes. The San Francisco District Attorney's office has been more aggressive, asking for people to be detained pending trial.
Measuring the actual degree of progress being made in the reduction of retail crime is probably the kind of thing that can only be done over a lot more time.