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A new breed of daring thieves attacks California luxury retailers, drawing anger

The chaos began Friday night, when thieves smashed the window of a Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco's Union Square and ransacked it. The criminals also violated about a dozen nearby stores through robbery and vandalism, police said, including a Burberry and Hermes store, as well as an eyeglass store and marijuana dispensaries.

On Saturday night, the attack on Nordstrom in nearby Walnut Creek was even more daring: Just before closing time, about 80 people jumped out of a group of cars and swarmed the aisles, many escaping with merchandise. Two employees were assaulted, one of them was sprayed with pepper spray.

A little after midnight Sunday, the criminals used a sledgehammer to smash the windows of the Louis Vuitton and Saks Fifth Avenue storefronts in Beverly Hills, police reported, but patrol cars arrived to shoo the thieves away before they could enter. On Monday night, another group tried to break into Nordstrom at the Grove shopping center in Los Angeles before leading police on a high-speed chase.

Organized retail theft is nothing new. In recent years, the networks have focused on Rolex watches, fine jewelry and Apple products in multiple locations.

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But a weekend in which high-end stores in famed shopping districts were hit by large and seemingly sophisticated theft rings has garnered national attention, as the holiday shopping season kicks off and retailers hope customers will finally come back as the coronavirus crisis subsides.

Gov. Gavin Newsom described the incidents as "people vandalizing, grabbing, stealing items from people, creating havoc and terror in the streets." Newsom explained that he was not only speaking as governor, but also as owner.

"My business has been violated three times this year," said Newsom, who owns a hospitality business that includes wine shops and restaurants. "I have no empathy or sympathy for these people, and they need to be held accountable."

The reaction to the robberies has followed now-familiar political lines, with some conservatives blaming California's criminal justice reform policies.

Una nueva generación de ladrones atrevidos ataca a los minoristas de lujo de California, generando ira

But while the incidents were terrifying for those caught in the middle of them, they do not point to a massive increase in such crimes.

Robberies increased in 2021 by 3.2% in Los Angeles compared to 2020, but are 14.1% lower than in 2019. In and around Union Square in San Francisco, these crimes fell by almost 5% from 2020 to 2021, while that robberies fell by 2.3%.

Still, the anarchy was met with outrage in liberal San Francisco, with some well aware of the message it might send.

“What happens when people vandalize and do that level of crime in San Francisco? We don't just lose those businesses, we lose those jobs," Mayor London Breed told reporters. “We lose tax revenue that helps support our economy and helps support a lot of the social service programs that we have in the city in the first place. We cannot allow that to happen."

Newsom indicated that the state would be more aggressive in helping catch and prosecute retail theft rings, thus allocating more money for the job in next year's budget.

He touted the successes of the state's retail crime task force, which he reinstated in July amid criticism of his criminal justice record and an impeachment campaign that derided him as "soft on crime."

Newsom said the task force had conducted 773 investigations and recovered stolen merchandise totaling nearly $20 million.

The California Highway Patrol would immediately increase its presence "in and around high-traffic areas" as the holiday shopping season reaches its peak, the governor added.

Greg Totten, executive director of the California District Attorneys Association, noted that most shoplifting cases can only be classified as misdemeanors, even when it is clear that organized retail theft is at play.

"There are now huge hurdles to overcome to prove that it rises to the level of organized retail theft," Totten explained. “These poor retailers are suffering. We are not only talking about big box stores and luxury retailers, but also small businesses.”

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Captain Jonathan Tippet, who heads the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division, said there appeared to be several groups committing such robberies, some of them inspired copycats. on social networks.

He pointed out that thieves who attack luxury stores have been emboldened by the perception that penalties for crimes have decreased. "They find this to be a lucrative undertaking, with consequences they don't think are that bad," Tippet explained.

The captain added that it's a trend Los Angeles police are seeing along with street and home burglaries. “Sooner or later someone is going to be shot and killed,” Tippet noted.

Although Los Angeles as a whole has not seen an increase in burglaries, some individual neighborhoods have been hit hard. In the Wilshire Division, which includes much of the trendy Melrose Avenue retail corridor, there has been a 20% increase in thefts since 2020.

Beverly Hills police launched a controversial crackdown last year on Rodeo Drive after merchants complained of rising crime.

The effort is now the subject of lawsuits alleging that police deliberately targeted black shoppers. Ninety people were arrested in the crackdown. Documents obtained by the Times showed that 80 of them were black, four Latino, three white, two Asian and one was classified as "other."

Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retail Association, said this weekend's thefts dominated the conversation in the industry.

"A week ago I would have said it's the supply chain, the ports, and now this is the biggest thing," Michelin said. “I heard it from legislators, from the governor's office. It's frustrating because we've been dwelling on the fact that this is a growing problem in California."

She indicated that she was working with lawmakers to focus on the online marketplace where stolen items are bought and sold. "We need to close the places where they can sell these objects," she added Michelin. “If you see some of these products being sold at very cheap prices, they are probably stolen.”

Rick Caruso, a prominent Los Angeles developer whose malls include the Grove, said in an interview hours before the incident at his mall that organized retail robberies should be taken seriously.

“The moment you say, 'We're going to tolerate some level of crime,' you send a signal to criminals to try the system,” Caruso said. "The more successful they are, the more emboldened they become."

So far, three people have been arrested in connection with the robberies at Walnut Creek's Nordstrom. Police reported that they are reviewing surveillance footage to identify other criminals.

In the case of the Louis Vuitton raid in San Francisco, the video shows a man running out of the store with arms full of clothes pressed against his chest. Nearby, police run up to a car and hit it with batons; he eventually pulls out an occupant and stops him.

At least eight people have been arrested and surveillance footage is expected to lead to more arrests.

San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said the city is adjusting traffic patterns near luxury stores so thieves can't just park out front, commit a crime and jump into the car. He stressed that he would also put enough officers in vulnerable areas to prevent a crowd from overwhelming store security.

“We are going to do everything we can to put an end to this madness,” Scott said.

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