Flash mob thefts terrorize U.S. retailers ahead of Christmas

Flash mob thefts, also dubbed "flash robs," have been around for years, but have accelerated in 2021, besetting owners of small pharmacies, mid-level chain clothing stores and top-end luxury goods alike.

Coincident with the curtailing of enhanced unemployment and stimulus checks and the effort to force service workers, often people of color, back to service jobs where they will be forced to interact with the anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers for little pay.

This is the result of progressive politics that forever holds people of color suspended in a state of victimhood

Progressive politics that gave birth to civil rights movement. That have come under regressive attack through the actions of the previous administration, and have barely improved now.

You don’t have the ability to choose between right and wrong. It’s all relative anyway, they say.

People are learning lessons from the level of criminality in American politics. Who could not have come away with that after the last administration?

I expect they will blame Facebook for this too.

Organised crime has always been domestic terrorism.

This has little to do with poverty and a LOT to do with anarchy. Poor people don't DRIVE to high end shops to commit their crimes, not do they co-ordinate their attacks, nor do they steal perfume/bags/shoes. This is pure lawlessness, made possible by the feckless guilt-ridden progressives who infest city governments.

Until laws are enforced, until businesses are allowed to actually protect themselves from these crimes, then they will only get worse.

Agreed, zichi, and they need to be hit with dye bombs, and concerned citizens should shoot out their tires.

Sure, these places have insurance. But often the shops just don't reopen- they move. Not to mention the trauma and injury caused the staff when these jackals rip through their workplace. Insurance can't help with that. This isn't simple shoplifting. It is assault, battery, and robbery at weapon point.

As to hiring security, it is a joke. Private security isn't allowed to actually stop or apprehend anyone stealing. The businesses are deathly afraid of the lawsuits and bad publicity that would come if a security guard actually tackled a thief. Plus, even IF one thief gets tackled, the other 20 will either get away, or pile on the guard and assault them so their friend can escape.

Until laws are enforced, until businesses are allowed to actually protect themselves from these crimes, then they will only get worse.

Maybe they should hire a certain young guy from Wisconsin to head up security. That should keep the thieves at bay.

"I wouldn't even characterize that as organized crime, that was domestic terrorism," Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Association told Fox40 television in Sacramento.

That's what it is.

The unfortunate response from the far left that we see to these types of crimes is an outcry of excuses as to why these domestic terrorists are somehow forced into circumstances that they have to commit these crimes. Or almost just as bizarre, the progressive left will protest the "excessive bail" set for these domestic terrorists, and even start GoFundMe sites for them!

zichiToday  12:32 pm JST

Are you intentionally insulting us?

I don't believe that term can be directed towards British subjects.

RegBilkToday  01:28 pm JST

The unfortunate response from the far left 

Here comes the far left responses.

P. SmithToday  01:40 pm JST

Theft, no matter how large, is not terrorism because the actors are not trying to intimidate or coerce the civilian population or the government.

Words have meanings for a reason.

Looks there are some words of which the meanings are not understood!

zichiToday  01:44 pm JST

Nothing related to terrorism and plain non sense.

Another far leftist sticking up for these types of acts.

The robbed stores will have their stock insured against loss.

People are quick to dismiss vandalism and theft with excuses of “the businesses have insurance,” but insurance isn’t a magic wand. Insurance may cover some damages, but it never compensates fully. Even if insurance were to pay 100 percent for smashed display cases and lost stock, does it pay for enhanced security in the future? Does it pay for lost customers who are now afraid to patronize those businesses? Does insurance pay for the hiring and training of new employees because good employees quit out of fear and stress over the thefts? Does it pay for the lower legal demand for that brand’s goods because cheaper options are now on the black market? Does insurance pay for the inevitable hike in insurance rates from next year? Crime costs the store greatly, even with insurance.

Times are tough for these shops. This is the Detroit version of setting fire to houses to collect insurance. There used to be a lot 20 or more years ago on the east side (Van Steuban). Some of the abandoned homes were burned down by the homeless trying to keep warm. Rumors say the owners are behind this.

Common thread in most of these thefts: local lawmakers and prosecutors have effectively decriminalized theft. Petty theft has been downgraded to a misdemeanor. No one is held in jail on bail. No one is charged with felonies. No one is put on trial.

Petty theft is essentially a ticketable offense, and police aren’t even bothering with that in most cases. There are too many reports of theft. Police budgets have been cut, while violent felonies are also on the rise. Police can’t afford to track down misdemeanors when they have stacks of felony reports to deal with. Even when they do catch one of these thieves, the person is back on the street same day.

There is a reason prosecutors, police, and lawmakers got tough on petty crimes in the late-1980s and early-1990s with cash bails, mandatory minimum sentencing, three-strikes laws, broken-windows policing, and the like. Yes, those tactics sometimes produce unfair results, but they are responsible for the dramatic decrease in most types of crime during the last two decades. Even Joe Biden has forgotten why he wrote a crime bill in the 1990s with those measures in it because recent crime had been so low. Take away those measures, and crime storms back with a vengeance.

Zichi; it is not so simple as just "restock" for the shops hit by these criminals. There is usually thousands of dollars of property damage to repair, days/weeks closed, loss of customers (who wants to shop somewhere thay may be robbed?).

You are also forgetting the human cost. The staff who were working when these crimes happened were surely traumatized at the least, often assaulted, and threatened with weapons. They also deserve to work in a safe environment.

Security can do little, I checked the link you posted and it did not really have any useful information. My ideal would be that the shopkeepers/staff blow a few holes in these creeps, pour encourager les autre to rethink their choices in life. But that is just a happy dream.

zichiToday  02:22 pm JST

More misquoted comments when I have not defended these crimes.

It is exactly what you wrote. Here, one more time:

zichiToday  01:44 pm JST

Nothing related to terrorism and plain non sense.

AttilathehungryToday  02:39 pm JST

Zichi; it is not so simple as just "restock" for the shops hit by these criminals. There is usually thousands of dollars of property damage to repair, days/weeks closed, loss of customers (who wants to shop somewhere thay may be robbed?).

As many stores in the San Francisco area are closing because of excessive theft, along with the weakening of laws that were used to prosecute these people, this wave of domestic terrorism needs to be dealt with harshly.

It more easy for rich luxury goods companies to deal with the Flash Robs than a mama papa operation. I do not condone these thefts. Fortunately, I have not read of any staff member being injured.

It doesn’t matter what store is being robbed. Do you think the looters would differentiate between a high end store or a low end store? A new car or an old car? An old person or a young person? Do you think they care when they enter the store who is in there? It could be children. It could be old people.

If any of us were in a store robbed like this then we would be having flashbacks for weeks after.....

Flash mob thefts terrorize U.S. retailers ahead of Christmas

If this model gets widely adopted, fundamentally it is the end of retail shopping. (As the insurers will start refuse to insure shops.) I can see how Amazon is happy about this.... otherwise nobody I think.

I arrived in Walnut Creek on Saturday for the holidays. Took the train from the airport and a guy was lighting up drugs on a piece of tinfoil on his skateboard with one of those long barbecue lighters on the train. Then got to my parents house and heard the news of the Louis Vuitton being robbed in San Francisco and then the Nordstrom (equivalent to like Isetan) in Walnut Creek. Can’t wait to go back to Tokyo! The Bay Area is going into the toilet

The Bay Area is going into the toilet

You have a buffer in the Caldecott tunnels. When they start doing in your neighborhood I'll start to think that.

So MANY great things about our beloved Bay Area @qazwsx 5:10pm but SF has literally become a “toilet” for many years on. (“Poop” maps are available)

-@qazwsx 5:10pm: “I arrived in Walnut Creek on Sat for the holidays. Took the train from the airport …

… The Bay Area is going into the toilet” -

Liberal politics enable the criminal behavior. "Looting" has been deemed a racist term even though the perpetrators come from all races.

looting

noun [ U ]

UK /ˈluː.tɪŋ/ US /ˈluː.t̬ɪŋ/

the activity of stealing from shops during a violent event.

Though typically the term is applied to war-time, it is also applied during emergencies (natural disasters) and other times of "unrest" which includes the atmosphere in parts of the USA.

looting

noun [ U ]

UK /ˈluː.tɪŋ/ US /ˈluː.t̬ɪŋ/

the activity of stealing from shops during a violent event.

... also known as "peaceful protest".

Some of the fine folks doing such crime are seen :

https://twitter.com/KPIXtv/status/1463706198729916419?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1463706198729916419%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Fcrime%2F2021%2F11%2F25%2Fapple-nordstrom-stores-hit-in-last-minute-smash-and-grab-robbery-in-california%2F

California reaping what it sows.

Something tells me theres not a lot of this going on in Texas....