Nah.

No one will get arrested for even stealing $1000s of dollars of luxury items on camera (at least in CA, a trend setter for other states).

https://amhsnews.org/10386/justice-awareness/shoplifting-the...

> On September 30th, 2023, Governor Newsom signed into law Senate Bill No. 553, essentially making it illegal for retail workers to confront looters, burglars, and shoplifters.

> A Walgreens employee working in San Francisco told a reporter that thieves come around 15-20 times per day

> any theft under $950 is only considered a misdemeanor, which means it doesn’t lead to anything punitive by law

Edit: Present data countering the virtue signaling and get downvoted. Keep it up folks.

Hell, I worked at $retailer for a time, and even their statements were to "DO NOT ENGAGE SHOPLIFTERS". Worse yet, I can scarcely imagine some $12/hr being told to chase after shoplifters... That's gonna end up being shot or shivved.

And frankly, there were times in which I saw people steal food. And in those cases, I never saw a thing! Especially when formula was being "acquired".

One time, during Black Friday, someone stole a whole register full of cash. Again, not my job and not my problem.

That’s because it’s a liability issue. Better to let someone steal a $100 item than get sued for $1000000 because an employee chased them into the parking lot and got stabbed.

You do realize that people who steal formula use it to cut drugs?

https://city-attorney.columbus.gov/pdf/press/babyformulaband...

There are a lot of organizations that give out formula for free but not at scale required for nefarious uses.

Look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself you honestly believe drug dealers are stealing formula to cut drugs with rather than mom's just need to feed their babies

a lot of stolen inventory is resold for money but it's then in turn sold to moms on street markets (or sometimes back to unscrupulous store owners at a discount off wholesale to resell, sometimes via a proxy reseller). so you may be unhappy with who profits in various ways but it's evidently going to moms one way or the other

Maybe you should stop looking at yourself in the mirror and look at the data?

As a parent, I feel people like you are the reason formula ends up being unavailable for real babies as you enable gangs to steal them driving up cost.

Here is a list of places with free baby formula and stuff in the Bay Area:

https://www.211bayarea.org/sanfrancisco/food/food-programs/f...

https://www.findhelp.org/goods/diapers-%26-formula--san-jose...

https://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/san_francisco_and_s...

One advice: Stop with harmful virtue signaling. It is easy to virtue signal like you do here with looking at any data or bearing any of the real cost of virtue signaling. I will repeat. People like you are the reason formula ends up being unavailable for real babies as you enable gangs to steal them driving up cost and causing shortages during real crises. As a parent this is frustrating and rage inducing.

https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/infantandtoddlernutrition/form...

How about we both:

1) Support low income people by giving them formula if they need it, AND

2) End the war on drugs and move people into treatment instead of the carceral slave system

Sounds like a win-win.

>As a parent, I feel people like you are the reason...

You must have missed the part of the post where they stated:

>I worked at $retailer for a time, and even their statements were to "DO NOT ENGAGE SHOPLIFTERS".

"People like [them]" are being told from their employers to not engage shoplifters.

I feel like that is the least committal press release that could exist about this topic. The police might be correct but the facts described aren't as clear cut as they're making it.

> Wilson has a history of drug offenses: felony drug abuse, felony possession of cocaine, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

"Offenses" is carrying the whole team here. All this says is that he was charged with the crime of doing drugs while black. I could have been arrested for all of these at one time in my life or another. Without a trafficking charge they're just speculating he might be a dealer.

> While a black market exists for stolen baby formula to be resold for its intended purpose, reports indicate that baby formula also is used as a cutting agent for cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine by drug dealers looking to dilute their product and stretch their supply.

So he could be cutting drugs with it, or he could just be stealing it to sell directly. He even could even be selling it to actual drug dealers. Not saying that's better but the police kinda gloss over that as presented that's the more likely option.

I promise I'm not trying to drag you or anything but I'm originally from Columbus and you have to take anything the CPD says with a shaker of salt. Columbus is a fairly boring city and so CPD always tries to punch up the stories.

Low income mothers can get formula from the government.

https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic

It was probably all theft to exchange for drugs.

During the pandemic there was a formula shortage and allowing theft rather than punishing it probably ensured some children went without unnecessarily.

Any means testing (and I do mean ANY) will always exclude people who have an actual need who'll never be able to get.

And really, if 1 out of a thousand "cuts drugs" with formula, so be it. At least that's non-toxic... and frankly, laughable as DARE propaganda.

Here is a list of places with free baby formula and stuff in the Bay Area most without means testing:

https://www.211bayarea.org/sanfrancisco/food/food-programs/f...

https://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/san_francisco_and_s...

Just recently there was a baby formula shortage. And we were not prosecuting gangs stealing formula. Shameless and laughable.

https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/infantandtoddlernutrition/form...

Edit: To person calling me a techbro below, I can't provide data for 1000s of cities in the US, genius. Feel free to do so.

Non tech folks also live in the US (you would know if you live in the US). Also look up why we are discussing the Bay Area.

The Bay Area is not the USA, techbro.

I can't provide data for 1000s of cities in the US, genius. Feel free to do so. You provide data for zero other parts of the US.

Non tech folks also live in the US (you would know if you live in the US).

Also look up why we are discussing the Bay Area.

Half of infants born in the US receive WIC. Can't be that hard.

God, this is such a tired take. I see it all the time, usually referencing how California is weak on crime, yada yada yada.

California, in fact, has one of the lowest felony theft thresholds out of any of the states. In fact, it has the 10th lowest felony threshold in the union. [1]

It was actually Oklahoma who started the trend to increase the felony threshold in the early 2000s.

Newsom passed the bill you referenced so that minimum wage workers aren’t playing security for their employers. This bill did not raise the felony threshold.

Do you want to know which states have the highest felony theft thresholds? It’s Texas and Wisconsin at $2500. In 2010, California went from a threshold of $400 to $950. In 2015, Texas went from a threshold of $1500 to $2500, so California’s threshold has always been much lower even in the recent past. [2]

So no, California has not actually been any sort of trendsetter when it comes to felony theft thresholds, but it certainly is a convenient bogeyman.

[1] https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/felony-thef...

[2] https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-bri...

Which incident receives media coverage as it happens?

I think you're getting the wrong takeaway from OP's comment...

?

Given the breathless reporting of "MAJOR CHAIN STORE SHUTS DOWN SINGLE BUSINESS DUE TO EXTREME THEFT", yeah.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/as-retailers-close-stores-...

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/28/1202264923/major-retailers-bl...

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/19/target-store-closures-theft-...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/target-closing-stores-2023-san-...

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/26/business/target-retail-theft-...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/target-stores-theft-1.69794...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11965589/The-stores...

------------------------

However, on the actual wage theft side, is scattered articles about a single bad company, or policies from stuffy think tanks and "boring" and non-sensationalized sources.

https://www.cohousedems.com/news/wage-theft-prevention-passe...

https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2024/2024-10.html

https://www.propublica.org/article/wage-theft-law-new-york-v...

https://blog.dol.gov/2024/02/07/protecting-workers-rights-at...

https://calmatters.org/politics/capitol/2024/01/wage-theft-c...

It gets even worse than just the media. A bunch of legislation has been proposed or passed specifically to target "organized retail theft." In Virginia, legislation upped the designation for "stealing several thousand dollars of stuff with other people" to the same felony category as stabbing somebody while jack shit is done to crack down on wage theft.

If people don't care about the $ severity of the crime, what is it they care about to keep this going as it does?

The Target store closings (in Seattle) were not due to violence/theft but rather a cost cutting measure; Target lied.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/19/target-store-closures-theft-...

That article proves nothing of the sort. Shutting down stores that have too much theft is a cost cutting measure, and keeping stores open that have more theft but far more sales doesn’t invalidate it.

I live two blocks from that store (the ballard one which was shut down). It was the worst targeted store i've ever seen. It was about 1/3 'groceries' while sitting within a block of two larger and cheaper grocery stores. All the stock that people would actually be interested in, home goods and the like (because the neighborhood lacks a store for that), were extremely thin on the shelves. Either because they didn't stock items are they were always sold out because they were meeting a neighborhood demand.

Was there theft at that store.. I don't doubt it but never saw it in all the times i was in there searching, often without success, for some home item that would suit my place.

It was just a bad target variant store that was plopped into the middle of a neighborhood that ended up being specialized in the wrong thing, if any target mucky muck had ever walked the neighborhood before putting the store in it could have been very successful (because we could really use a store where I can buy various home goods without jumping in my car and driving 10-15m).

I lived in 65th for the first half of COVID, so I want to that Target moderately regularly. Yes Ballard Market had better groceries (among the best in Seattle actually), but I’ve never seen Target as a grocery store. For the home goods we needed it was adequate, though my roommates Amazon subscription had to fill in some gaps. To your point about it not having the items you needed, I wouldn’t be inclined to separate that from the theft problem. If your stuff keeps getting stolen, you’ll be inclined to stock less stuff, especially if you don’t have sufficient sales to afford retrofitting locking cabinets everywhere and staffing sufficient to tend to them all.

I'm not sure people are stealing a lot of shower caddies or little office/bathroom garbage cans...

The entire "Theft is driving up prices" narrative was bullshit. The national retail federation, the very group that is the lobbying voice of the retail industry, found that a majority of retail stores complained about theft, but if you look at the reported shrink numbers, they have been the same for 30 years. There has not been widespread increase in theft, by their own numbers.

> If you steal $100 worth of food from a store, they'll call the cops and arrest you.

And if you're a person of color, if you try to pass a counterfeit $20 bill (unclear if you even know it's counterfeit) then the police just murder you and the person in charge of it gets a cheesecake sentence