The retail theft wave shows no signs of stopping
Zachary Faria
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The toleration of riots and looters in 2020, along with the recent push in liberal cities to elect pro-criminal district attorneys, led to a retail theft wave that continues to do damage to businesses and communities, with no real end in sight.
A recent report from the National Retail Federation found that retail theft led to $112 billion in losses in 2022. That is actually an increase over 2021, which saw nearly $94 billion in losses. Whether organized crime rings are getting better and more coordinated or are simply becoming bolder knowing they won’t be stopped, the retail theft problem is only growing worse across the country.
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The businesses aren’t the only ones paying for this surge in crime either. Law-abiding residents who are simply trying to buy food and everyday items are the ones who shoulder the burden of tolerating retail theft. At best, their grocery runs become longer and more inconvenient as an increasing number of items are locked up and require store staff to open. Locked-up items include deodorant, toothpaste, detergent, and an increasing number of food items, including ice cream.
Again, that is only the best-case scenario. More often, stores simply make some items unavailable due to just how often they are being stolen, as Dollar Tree plans to do with men’s underwear. Even more common is that some stores are simply shut down. Most recently, Target just announced another round of store closures thanks to retail theft, shuttering nine locations in New York City, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle.
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These closures are now creating the looming threat of food deserts in some communities. Southeastern Washington, D.C., is one store closure away from a potential food desert, and the problem has grown so large in Chicago that the city is considering government-run grocery stores to step in and fill the void.
All of this was easily preventable. Democrats, liberal media, and activists should not have tolerated riots and looting in 2020, to the point that celebrities and prominent Democrats (hello, Vice President Kamala Harris) were bailing out criminals as soon as they were arrested. Voters in Democratic cities shouldn’t have supported pro-criminal leaders in local elections. The consequences of these actions were entirely predictable. When those consequences end is not.