Turns out all the stories about a rise in #retail theft were #misinformation intentionally sowed by a retail #lobbying firm whose own data showed it wasn’t true + retail CEOs.
“I heard a #Walgreens executive walk back the company’s claims that shoplifting had gotten out of hand..Walgreens tried to use shoplifting as the reason behind their decision to close 5 stores in San Francisco in 2021..we know that these stores were planned closures"
https://www.marketplace.org/2023/09/11/is-retail-theft-really-rising/
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#corporations #media
"The panic over retail theft offers a real-time look at the making of American crime policy. In the absence of reliable data, and in response to perceptions of lawlessness, legislators have doubled down on punitive policies.
"Critics of the legislative response say that decades of research on crime deterrence makes clear that a harsher approach won’t have the desired effect, and will exacerbate the system’s racial disparities."
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/02/27/shoplifting-retail-theft-lawmakers-response
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#TheMarshallProject #racism #crime #law
@jrefior I don't disagree with the conclusions.
However, this last weekend my wife went to Big Lots, and while she was standing in line to pay two different people rolled FULL carts out through the doors, all while the sales staff said, "don't leave without paying, we're calling the cops".
I'm assuming they were not "allowed" to do more.
@roknrol @jrefior I've seen people walk out of LCBO liquor stores with boxes of booze without paying. The staff are told not to do more than be polite for fear there could be violence. Some stores now have security guards who also can't do much. There is lots of theft out there - mostly by individuals. But there have been *some* cases where lots of people go through stealing stuff -- though no idea how common that is (I hope it's rare). I've also seen people with armloads of items walk out the entrance door at a Shopper's where there wasn't a staff person in view.