Videos of people brazenly stealing merchandise from retailers often went viral; chains closed some of their stores and cited a rise in theft as the primary reason; and drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens started locking up more of their inventory, including everyday items like toothpaste, soaps, and snacks.
It said that nearly half of all inventory loss in 2021, which amounted to roughly $94 billion, was driven by “organized retail crime” — that is, coordinated shoplifting for the purpose of reselling goods on the black market.
But their critics have pounced on faulty statistics like the one put out by the National Retail Federation as evidence that America needs to expand policing and once again impose harsher penalties for petty crimes, reversing reforms that have sought to reduce incarceration rates, including looser enforcement of laws around things like drug possession, loitering, or, in some cases, shoplifting low-cost goods.
Regardless, part of the reason so many retailers and lawmakers have sounded the alarm on a rise in thefts might be because reports of shoplifting had plummeted when Covid first hit, and then shot back up after stores reopened.
It didn’t matter what the reality was; it seemed that the public’s perception of rising crime was enough for politicians from both major parties to feel the need to look tougher — be they Eric Adams, the Democratic mayor of New York City, or Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida and candidate for president.
As shoddy data about shoplifting helps stir up fear of a potential crime wave, voters are becoming less tolerant of those kinds of policies, and progressive prosecutors have faced tough election cycles in recent years as a result.
The original article contains 1,623 words, the summary contains 281 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Videos of people brazenly stealing merchandise from retailers often went viral; chains closed some of their stores and cited a rise in theft as the primary reason; and drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens started locking up more of their inventory, including everyday items like toothpaste, soaps, and snacks.
It said that nearly half of all inventory loss in 2021, which amounted to roughly $94 billion, was driven by “organized retail crime” — that is, coordinated shoplifting for the purpose of reselling goods on the black market.
But their critics have pounced on faulty statistics like the one put out by the National Retail Federation as evidence that America needs to expand policing and once again impose harsher penalties for petty crimes, reversing reforms that have sought to reduce incarceration rates, including looser enforcement of laws around things like drug possession, loitering, or, in some cases, shoplifting low-cost goods.
Regardless, part of the reason so many retailers and lawmakers have sounded the alarm on a rise in thefts might be because reports of shoplifting had plummeted when Covid first hit, and then shot back up after stores reopened.
It didn’t matter what the reality was; it seemed that the public’s perception of rising crime was enough for politicians from both major parties to feel the need to look tougher — be they Eric Adams, the Democratic mayor of New York City, or Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida and candidate for president.
As shoddy data about shoplifting helps stir up fear of a potential crime wave, voters are becoming less tolerant of those kinds of policies, and progressive prosecutors have faced tough election cycles in recent years as a result.
The original article contains 1,623 words, the summary contains 281 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!