By David M. Greenwald
Executive Editor
Woodland, CA – An incident that happened prior to Thanksgiving in Walnut Creek where a reported 80 people storm into a Nordstrom’s and stole merchandise has caught everyone’s attention. On Black Friday there were numerous smash and grab thefts reported in California and elsewhere.
Is there a real phenomenon or is the media simply fueling a panic with little data or perspective to guide the public?
Last week, the Yolo County DA’s office put out a statement on smash-and-grab thefts – which is particularly notable since there has not been any in Yolo County.
“In response to a significant increase in the number of smash and grab thefts occurring across California, Yolo County Law Enforcement wishes to ensure the community that law enforcement is prepared to respond to Yolo County businesses or individuals being targeted,” said the DA’s office in a statement.
According to their account “numerous stores and shopping malls” across northern and southern California “have been victimized by large groups of thieves acting in concert, causing many businesses to board up their windows.”
“While Yolo County has not yet experienced similar crimes, law enforcement remains prepared to respond in the event our community experiences such crime,” the DA’s office continued. “The recency and growing frequency of these thefts is especially concerning with the holiday season now here.”
Sheriff Tom Lopez said, “Public safety is our top priority. In the event that thieves target Yolo County businesses as we have witnessed in other parts of California, we are prepared to collaborate together with all of our allied agencies across Yolo County to investigate and arrest those involved.”
Meanwhile DA Jeff Reisig assured the public “those arrested will be held accountable.”
He said, “Large scale theft crimes are detrimental to our community and we will continue to hold those who threaten the safety of our community accountable for their crimes, especially if violence is involved.”
But part of the problem is that these types of incidents are difficult to catch. For example, despite the fact that the Nordstrom’s theft was caught on video and people were in the store, only three of the 80 people involved were caught.
Last Tuesday, the San Francisco DA’s office reported the arrest of nine of the people who broke into a Louis Vuitton store, along with other Union Square retailers. About 20 to 40 people were estimated to be involved – they smashed windows and grabbed merchandise on display. The nine were all charged with multiple felonies.
As a result, Boudin and the other DA’s in the Bay Area are forming a task force.
But is this a real problem or is it just something gaining attention because of the brazen nature of the thefts?
When we looked at media coverage over the last week – it was the same stories over and over again. CNN noted 18 people who broke into a Nordstrom in LA a week ago. There was also a similar theft in suburban Chicago where $100,000 in handbags and other merchandise were taken from another Louis Vutton.
The Hill yesterday likewise cited the LA incident along with one in Lakewood California and in Monterey, where $30,000 worth of sunglasses were taken by four people.
CNN asks, “So why so many recent incidents? Are they linked to the holiday season? Is it pandemic restlessness?”
They never bother to ask, are we really seeing a large number or it is just a few high profile incidents?
CNN, then quotes so-called “security experts” – i.e. retired cops – who trudge out right wing explanations for the “wave.”
“This has nothing to do with the pandemic,” said Pete Eliadis, a former law enforcement official and founder of security company Intelligence Consulting Partners. “The pandemic is overused at this point.”
Evidence cited to support this claim? None.
He blames, “defund the police” which has long since disappeared from anyone’s radar other than a few initiatives that police themselves support.
“There’s no political will to prosecute the people in this climate. Why should a police officer waste time getting into an altercation when the person is not going to jail because it’s overcrowded and a prosecutor is not going to prosecute that case because it’s not high on the priority list?” Eliadis said.
“The takeaway is we need the political will, more prosecution and backing of law enforcement.”
But that isn’t what we have seen this week? Instead, we have seen press conferences and the rapid formation of task forces to deal with these kinds of threats.
Meanwhile CNN quotes Lynda Buel, president of Ohio-based security consulting firm SRMC who cites “decriminalization of low-level offenses” in some states.
It then shifts the blame to Prop 47 in California which raises the threshold for felony theft from $500 to $950.
“For the low-level criminal, the benefit far outweighs the risk, since the threshold for a misdemeanor offense is $950 — meaning that a person can steal up to that amount and only be charged with a misdemeanor,” Buel said.
There are also sorts of problems with this claim which CNN never teases out.
First of all, making a penalty a misdemeanor rather than a felony is not decriminalizing it.
Second, for some reason people continue to cite the $950 threshold out of context. California is hardly the most liberal state in this regard, in fact, in Texas the threshold for a felony is $2500 not $950.
Buel told CNN, “Organized crime rings are often behind these types of “smash-and-grab” operations and pay low-level criminals to steal for them.”
“People see the ability to commit these ‘smash-and-grab incidents’ knowing that there is little consequence, especially if the thefts are kept below the threshold of a felony offense,” Buel said. “It’s easy, it’s fast, and the payback is good.”
But there are two other problems here.
Third is that in most of the highlighted cases, the amount stolen far exceeded felony thresholds.
And fourth, when people have been caught, such as in San Francisco, they are facing multiple felonies and probably years in prison.
One problem that has gone under-reported – it is hard to stop property crime. When the Vanguard interviewed Chesa Boudin the SF DA a few weeks ago, he cited data showing that his office prosecuted about 80 percent of retail theft cases that came to them – their problem, only about three percent of such theft cases ever get to them, because police are unable to make arrests.
If thieves do not have a reasonable fear of being caught, it doesn’t matter what the penalty is.
But none of this suggests that there is an actual problem. CNN reports for example, “It’s not unusual for “smash and grabs” to increase around the Christmas holiday season, Buel said.”
So are we actually seeing something unusual here or is the media just jumping on a narrative without a lot of context… again?
Everything’s great. Defund the police, Progressive DA’s, prison release, no bail, light sentencing and all other social justice changes to the justice system are working as planned. The crime you’re seeing is just a figment of your imagination.
This is a great example of how people weigh video/ rhetoric over data.
Yeah, then it looks like your boy Boudin must be one of those people. From your article: “As a result, Boudin and the other DA’s in the Bay Area are forming a task force.”
They can’t not respond to public panic, that’s the problem.
There was a great piece last week that showed how media coverage of a non-existent juvenile crime wave created an official response that was problematic.
https://newrepublic.com/article/164419/denver-lost-mind-youth-crime-wave-panic
I think it’s the media-police industrial complex in conspiracy to unseat our dear Chesa 😐
But what’s that I hear? Is a bird, is it a plane? “Here I come to save the daaaaaaaay!!!” No . . . it’s Davis Vanguard Man. Ready to leap tall tales in a single bound! Ready to deflect any narrative that could harm our beloved Chesa.
I’d say it gets pretty real when someone is killed:
Security guard for TV news crew killed during Oakland robbery attempt
Kevin Nish*ta shot dead while protecting Kron-TV crew covering smash-and-grab theft in California city
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/27/oakland-california-shooting-security-guard-killed
Well it does in the sense that it isn’t unusual or suspicious when a large group of people in masks enter your store or mall.
Not quite so assuring to the public: ‘those not arrested will not be held accountable’.
For an example of a city where progressive justice reform policies have not gone well, see the KOIN series “Is Portland Over?”
Is Portland Over?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjnvyeEMNKQ
OK. If you say so. How to solve a problem, DV style: simply declare there is no problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 😐
Feel like I’m living in the Twilight Zone: There was a smash and grab last night at the Farmtown CVS on West Covell right here in Tiny Town. Or maybe it didn’t happen and I’m spreading a rumor. In any case, these people do seem to have good reason to believe they can act without consequence. More and more a fan of cameras on streets to do traffic enforcement and catch creeps like this while we’re at it. They would have had to exit the parking lot to get to SR113. High quality images are priceless.
It looks like the Yolo DA was right to sound the alarm ahead of time.
It looks like the Vanguard might have egg on its face this morning.
Oh the timing…
I guess we’ll see how prepared they are.
It was reported on Next Door last night and the person posting said a license plate number was forwarded to the DPD. I don’t think CVS is in the same league as Louis Vuitton or Nordstrom so it tells me there is a copycat response. I’d say it is a thing and when the public is more tuned in to watching out, getting license plates and other descriptions, it will keep happening. The real danger is vigilante knuckleheads who decide to use their pop-guns and bystanders get hurt.
You mean like the Security guard for TV news crew killed during Oakland robbery attempt Kevin Nish*ta shot dead while protecting Kron-TV crew covering smash-and-grab theft BY THE SMASH AND GRABBERS?
No, I was thinking more about the bystander. You know, a person like any one of us who is just out doing some shopping errands.
My point was that Nish*ta wasn’t killed by some vigilante, he was killed by the thieves. So the real danger is the thieves in most cases.
OOOOPS!
That’s if the comments about the West Davis smash and grab at the CVS are credible.
When the article was written – and the comment by the DA was made – that was literally true.
There doesn’t seem to be a reference on the Davis Police Activity Log. All kinds of other small things but not this, so who knows if it is real or not.
https://nextdoor.com/p/gLJJ2MFGccXH?post=209375590
There was a rash of smash-and-grab thefts at the Olive Drive cannabis place a year or so ago. Near as I can tell, the only thing new is the large size of the crews committing these crimes.
That’s really where this was going – the media has jumped onto this narrative, but there is no data that I’ve seen to suggest it’s anything unusual.
There is lots of property crime in Davis. Consider the folks that gather around the respite center on L Street. They used to hang out across the street on the church property, but I guess they’ve worn out their welcome and have moved across to the car wash property. Per the PD bulletin, there are 2-3 calls per day to that location – mainly for fights and mild vandalism. A family member ventured down there to wash his car over the weekend. They have taken over the car wash bays and all of the machines have been vandalized to the point that the machines are unusable. He left, unable to use the business. He called and reported the conditions to the police, but there is no evidence that anything was done. So, what is the value of that business? How much of a monetary loss does this represent?
Consider the repeated damage at Community Gardens on 5th Street – where fences were pulled down and plantings destroyed or stolen? Or the repeated and ongoing vandalism of vehicles and theft of fuel happening at Strelitzia near Target? Then there was last week’s vandalism and theft of trucks and expensive equipment from UC Davis over the weekend. How is this not considered organized criminal activity in our community?
Here’s a good follow-up for the VG interns’ research/reporting… if a suspect is apprehended, and charged, is the $950 based on “retail”, or actual loss by the store? Do the stores report the “retail value” to their insurance companies, or what they actually paid for it?
Perhaps the “mark-up” should be deducted from the “value of goods stolen”, when making charges (felony vs. misdemeanor), IMO.
Alan gave an uber-lift to a ‘conspiracy theory’… amazin’ thefts in the e. (east) bay area [connect the dots]…
I’ll add another… what if high-end store owners, concerned that they will not sell product for MSRP, encourage these folk to rip them off… so they are guaranteed their anticipated profit from insurance, rather than needing to accept less revenue by not selling, and needing to go the ‘discount’/’clearance’ route… another theory… food for Q-Anon…
I’m serious on the contents of the first two paragraphs of this post… not so much the next two…
Inquiring minds would love to know…
Retail value
For both criminal charges, and for insurance purposes? If the latter, it is a rip-off of insurance companies… insuring ‘anticipated profit’…
Thanks for the partial response, tho’…
“The real danger is vigilante knuckleheads who decide to use their pop-guns and bystanders get hurt.”
The real danger is created by the criminals.
I grew up with a kid named Greg Duan. After I went off to college he took up stealing jewelry from pawn shops in smash and grab thefts around Santa Monica and West L.A.
Word got around and when he did another job the pawn shop owner came out with a gun and told Greg to halt. Greg kept moving and the owner sot him dead. No charges were filed in the case.
Someone who went to the funeral told me they played “Bridge Over Troubled Waters.”
My fear is that this is going to lead to somebody getting killed.
That ship has sailed . . .
Reisig’s timing couldn’t have been better as Davis was hit with multiple thefts and smash and grabs last weekend. Now as far as the timing of this Vanguard article that’s a whole different matter?
Really doesn’t change much other than the one line in the article. We still don’t have data on smash and grabs and whether they have increased. If you want to flog me for queueing a up piece to run after the break, do it. On the other hand, you can also argue that the warning by Reisig and Lopez went unheeded as well.
No, I would never flog you. But you may want to wipe that egg off of your face.