Meanwhile at a S.F. Walgreens

[Sympthsical]

Last edited Wed Jun 16, 2021, 12:32 PM - Edit history (1)

In case people are curious why businesses are leaving the city.

https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1404573344309989380/pu/img/3sDDsMzrPYhYSoMB?format=jpg&name=900x900

Edit: My apologies. I didn't realize the video link wasn't working for all people. Here's an ABC story which should have working video.

https://abc7.com/shoplifting-video-san-francisco-walgreens-theft/10791421/

[MineralMan]

1. What is the context of that image?

What's the story?

I'm sorry, but I didn't learn anything about why businesses are leaving the city by looking at it.

Please use some words or link to the tweet in question.

[Sympthsical]

6. Does it need context?

People feel free to steal en masse, because they know no one’s going to do anything.

The video speaks for itself.

[leftieNanner]

10. It's not a video

It's a photograph. So no, it doesn't speak for itself.

I had no idea what the point of the post was either until I read other response further down the thread.

[Sympthsical]

50. Oh crap, really? Sorry!

My link shows a video for me. There's an ABC story about it with video.

https://abc7.com/shoplifting-video-san-francisco-walgreens-theft/10791421/

Sorry again. I didn't realize the link wasn't working for some people.

[MineralMan]

43. There is no video at that link.

Just a thumbnail still photo.

[Sympthsical]

51. Sorry!

That's very strange. It shows video for me. I edited the OP with a story/video link from ABC.

https://abc7.com/shoplifting-video-san-francisco-walgreens-theft/10791421/

[MineralMan]

60. Posting videos on DU is very tricky.

Unless the video is on YouTube or in a link to a tweet, posting a link you get from your browser won't display the video here. At many places, the link that shows up to copy isn't actually a link to a video, as happened in this case. Often it's just a link to a still image used as a placeholder. When you click on the link yourself, you're actually calling on a cached version of the video on your device, so it shows as a video for you, but others just see a thumbnail image.

[Silent3]

49. Until I read further into this thread...

...that still picture in the OP meant nothing to me. I couldn't tell just looking at it that it had anything to do with shoplifting, although that was a vague guess I had about what I was looking at, but I also thought it might be about an arrest being made.

[Sympthsical]

52. That's so weird

The link is video for me. I fixed it. Thanks for pointing it out. I hadn't realized.

[Rustyeye77]

2. The guy must be poor.

Not an excuse but I feel bad he needs to steal.

We have to show some understanding.

[Dream Girl]

17. Nah. A lot of this is for resale. Lots of open airresalThere are also short lifting rings operating.

in some of the homeless settlements dotting the city.

[Archae]

4. Found the story....

Here.

https://abc7.com/shoplifting-video-san-francisco-walgreens-theft/10791421/

[Mz Pip]

5. Not an isolated in incident

People are shoplifting and not even being sneaky about it. One guy walked out of the local CVS with a cart full of stuff. He was “cited” and let go. Fat chance he’ll even bother to show up for a court date. It’s an epidemic around here.

[Texasgal]

7. For the curious

Petty theft has been decriminalized in San Francisco.

This has opened a deluge of shop lifters stealing in public with no worry. Many business's are closing down over this.

[Dream Girl]

14. Thanks SF Board of Supervivors.

Decriminalizing shoplifting. Wat could go wrong?

[Dream Girl]

15. Thanks SF Board of Supervivors.

Decriminalizing shoplifting. Wat could go wrong?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

20. Walgreens has closed a greater percentage of its stores in NYC than SF over the same amount of time.

Without a shoplifting scare in NYC. Huh!

[Texasgal]

45. It's not just Walgreens.

There are many business's that can't keep up with the thefts.

[Tree Lady]

44. They expect the businesses to eat the loss?

Thats crap! I would close to as a store.

[Sympthsical]

53. The SF Board of Supervisors isn't the brightest collection I've ever seen

And the DA is very . . . special.

Mix in police who stopped giving a fluck, and well, we get this.

[smirkymonkey]

64. Why?

Couldn’t they foresee the obvious problems this would bring?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. Huh. Shoplifting has actually been down in in SF in both 2020 and 2021 so far.

[Texasgal]

13. It could be there is no way to track

it if you are not arresting or giving out citations?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

19. It's almost like cops know that some of the biggest proponents of increasing cop budgets are

sub/urban liberals who find videos like this terrifying.

[Zeitghost]

32. You do understand...

This is a real issue in SFO. Not a pretend issue trumped up by Republicans and cops. It's a legitimate real problem being exacerbated by city policy.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

36. It's a real issue in that Walgreens is letting its previously announced routine businesss practice

-- closing stores -- be mistaken for emergency shutdowns as a result of a crime wave. But then, Walgreens and other retailers campaigned hard against Prop 47. Now, they'll have liberals on their side calling for more cops -- something that always benefits businesses without increasing its costs.

[Zeitghost]

55. No

It's a real issue in that criminal shoplifting gangs are stealing from all types of stores in the city without fear of punishment. This is a real issue affecting everyone in the city.

Some of you are so worried about coming down on the same side as the cops that you're willing to throw innocent citizens under the bus.

[Zeitghost]

25. Okay

But how does it compare to national averages and other cities?

[uponit7771]

67. Down to less than 5% of the national average or down 5% below all time high? tia

[OneBro]

9. Doh! I stand corrected.

Here is a NYT article on the issue.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/us/san-francisco-shoplifting-epidemic.html

[IcyPeas]

11. Penal Code 459.5 PC is the statute that makes shoplifting a misdemeanor offense in California

... This section defines shoplifting as entering an open business with the intent to steal merchandise worth $950 or less. The crime is punishable by probation, fines, restitution, and up to 6 months in jail.

....
6. What are loss prevention officers allowed to do in California?
Loss prevention officers are private security guards. They are employed by many stores to prevent shoplifting. They do this by monitoring shoppers.

These officers are not the same as law enforcement officers. This means they cannot arrest a person suspected of shoplifting.

But they can still do the following if they believe someone is stealing store property:

Ask to look in a suspect’s bag (but the suspect can refuse),
use reasonable force to detain someone,
detain a suspect for a reasonable time, and
require a person to stay with them until the police department arrives.


https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/defense/penal-code/459-5/

[BradAllison]

12. This is what Walgreens claims

And it's turning into a full blown RW talking point. Expect Tucker to do a segment soon.

Just sayin'.

[Dream Girl]

16. Not just Walgreen's

[Sympthsical]

37. Yes, SF, than infamous right-wing bastion

You know it’s the residents here who are most outspoken about what’s happening in the city, yes?

[BradAllison]

42. I also can guarantee Tucker or Eva Braun will be chortling about it

SF is all encompassing liberal evil don't you know?

It makes Mee-Maw and Pee-Paw feel good that their quiet little sundown towns are free from Biden's over-reach which is why FAUX puts this tune in heavy rotation.

[Sympthsical]

54. It shouldn't matter what the right-wing thinks

Any liberal area that suffers something bad with give the Fox chuckleheads something to crow about.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about a problem if it exists in our cities.

The residents here are fed up.

[gldstwmn]

47. The Walgreens posts pop up on this site every few weeks.

SF might have a shoplifting problem but this seems like a concerted effort.

[Zeitghost]

59. Imagine that

Residents of a city plagued with theft issues making a consorted effort to draw attention to the issue. The nerve of some people.

[gldstwmn]

69. That's not really the objective here.

But your outrage is duly noted.

[eissa]

18. My family owns a gelato shop in SF

The same junkie has broken into the shop several times, been detained briefly and released. Maybe Walgreens and other corporations can withstand those kind of repeated hits, but how many times can a small business owner pay to fix broken doors/windows, or replace stolen items? Of course many are choosing to close up rather than deal with this nonsense.

I love SF (I live about an hour east) but it has become a caricature of itself, mainly due to short-sighted homeless advocates who think there should be zero accountability for actions such as these, and seem preoccupied enabling drug abuse rather than trying to deal with the root cause of this problem.

[Klaralven]

21. Drug users wouldn't steal if Walgreen's sold drugs at cost plus a small markup.

Fentanyl, meth, etc, are really cheap to synthesize on an industrial scale.

If people want to use them, let them. Don't make them steal to buy expensive black market drugs.

[sarisataka]

28. So if we make such drugs available OTC,

Will anyone complain when our overdose deaths jump past double our gun related deaths?

[Klaralven]

30. Overdosing is mainly a result of bad quality control and combinations of drugs

Standardized doses and formulations would eliminate most overdosing.

[sarisataka]

33. Drug users will read the label

And stick to the recommended dosage? Is that how addiction works.

I don't think so.

[Mariana]

68. We accept huge numbers of deaths from tobacco and alcohol. nt.

[Dream Girl]

31. Are you serious? It's Walgreens fault for not making fentanyl or meth readily

Available. I can’t tell if you are for real. Maybe you should run for SF board of supes you’d fit right in.

[Klaralven]

34. No, it's the govt's fault for not allowing Walgreen's to sell low priced narcotic and psychotropics.

If they were sold at a little above manufacturing costs, there would be no black market of high-priced narcotics and psychotropics. Hence drug addicts would not have to commit crimes to get money to feed their habits.

Sure, some people would overdose, others would become permanently non-functional, etc., but after a transition period during which society would recognize which drugs were dangerous, and therefore taboo, drug usage would plummet due to social pressures.

The current approach is basically motivated by the religious dogma that narcotic and psychotropic drugs interfere with the soul's communion with God. Also the "body is the soul's temple" malarkey against intoxicants.

[uponit7771]

66. "there would be no black market of high-priced narcotics and psychotropics." Is there proof of this

... in another country or even anther time?

tia

[RussBLib]

22. damn shame

anything can be overdone.

liberalism included

I don't know the answer to the vagrant problem in San Francisco, but what's being done now ain't working too well

[eissa]

23. SF spends the most on its homeless

and has little to show for it. Most of the resources are wasted providing drugs rather than treatment. If there are no consequences for bad behavior, why bother correcting it? The kindness and tolerance of the Bay has been weaponized against itself.

[Ron Obvious]

29. It seems to have more homeless to show for it.

Sadly, Seattle these days is starting to resemble SF from a few years ago. It's like something out of dystopian SF film.

This is the kind of thing that could lead the public to take a serious hard turn to the right politically.

[eissa]

35. THIS

While the recall of Newsom is expected to (thankfully) fail, it would be foolish to think that a growing resentment won't see the return of the GOP. It's not like it hasn't happened in the past. Privately, many liberals will express their exasperation with the homeless issue and the utter incompetency of the government to address it. God forbid you say anything critical about the situation, lest you be labeled a heartless and insensitive asshole. Meanwhile, encampments have taken over large swaths of public land like the Civic Center, which is basically a homeless village at this point. You can even find them camping out in what is supposed to be environmentally-protected areas like Land's End, and Muir National Forest. Berkeley finally cleaned out one particularly large encampment along Highway 80 and ended up removing over 30 TONS of garbage.

Good luck to Seattle; if they continue making excuses instead of providing actual treatment for drug addiction and mental illness, they're going to follow the same path.

[Raine]

38. Yes homelessness has even spread to the suburbs of Los Angeles County

you can't go anywhere without seeing encampments. Everybody is getting frustrated and nobody seems to know what to do about it.

[haele]

61. How do other countries do it?

Most of what works is because wealthier citizens are willing to pay taxes for services and subsidies to the less wealthy to keep them from homelessness, food and mental health insecurity.
It can't fix everyone or every issue. There will always be addiction problems, emotional immaturity issues, and borderline individuals who are not capable of being subject to average responsibilities and relationships, but working on the homeless issue in a holistic social manner will significantly reduce the amount of problems associated with homelessness.

We can go from the grim statistic of several thousands of homeless in cities and counties that are being severely affected as time on the streets continues to a hundred to couple hundred more locally manageable individuals that can be helped or monitored if they can't accept help.

It's far cheaper to proactively house, educate, and provide the basics to survive to the variety of homeless families, groups, and individuals than it is to deal with the crime, environmental, health (public, physical and mental), and other social and local economic issues that occur after the fact as a large number of homeless begin to congregate in areas.

Haele

[eissa]

62. It's going to take a massive amount of resources

The answer is not just housing, which homeless advocates insist is the only solution. We have to address the root causes: addiction and mental health. Any free housing must come with MANDATORY drug/mental health treatment. We can't have one without the other. If we don't address the reason they're on the streets, they'll end up right back there again.

What isn't working is making excuses and enabling actions such as these thefts. This isn't because "housing is expensive." California is more than just SF and LA. There are plenty of communities up and down the Central Valley and northern CA where rent isn't as exorbitant. I'm not saying it's cheap, but it's better. And if it isn't, maybe the state isn't where you should be. This myth that someone just lost their job and *POOF* they're homeless is nonsense. There are social safety programs available, and while they are limited in scope, they do help those who seek it.

We always hear the left complain that this all started with Reagan closing down the mental hospitals. Well, we've been in charge of this state for a long time since then - open them back up. Take those abandoned buildings/malls and convert them into clinics and hospitals. The amount of money we spend on this crisis has been wasteful given the lack of results, we need to move in another direction.

[haele]

63. Agree with you on the multiple issues behind homelessness.

It's not just mental health and addiction, it's education, opportunities for all sorts of work - heck, even busy work or artisan work to keep mind and body occupied. It's acceptance of people as they are.


One of the various proposals I've heard is to purchase failing hotels and turning them into long-term housing and devices/resource centers in the lobbies and outer rooms.
The primary sticking point to this proposal is that majority of people involved with homeless services are very concerned about moral hazards, forcing total abstanance as a condition for any help.

You're right -it takes time and resources. We are already several decades behind in fixing the problem. One of the original causes of the increases -"Reagan emptied those horrible Mental Facilities" was originally set up by Reagan and the GOP to disqualify and basically de-legitimize Liberal concerns on public health - especially mental health.
The follow up community services and welfare programs that were supposed to go hand in hand with the closing of mental health institutions were never funded. The mentally ill on the streets were now blamed on Liberals and their unrealistic kumbayah policy positions. And this has continued for almost 50 years, while politicians hemmed and hawed while trying to just ignore the disenfranchised "lower classes" to the benefit of TV-addled majority "middle class", lobbyists and donors (i.e., the people who politically matter.

This is my opinion, of course.

Haele

[haele]

24. Shoplifters are working with gangs.

Weekend "little retail resale" booths at swap meets and local "farmers markets" have been a staple in low income communities for years. Back in the 90's, it was groups of housewives going out shopping with Club cards an fistfuls of double coupons getting bulk quantities of cereal, snacks, grocery dry goods and diapers for 25¢ on the normal dollar, then selling at the swap meets for half normal price post sale.

Next door neighbor would get $500 worth of groceries for $90 sometimes that way - mainly multiples of cereal, cleaning products, pet and baby food, and toilet paper; she and her friends would put all their purchases in a storage shed for two weeks, then make about $200 -$300 per shopping trip profit selling to poor families that didn't have a store club card or access to the Sunday paper mega-coupons.
Kind of skeevy, but legal. But double coupons started disappearing and they weren't making as much.

Gangs started taking over selling out of booths like that in the mid 2000's, finally putting the shopping clubs out of business.
By shoplifting, it becomes pure profit for them. It's nothing new, just became more blatant in some cities.

Haele

[rockfordfile]

26. Yeah it's problem.

There's a story where this is organized and they resell the drugs online for lower prices.

There' needs to be a stronger penalty.

[Dial H For Hero]

27. Who can blame them for leaving under the circumstances?

[Bobstandard]

39. If you don't like life in San Francisco, leave

Idaho will take you. Arkansas too.

[eissa]

40. My family and friends there love it

SF has much to offer, despite its poor leadership. None of them want to throw in the towel and leave the city, let alone the state. These are not right-wing republicans, these are progressive people who work hard and deserve to live in a safe and clean environment.

[Sympthsical]

56. I moved farther out into North Bay

Even here, people will walk into Safeway, grab some beer, and walk right on out the door. The employees are instructed not to engage.

But here in the burbs, it's much less of the problem.

SF is still my city - a beautiful one at that. But it is falling apart all over the place, and it's a damn shame.

[kimbutgar]

41. Lifelong native 3rd generation San Franciscan here

SF is a magnet for those who want adventure and freebies. From the hippies in the city in the 60’s the gay right movement in the late 70’s, to the yuppies etc. The homeless come to SF because of the city services. As a taxpayer I pay for it and don’t like it but….The pandemic threw a lot of renters out of their apartments and they ended up in the streets. I notice when I go to Walgreens in certain neighborhoods things are under locked cabinets. But in my nice neighborhood the Walgreens are like any other.


As to businesses leaving it partly is because of Amazon and being ordering things instead of going to stores. Plus there are things you can’t buy in stores because of the supply storage of the pandemic. A lot of factors that came to be a perfect storm in SF.

But SF is a strong resilient city and we’ll bounce back.

[jcmaine72]

46. Shoplifting isn't the problem

It's capitalism and the white supremacy that drives it.

End both and the desperation that drives theft disappears.

[Sympthsical]

57. The desperation is less than most places

We have ample social services, and a lot of the shoplifting is actually by organized gangs who resell everything in open markets on the street.

[tenderfoot]

48. SF is the LIBERTARIAN utopia that IT Randites desire

Steal whatever you want - fuck everyone else.

What's the problem?

[Zeitghost]

58. Sure....

Lot's of Rand types running SFO...

[tenderfoot]

65. Who buying most the real estate?