California Retail Theft ‘Very Serious and Escalating to Violence’: Small Business Advocate

Tragedy struck a Home Depot store in the San Francisco Bay Area in April as a 26-year-old employee was fatally shot while confronting an alleged shoplifter who was armed with a handgun, authorities said.

Just a few months before, an Antioch gas station cashier was shot to death during an armed robbery, according to local police.

“I never believed in my wildest dreams that we would see it get this bad. ... These aren’t just people stealing property. It’s now getting very serious and escalating to violence,” John Kabateck, who works for a nationwide small business advocacy organization, said in a recent interview on EpochTV’s “California Insider.”

Kabateck, California state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said that California’s rising crime is now heavily impacting retailers as its severity escalates at an alarming rate. Among the victims, small business owners and residents are the most vulnerable since they don’t have enough resources to protect them from criminals, he said.

A screenshot of security footage of a daytime robbery in Hancock Park, Calif., on Nov. 28, 2021. Courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Department

The spike in property theft also led to many stores locking up their merchandise—in some cases, even entire aisles of items—which was never seen in the state several years ago, he said.

This happened, in part, because people have given up on reporting these crimes, since they don’t believe they will receive help from law enforcement, he added.

“The biggest thing that they’re feeling right now is that ‘Why should I even try and report this? Why should I even call the police? They won’t come,’” he said.

However, Kabateck said this is not due to people not trusting the police, but because they see that law enforcement is understaffed due to a variety of policies and a lack of support from the government.

“They have faith in law enforcement. They just don’t have faith that our policymakers are doing enough, to fund enough, to keep them protected,” he said.

For example, the San Francisco Police Department is around 25 percent short of the staffing needed to address workload demands, according to Police Chief Bill Scott. Los Angeles and San Diego police departments have also reported significant staffing shortages.

Aside from small businesses, many large retailers are also victims of the increase in shoplifting and robberies. Several well-known stores, including Nordstrom, Saks Off 5th, Anthropologie, Office Depot, H&M, and more than a dozen others, have opted to close their doors in San Francisco over the past couple of years.

Additionally, in April, Whole Foods Market shut down its 8th and Market Street location due to safety concerns, merely a year after its grand opening.

Pedestrians walk by a closed Whole Foods store in San Francisco on April 12, 2023. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Laws and Policies

Kabateck said soft-on-crime policies that were passed starting nearly a decade ago have played important roles in today’s crime issue. Laws like Proposition 47—which made property theft less than $950 a misdemeanor—have made property crime a lot more unmanageable for law enforcement, he said.

There is also a lack of interest in addressing these laws from policymakers, he said.

“When it comes to those committee hearings, and when there’s a real specific but realistic policy that would help both rehabilitate and move forward with accountability, something just gets in the way,” he said.

He added that one of the reasons behind California’s crime problem is the “philosophical issue with our leadership.”

“At the end of the day, there is a feeling that really, we need to hug the criminal. We need to give the perpetrator more attention and care,” he said.

A sign sits on the display in front of a popular shopping area of Santa Monica, Calif., on Jan. 19, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Possible Solutions

Talking about solutions, Kabateck said that lawmakers listening to people’s problems more carefully would be a good first step.

“[It] is important for our policymakers to have a thoughtful discussion with all the parties involved, about how to address [the crime issue] and address it for small and ethnic businesses, who are the most vulnerable, and families,” he said.

At the same time, the state needs to increase funding for law enforcement and local governments so they can better protect the community, according to Kabateck.

He also said it is important to “address Prop. 47 at the ballot box” and let voters decide how they would like public safety issues to be tackled.

Lastly, he urged people to go out and talk to lawmakers and raise their awareness of the problem.

“Make sure that our policymakers are hearing about these kinds of crimes,” he said. “Every day in their backyard, [so] they feel uncomfortable enough to actually want to make some good happen and protect us.”