WALNUT CREEK, Calif.—With the holiday shopping season kicking off, Walnut Creek police say they'll increase patrols in the Broadway Plaza shopping center to keep shoppers safe.
Broadway Plaza, one of the East Bay’s premier shopping destinations, includes stores such as Macy’s, Nordstrom, Apple, Louis Vuitton, Lululemon, The North Face, Tesla, Ray-Ban, and many more, including fine dining.
Due to criminal activity, especially in the past two months, some shoppers don’t feel as safe as they used to.
“I’ve been in Walnut Creek for the last 40 years, and I used to feel very comfortable, very safe in this little city; now I don’t anymore,” Enza Piccolo, a Walnut Creek resident, told The Epoch Times. “There’s all kinds of crime happening in Walnut Creek and the surrounding area.”
Ms. Piccolo said that ever since the current administration has been in office, she has noticed an uptick in crime.
“I feel less secure when I go out or when I leave my doors open at home,” she said.
Fabio Siclari, a resident of Martinez, California, told The Epoch Times that he noticed the uptick in crime starting about a year ago.
“Unfortunately, Walnut Creek is not the kind of completely safe sanctuary that it used to be for many years,” he said. “What’s been happening in Walnut Creek lately made me decide to be more careful, to be more aware of my surroundings ... just to be sure that I don’t have a bad day.”
According to news reports and statements from the Walnut Creek Police Department, there’s a long list of incidents with some of the suspects confirmed to be coming from out of town.
Most recently, two cars full of thieves raided a luxury consignment store called Labels on Nov. 12, grabbing more than $10,000 worth of high-end handbags and running out the door, News 24/680 reported.
A man from Fairfield, California, was recently arrested in connection with two robberies. One occurred on Nov. 3 in a Burger King parking lot in which a man’s wallet and chain were stolen. The second one occurred on Nov. 8 in front of the Autopia car wash; a woman was robbed of her purse while waiting for her car to be cleaned.
Also on Nov. 3, a robbery happened to someone who was getting into an Uber. Two armed male suspects wearing masks stole the victim’s watch and fled.
On Oct. 21, a man selling items made an arrangement to meet a buyer in Walnut Creek in the middle of the day. When he arrived, he was met by a man who flashed a handgun and robbed him of the item he was intending to sell.
On Oct. 18, four individuals in a car robbed a couple in Walnut Creek. One of the occupants produced a pistol and demanded the possessions of the couple, who were walking after their dinner.
Jennifer Peterson, an employee from Crate and Barrel, told The Epoch Times that she has been hearing all the reports of armed robberies and that about 3 1/2 weeks ago, she noticed police lined up and down the street downtown. They had the parking garage closed off, and they were in there using K-9 units to look for some people.
She said that nowadays “especially our older clientele feels very uncomfortable walking the streets in Walnut Creek.”
“People don’t want to wear jewelry, just simple chains or different things like that, because they’re afraid to get robbed,” Ms. Peterson said. “I was working in this area when they did the smash and grab at Nordstrom’s, and it really affected the business down here. A lot of the people in this area are concerned that people are not getting arrested, and if they do, there are no prosecutions.”
On Oct. 18 at the Lululemon retail store, four suspects from out of town were arrested for organized retail theft by the Walnut Creek Police. The suspects had stolen items from the Santa Rosa, California, and Napa, California, Lululemon locations and were thought to be coming to the Walnut Creek location to return the stolen merchandise.
Walnut Creek police officers detained the four suspects. During a search, more than $10,000 worth of stolen merchandise was recovered from the suspects’ vehicles.
Eli, an employee of the Vans retail store in Walnut Creek, told NTD, a sister media of The Epoch Times, that they’re aware of this kind of scheme and are taking precautions against it.
“We’ve been experiencing a lot of scammers, people coming in with stolen merchandise, fake receipts, stuff of that nature, trying to return it and get cash back,” he said.
Eli said store policy prevents the scammers from being successful, but it’s annoying to have them keep coming in and attempting it over and over.
“The holidays are coming up; people are going to be a lot more ruthless,” he said.
On Oct. 3, a group of 15 suspects in four different vehicles attempted to burglarize the Louis Vuitton store in the early morning by ramming a stolen Land Rover into the front of the store to break a window and gain access. The police arrived shortly afterward, and the suspects fled. Officers pursued a vehicle and ultimately terminated the pursuit near Orinda, California, because of public safety concerns.
Currently, the city has installed barriers on both ends of Broadway Plaza for the holiday shopping season as a security measure to prevent smash and grabs.
At about this time in 2021, more than 80 people stormed and robbed the Nordstrom in Walnut Creek, making headlines. NBC News reported that during the theft, two Nordstrom workers were punched and kicked while another was sprayed with pepper spray. There were 25 cars blocking the street as the gang of thieves stormed the store, some brandishing weapons.
Local law downgraded the theft of property that’s less than $950 in value from a felony charge to a misdemeanor in 2014. Store staff and security now tend to not pursue or stop thieves who have taken anything worth less than $1,000.
Ms. Peterson shared some advice for shoppers this year during the holiday season: “Just be careful when you get in your cars; you know, look around you. When you have your packages, make sure you put them in your trunk. Don’t let people see you putting them in there. Don’t be walking around with a lot of things. Stay off your phones when you’re walking so you can pay attention to the surroundings.”
