{"id":2318946,"date":"2024-08-04T11:16:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-04T15:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/shoplifting-rose-24-this-year-no-end-in-sight-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-08-04T11:21:16","modified_gmt":"2024-08-04T15:21:16","slug":"shoplifting-rose-24-this-year-no-end-in-sight-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/shoplifting-rose-24-this-year-no-end-in-sight-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Shoplifting rose 24% this year, no end in sight &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fshoplifting-rose-24-this-year-no-end-in-sight-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2318946&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Shoplifting\u200b has surged dramatically in the U.S., with a reported 24% increase\u200b in the first half of 2024 compared to the previous \u2062year, according to data from the Council on\u200d Criminal Justice (CCJ). While <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/shapiro-debunking-gun-control\/\" title=\"SHAPIRO: Debunking Gun Control\">violent crime rates<\/a> have seen a decline, this rise in\u2062 shoplifting has compelled many retailers to \u200dclose <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tesla-says-china-sales-channel-expansion-proceeding-at-normal-pace\/\" title=\"Tesla says China sales channel expansion proceeding at normal pace\">urban locations<\/a>, \u2062affecting \u200bwell-known chains such as CVS, Macy&#8217;s, Target, and Walmart.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2063 trend is largely attributed to several\u200b factors, including the impact\u200d of \u200clooting during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, \u200bwhich has seemingly ignited\u200c a new era of theft. The CCJ analyzed crime data from 23 cities, revealing that retail theft is becoming a pervasive\u200c issue across numerous urban \u200dareas.<\/p>\n<p>A\u2062 CVS employee \u2062in \u2063Washington, D.C., shared her experiences, \u200dnoting that shoplifting occurs \u2064daily \u2062at her store. She mentioned that employees are instructed not to\u2064 intervene during thefts and rather to\u2064 document\u2063 incidents \u2063instead. With thefts happening multiple times a\u2062 day, the lack of effective measures from law\u200c enforcement results\u2063 in\u200b minimal\u200b consequences for offenders. This situation underscores a broader challenge for businesses, affecting pricing and operational \u200dsustainability\u2062 as they navigate the\u2062 ongoing dilemma surrounding shoplifting. Additionally, California has emerged as a focal point for this surge in \u2062retail\u200b theft.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Shoplifting rose 24% this year, no end in sight<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1722157\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>(The Center Square) &ndash; Shoplifting has soared in the U.S. in 2024, forcing many stores to leave cities and continuing a trend in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>Shoplifting has risen 24% in the first half of 2024 alone, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-joe-biden-releases-more-than-half-a-million-border-crossers-into-u-s\/\" title=\"Report: Joe Biden Releases More than Half a Million Border Crossers into U.S.\">newly released data<\/a> from the Council on Criminal Justice.<\/p>\n<p>The White House cited the CCJ&rsquo;s data to boast a drop in violent crime so far this year, but a closer look at the data showed that while violent crime has declined, shoplifting continues to rise. CCJ studied 23 U.S. cities.<\/p>\n<p>Shoplifting has become a major problem in cities around the country, with some store owners announcing they had to close up shop because of the increased theft. Shoplifting and looting during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots helped spur on a new era of increased shoplifting.<\/p>\n<p>Several major stores, including CVS, Macy&rsquo;s, Target, Walmart and others have cited shoplifting when they closed down urban locations.<\/p>\n<p>The Center Square spoke with a 38-year-old woman who goes by &ldquo;Jones&rdquo; who works at a CVS within eyeshot of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>Jones told The Center Square that shoplifters take from her store daily.<\/p>\n<p>When Jones does see customers steal something, she doesn&rsquo;t stop them.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t get paid for that,&rdquo; she said.<\/p>\n<p>She said procedure is not to notify police but to write a description of the thief and what was stolen down on a form on a clipboard. Jones&rsquo; clipboard has seemingly a hundred pages stacked, at least one for each day, many of them filled with reported incidents.<\/p>\n<p>By 11:15 am Thursday morning when Jones spoke with The Center Square, the store had already been stolen from four times that day, at least as far as she knew.<\/p>\n<p>Jones said she worked at a previous location in the same city that was even worse, where groups would come in and steal merchandise.<\/p>\n<p>She said thieves are only caught if they steal from the same store every day, as some apparently do, and they are caught with the merchandise by police. However, if the merchandise is not a large quantity, police will often let them off with a warning.<\/p>\n<p>A security guard comes into the store in the afternoon, Jones said the guard is there to protect employees, not merchandise, and does little to stop shoplifting.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They are here to protect us,&rdquo; she said.<\/p>\n<p>California has been the center of the shoplifting spree.<\/p>\n<p>Shoplifting further drives up prices for Americans as stores have to make up for the lost inventory by increasing prices. But prices have already soared over 20% since President Joe Biden took office.<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, many shoplifters point to higher prices as their justification for stealing.<\/p>\n<p>A new survey from LendingTree found that 23% of Americans admit to shoplifting, which doesn&rsquo;t include those unwilling to confess to their crimes.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Of those with a shoplifting history, 23% have done so within the past year, and 52% were older than 16 at the time,&rdquo; LendingTree said. &ldquo;Shoplifters are most likely to hide the items on their bodies (55%) or in purses or bags (36%), while 25% are bold enough to walk out with their loot in plain sight.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Notably, shoplifters blame the recent spike in prices for their theft.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;An overwhelming 90% of recent shoplifters say they steal secretly due to inflation and the current economy,&rdquo; Lending Tree said. &ldquo;Over a third (34%) of shoplifters rely on five-finger discounts because prices have become otherwise unaffordable, while 30% say it helps make ends meet and 27% say it helps save a few bucks.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1722157\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1722157\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shoplifting has surged by 24% in the U.S. during the first half of 2024, according to new data from the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ). This increase is part of a continuing trend that has led many retailers to close their urban locations. While the White House highlighted a decrease in violent crime this year using CCJ&#8217;s statistics, it also revealed that shoplifting remains a significant issue. The CCJ analyzed data from 23 cities across the country, where shoplifting has become increasingly problematic, prompting some store owners to shut down due to theft.<\/p>\n<p>The rise in shoplifting can be traced back to incidents during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, which marked the beginning of this troubling trend. Major retailers like CVS, Macy\u2019s, Target, and Walmart have cited theft as a reason for closing stores in urban areas. A CVS employee named &#8220;Jones,&#8221; who works near the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., reported that her store experiences daily thefts and that employees are instructed not to intervene when they witness shoplifters stealing items.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of contacting law enforcement immediately, staff are required to document details about each incident on forms stacked high on Jones&#8217; clipboard\u2014indicating numerous occurrences over time. On one occasion alone before noon on Thursday, her store had already been stolen from four times.<\/p>\n<p>Jones noted that thieves often go unpunished unless they repeatedly target the same location and are caught with stolen goods; however, police may only issue warnings for minor thefts. Although security personnel do visit her store later in the day primarily for employee protection rather than preventing thefts.<\/p>\n<p>California has emerged as a hotspot for these crimes which contribute further to rising prices as businesses attempt to recover losses through increased costs passed onto consumers\u2014already up over 20% since President Biden took office. Ironically, many individuals who steal cite these higher prices as justification for their actions.<\/p>\n<p>A recent LendingTree survey found that approximately 23% of Americans admit to having shoplifted at some point; among those with such histories, nearly a quarter have done so within just the past year. Many thieves conceal items on their bodies or within bags while others brazenly walk out with stolen goods visible.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, an overwhelming majority (90%) attribute their actions partly due to inflation and economic pressures; more than one-third claim they resorted to stealing because prices have become unaffordable while others say it helps them make ends meet or save money<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2318947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/grocery-aisle-shopping-shoplifting-1024x683.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[37117,33465,20737,32076],"class_list":["post-2318946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-crime-trends","tag-retail-theft","tag-shoplifting","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/grocery-aisle-shopping-shoplifting-1024x683.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2318946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2318947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2318946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2318946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2318946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}