San Francisco Forced to Close 5 More Walgreens as Shoplifting is ‘De Facto Legal’ in California

Crime rates in densely populated liberal cities continue to rise, all while leaders grapple with how to defund the police. Viral videos show just how easily robbers can get away with nonchalantly stealing large goods from a store knowing there will be no repercussions.

Liberal leadership has created a criminal safe haven, even backing them with legislation. California made the theft of merchandise worth $950 or less a mere misdemeanor knowing law enforcement likely won’t take the time to respond to a call or investigate. Cops know it’s a waste of their ever-shrinking resources because prosecutors will let the thieves slide.

As a result, Walgreens will be forced to close five entire stores in San Francisco in the next month due to the incessant retail crime, said a company spokesperson on Tuesday. The spokesperson said retail theft in its San Francisco stores has risen to five times the chain’s average.

Walgreens has already closed roughly a dozen stores in the bay area in the past two years. San Francisco Mayor London Breed said, “what I want people who commit these crimes to understand: your mother, your grandmother, your relatives, they depend on places like Walgreens and CVS and Targets where they have pharmacies to get their medications. So when these locations close in a community, then the entire community loses.”

Breed’s words are meaningless when her laws speak volumes. The Hoover Institution writes California laws have made shoplifting “de facto legal” writing, “Google ‘shoplifting in San Francisco’ and you will find more than 100,000 hits.”

“You will find lots of YouTube videos, where you can watch a single thief, or an entire gang, walk into an SF Walgreens or CVS and empty the shelves. Most walk in, go about their pilfering, and then walk out.”

Because of the state’s $950 misdemeanor law, “California is extending an open invitation to anyone to walk in and take. Just like that – since they know that police or prosecutors won’t bother with a misdemeanor complaint and that store personnel won’t stop them.”

“It’s not just pharmacies that are being ransacked. Recently, San Francisco’s Neiman Marcus was targeted by thieves who had a hankering for designer handbags and hit the purse department hard. The video shows one after another, after another, running out, as apparently there were 10 thieves, and they stole over the $950-per-hief misdemeanor limit.”