"The rash of mass retail thefts over the weekend in the Bay Area represents a new paradigm of crime — carefully orchestrated, entrepreneurial, and apparently driven by social media — that has created formidable challenges for law enforcement." “It was a wild weekend,” Sgt. Ray Kelly, spokesperson for the Alameda County Sheriff’s OfficeKelly said, referring to sprees in Hayward, Walnut Creek, San Jose, Oakland, and San Francisco, where roving bands of thieves swarmed into stores, grabbed as much merchandise as they could carry and escaped in getaway cars." "At least two dozen businesses suffered burglaries or attempted burglaries, in some cases with armed individuals shooting as they tried to break in," according to Armstrong. “We do have intelligence that it’s a collective group of people, multiple groups coming together to commit these attempted burglaries,” the chief said, describing a “coordinated effort,” enabled by social media apps. "Flash-mob-style robberies benefit from power in numbers," said Frank Muscato, a retired Dallas police officer. “You go in there with a mob, you’re not going to get chased,” Muscato said, adding that managers usually tell store employees not to intervene." “This kind of organized rampage through a department store strikes me as very unusual,” Stanford University law Professor Robert Weisberg said. He characterized the people committing these crimes as “very entrepreneurial” as they create a supply chain for fencing operations — dealers who buy stolen goods to resell them at a higher price." "A lot of this merchandise winds up overseas," Thomas Ostly, a former prosecutor for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, said." First, it was Walgreen's Drug Stores, but now the criminals have gone upscale--Louis Vuitton's, high-end jewelry stores, and the Union Square shopping district in the heart of San Francisco, as well as other wealthy towns of the Bay Area. You may have seen the videos of up to 80 people using hammers to smash jewelry cases. Yesterday the same thing happened in southern California. Lawlessness abounds. :negative: Surely, our redemption draweth nigh. Surely! TR Sorry, I forgot to link the source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-s-wild-weekend-of-retail-crime-16642843.php Although there are many articles about this, especially locally. Not sure how much of this story made the national news. I did see the men hammering jewelry cases on national news. Also, I heard that the criminals deliberately caused traffic jams to keep the police at bay. My husband listens to talk radio. There they are saying it's because of poverty. I don't think so! Truly, as Arthur says, Lawlessness abounds. Here is Portland its just about as bad. I feel for the business owners who are continually victims and the police will do nothing about it. My daughter was at TJ Maxx this past weekend and a lady piled a cart full of clothing and just walked out the door. The clerks said they're told to not do anything about it. I did see an article somewhere this week that all this lawlessness is the perfect setup for the AC. The world grows tired of all the chaos and you know who steps in to seemingly save the day. So glad we're out of here before then. Soon Lord! Please!
