Retail Crime Has Surged 93% In Progressive Cities
“Billions In Losses”
(Tyler Durden Reports) – America’s great cities once symbolized prosperity and culture. Now, many are paying a steep financial price as crime surges and businesses flee. As one line in a new op-ed piece put it, “Crime has a balance sheet. In poorly led cities, that balance sheet is bleeding red ink by the day.”
Retail is bearing the brunt, according to an op-ed by Ted Jenkin at Fox News. The National Retail Federation (NRF) reported U.S. retailers lost $112 billion in 2022 due to theft, up from $94 billion in 2021. Between 2019 and 2023, shoplifting incidents rose 93% and dollar losses climbed 90%. Major chains are pulling back: Target projected $500 million in additional losses this year, Walgreens has shut stores across San Francisco, and Nordstrom left downtown entirely.
“Does it seem insane to you that so many of these retail stores have to lock up much of the merchandise…knowing that they will never be arrested?” the piece asked. The fallout is visible in empty storefronts and shrinking city budgets. San Francisco’s downtown vacancy rate has hit 34.8%, erasing jobs, tax revenue, and foot traffic.
Shoplifterss in Maryland
The damage extends beyond retail. In Chicago, violent crime and open-air drug markets are dragging down high-end condo values, reducing property tax revenue that funds schools and infrastructure. In New York, incarceration costs $925 per day, or $337,000 annually, per inmate, while NYPD overtime bills soar. Yet, critics argue leadership continues to recycle a costly “arrest, release, repeat” cycle.
The column says that tourism is also slipping. Roughly 2 million fewer international visitors are expected in New York this year, a shortfall that could cost the city $4 billion in 2025. Conventions and vacationers are steering clear of destinations perceived as unsafe, draining hotels, restaurants, and local economies.
The bottom line: the cost of crime is far more than what’s stolen off a shelf. It shows up in lost jobs, falling property values, higher taxes, and weakened reputations. As the piece concludes, “the real crime isn’t just happening on the streets – it’s in the budgets of poorly led blue cities, where the cost of chaos is measured in billions.”
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Header featured image (edited) credit: LawFirm article rease open card. Emphasis added by (TLB)
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Really Justin? It is simply a graphic to covay someone getting away with something. We like hearing from our readers, but only when they have something of value to say. Regards, (TLB ed.
How cowardly of you to picture a white middle class woman as the perpetrator behind the surge in retail crime. This is a great example of protecting the criminal at the expense of the innocent. I can’t respect Liberty Beacon if the Beacon has so little respect for the truth.
What is unstated in this article is that the costs of retail theft are not only felt by the cities that allow it. National retailers surely pass on at least some of the costs of shoplifting through higher prices across the nation. Consumers everywhere are likely paying more because of the soft-on-shoplifting policies common in progressive jurisdictions.