(BrightPress.org) – Crime in San Francisco has gotten so bad that one Walgreens store has resorted to putting chains on their freezers to prevent theft. The San Francisco pharmacy is so desperate to stop thieves they’ve deployed padlocks. Employees report that some thieves steal from their store as many as twenty times a day, and fill their bags with frozen pizza, ice cream, and other perishables.
A local took a video of the store showing plexiglass barriers separating customers from goods. A legitimate shopper will have to get assistance from a store clerk for virtually every purchase inside the store. Goods like toothpaste, deodorant, and hair products are also kept under lock and key, fetching a good amount on the black market even though they’re relatively inexpensive.
A store on Geary & 16th Street resorted to using the chains on their freezer doors overnight to deter thieves from breaking in and raiding their products while the store is unattended. The employees there said that they have trouble with thieves coming into the store dozens of times a day, leaving with full bags of goods, including groceries, as no one is willing to stop them, including the local police.
The problem has been growing in American cities where police are unable or unwilling to enforce the laws. In NYC, a man lit up a blow torch and used it to melt the locks off the shelves before loading up his bag with stolen goods and walking out of the store unimpeded. There was no comment from the NYPD on that particular incident.
Mayor Eric Adams recently claimed he would be putting the theft epidemic to an end, but apparently, the blow torch-carrying thief didn’t get the memo.
Many stores are closing in California, being forced out by theft, crime, and the general inability to conduct business under those conditions. One San Francisco Target store locked everything in the store behind additional cabinets to stop thieves from simply taking what they wanted.
Without law and order, basic economic activity like going to the store to pick up some toothpaste becomes a risky proposition, for shoppers and retail employees alike.
Copyright 2023, BrightPress.org
