San Francisco Store Uses Chaperones Over Rampant Thievery

A San Francisco store has a new approach to dealing with snatch-and-grab thieves. Shoplifting is rampant in the city because law enforcement cann’t arrest or prosecute thieves up to $950. So, groups or mobs go into stores and steal up to $950 each.  Shoplifting is no longer a felony in San Francisco. It’s a misdemeanor.

Unfortunately, that leaves stores in the position of having to shut down or become creative. Fredericksen’s Hardware has been around for 130 years and, for the first time this month, they had to ramp up their safety measures after a wave of thefts. They’re escorting customers around.

“Shoplifting got too much. The snatch and grabs that is where it just had to stop. When they come in and rip stuff off the wall, it endangers employees and customers, and that is why we had to slow it down a little bit with the table here,” said Sam Black, Fredericksen Hardware Manager.

They’re hoping thieves will take off.

Sam Black, a manager of Frederick’s, said that the theft was the worst he had seen in his 24 years there, the outlet reported.

“It’s pretty bad,” Black told KRON4. “I mean, the dollar amounts are pretty significant, and with the tools and now we’re getting snatch-and-grabs when they take whole displays, so it’s getting kind of dangerous for the employees and the customers.”

Black said they are not getting enough support from police or city officials.

California voters passed Proposition 47 in 2014, which reclassified some crimes, such as shoplifting, from felonies to misdemeanors. Mayor Breed allegedly now supports repealing the measure to level tougher penalties.

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