- Tucker Carlson Tonight – 01/Dec/2021
** California's Prop 47 leads to rise in shoplifting, thefts, criminal activity across state
- Fox News, Bamini Chakraborty – 01/Nov/2019
- Article: https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-prop-47-shoplifting-theft-crime-statewide
-- SAN FRANCISCO – In a lighted garage on one of San Francisco's busiest streets, a young man in baggy trousers and messy brown hair pulled down his pants. He had been hiding two pairs of stolen jeans with the tags still on them. He handed them to another man waiting nearby, took some money, pulled up his pants and headed back into another store on Market Street — home to the city's high-end designers and big-chain retail shops.
The incident wasn't a one-off. These brazen acts of petty theft and shoplifting are a dangerous and all-too-common consequence of Proposition 47, a referendum passed five years ago that critics say effectively gives shoplifters and addicts the green light to commit crimes as long as the merchandise they steal or the drugs they take are less than $950 in value. The decision to downgrade theft of property valued below the arbitrary figure from felony to misdemeanor, together with selective enforcement that focuses on more “serious” crimes, has resulted in thieves knowing they can brazenly shoplift and merchants knowing the police will not respond to their complaints, say critics.
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Over in the City by the Bay's famous Tenderloin district, Cassie, a 21-year-old mother of two and a former heroin junkie, told Fox News that when times were tough, she too has stolen from stores.
"If my babies need diapers or formula, who is going to get that for me? No one. I have to do it," she said. "They ain't out here arresting people for (shoplifting) and everyone knows it."
Proposition 47 is seen by critics as one of California's biggest blunders. Supported by the state Democratic Party and championed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the referendum was passed by a wide margin in 2014. The idea behind it was to reduce certain non-violent felonies to misdemeanors in order to free up resources for cops and prosecutors to focus on violent offenders.
Since Proposition 47 was passed, there has been an increase in theft across the state. Cities like San Francisco have seen organized crime rings turn shoplifting into a well-organized racket involving desperate thieves and unscrupulous black-market resellers.
Among the nation's 20 largest cities, San Francisco now has the highest rate of property crime, which includes theft, shoplifting and vandalism.
Del Seymour, founder of the non-profit Code Tenderloin, told Fox News that fencers – often from Mexico and Guatemala – set up shop in the middle of the day and night around the city's United Nations Plaza area. He said he's also noticed that the stealers and dealers have gotten bolder by the day. The retail heists taking place, he said, aren't some small-time operation but instead a sophisticated network of international dealers who cross the border to buy stolen goods. What's worse is that a majority of the handoffs happen in view of San Francisco's City Hall.
"Of course it sends a message. They're doing it right here in the open."
— Del Seymour, founder of Code Tenderloin
"Of course it sends a message," Seymour said. "They're doing it right here in the open."
Other hot spots include the Tenderloin as well as 7th and Market streets.
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Seymour believes San Francisco is stuck in a cycle and, until it's able to pull itself out, the problem will continue. Drug addicts, who are often homeless, need money for a fix so they walk into a store, steal merchandise, sell it for half the value and use the money they made to buy more drugs. Seymour added that the mayor and elected city officials have been spending too much time and money trying to coddle addicts and have done nothing to eliminate San Francisco's drug problem.
"My thing is – and I tell them this all the time – if we end the fencing, prosecute the fencing or do something with the fencing, people won't have money to buy the drugs," he said. "Most of the drugs bought are from shoplifting and breaking into cars. If they don't have a market for those goods, they won't break into cars or (shoplift) anymore."