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Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

sfgate.com

81–90 of 101 posts

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

San Francisco never defunded the police. (IIRC, voters passed a measure eliminating a mininum funding mandate, but the actual budget has increased.) The SFPD may choose not to enforce laws, but I don't think anyone outside of SFPD directed that, it's just organized nonfeasance as leadership political protest.

> organized nonfeasance as leadership political protest Nope, this is fake news. You should learn more about your DA Chesa Boudin. He rarely brings cases to trial, fired a bunch of prosecutors and 30 others have left, and removed cash bail which puts repeat offenders right back on the street after arrest.

why am i not surprised he's jewish

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#82
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most Walgreens don’t have dedicated security guards. If these stores had guards working all operating hours (2-3 shifts per day, every day) and some stores might have employed multiple security guards, the multiple is there.

I want to add to your comment, that the problem with Walgreens security in SF is well known, far before the issues with the changes in the law took front and center. I actually had a conversation with a friend about how bad their security was back in 2007. The issue is purely one of store layout and design. They could easily fix that and solve most of the problem.

How would layout stop ransacking that goes intentionally unprosecuted? Looting example in Alameda that seems unrelated to store design: https://youtube.com/watch?v=9ICQDYeAPDE

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#83
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What makes you think that the owner operated pharmacies won't be targeted by shoplifters? Footage from the LA Riots.

You mean the one where korean store owners had to defend their businesses by shooting from the rooftops? That seems like an obvious case of owner operated businesses were still targeted.

Right.

But they don't have a corporate policy against self-defense.

Of course people keep escalating shoplifting if it's known policy not to engage.

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#84
post #59
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The police don't want to arrest criminals and fill out paperwork if the people they pick up aren't going to be held. That's a knock on effect of what you're describing.

I don't want to fill out TPF reports either but if that's a requirement of my job, shouldn't I do it?

Sure. And objectively the cops should keep arresting these people. Unfortunately people aren't robots, and morale is a thing.

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#85
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historic racism -> Intergenerational poverty -> Crime -> Area divestment -> Food desert.

That's fascinating. I grew up in an area - Appalachia, specifically an area among the poorest regions east of the Mississippi - with entrenched forever poverty, and vast underinvestment in pretty much every way you could name. It never occurred to anyone to put together organized retail crime gangs and endlessly plunder local stores until they were all forced to close. What other excuses do you have?

There's tons of factors that go into crime, culture is one of them, disenfranchisement is another. None of them cause all cases, that doesn't mean some of them don't cause some cases.

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#86
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historic racism -> Intergenerational poverty -> Crime -> Area divestment -> Food desert.

Bombarded with suffocating propaganda telling them that society considers them subhuman and they will never succeed on their own merits and their only option is to rely on the benevolence and generosity of the brave and wonderful allies who have taken pity on them. -> Demoralization and withdrawal from constructive participation in society. -> Crime, poverty. -> Poor disadvantaged people stay dependent, on the bottom…

It's both. Propaganda can't tell you why you're poor if you're not poor.

Lots of things play into the situation. I don't think historic racism is the only factor, it's certainly not a useful point of intervention, but it is a factor. It's important we remember that when we're presented with options for intervention so we can approach them with a degree of empathy we otherwise would not afford them.

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#87
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the one where korean store owners had to defend their businesses by shooting from the rooftops? That seems like an obvious case of owner operated businesses were still targeted.

Right. But they don't have a corporate policy against self-defense. Of course people keep escalating shoplifting if it's known policy not to engage.

Sounds less like "the community [...] looking out for you" and more you using violence to protect your property.

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#88
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. But they don't have a corporate policy against self-defense. Of course people keep escalating shoplifting if it's known policy not to engage.

Sounds less like "the community [...] looking out for you" and more you using violence to protect your property.

As opposed to the people trespassing into "my" store and physically removing "my" property?

(I'm not a shop owner)

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#89
post #66

Throwaway, but I can assure you as an SF resident, most of us are more than happy to see Walgreens go. They pay and treat their employees terribly along with pushing junk food and other garbage to people just trying to fill a prescription. We are excited for quality, owner operated pharmacies to return and replace them. Just like they served us before Walgreens came in and muscled them all out of business. It’s almos…

That's all nice to say when you are not one of the Walgreens employees who may lose a job as a result of the closures, right? Owner-operated pharmacies have been out of business for decades. I'm sure you yearn for the days of Blockbuster video or, better still, your neighborhood video stores. No Netflix for you, right?

> Owner-operated pharmacies have been out of business for decades.

Check out anywhere in the US more than 100 miles from an Ocean

Re: Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

#90
post #79

Throwaway, but I can assure you as an SF resident, most of us are more than happy to see Walgreens go. They pay and treat their employees terribly along with pushing junk food and other garbage to people just trying to fill a prescription. We are excited for quality, owner operated pharmacies to return and replace them. Just like they served us before Walgreens came in and muscled them all out of business. It’s almos…

I've been to multiple Walgreens and none of them have pushed junk food on anyone. In fact, the most direct path from the entrance to the pharmacy hasn't even contained the food. That's always been on the opposite side of the store.

Mine has a tower of Pringles, minimum.
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