‘Rampant crime has become a regular part of life’: CNN reporter witnesses 3 thefts in 30 minutes at a San Francisco Walgreens — here’s why retailers say they’re fleeing the Bay Area

America’s most-robbed Walgreens was the victim of at least three thefts within 30 minutes in July, according to CNN Senior National Correspondent Kyung Lah — one of the latest examples of brazen crime at the location.

The thefts were witnessed during the filming of a televised report at the Walgreens in San Francisco’s Richmond neighborhood. According to Lah, Walgreens has identified this location as having the “highest theft rate” — hit more than a dozen times a day — of the pharmacy chain’s nearly 9,000 U.S. stores.

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Shoplifting had become so bad in the Bay Area store that staff resorted to securing certain items with padlocks and chains. But they were ordered by corporate to remove them “because of the negative messaging,” Lah said.

Still, many other products at this location, including ketchup and mustard, remain locked behind plastic casings.

Other stories across the city have also resorted to locking up more products like cosmetics, frozen food and even coffee.

San Francisco resident Richie Greenberg, who toured the Richmond Walgreens with Lah, described what he felt after previously seeing the chained-up items.

“This was bizarre, something I’d never seen before,” he said. “This is just more icing on the cake. Telling us that rampant crime has become a regular part of life.”

A retail exodus

Several retail giants — including Nordstrom, H&M, Marshall’s, Gap, Banana Republic, Anthropologie and Office Depot — have announced they’re pulling the plug on some San Francisco locations.

When Whole Foods announced in mid-April that it was temporarily closing its store at Trinity Place in the city’s Tenderloin District, a spokesperson for the grocer expressed concerns about “the safety of our team members” due to criminal activity near the store.

Story continues

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These issues, while significant in San Francisco, are not isolated to the Bay Area.

According to a study by the National Retail Federation, organized retail crime and theft are growing in both scope and complexity across the U.S.

To combat this, Home Depot CEO Ted Decker announced in June that the home improvement company would be “investing in more security guards” to protect the safety of its employees and customers. This sadly follows the deaths of two Home Depot employees during theft incidents.

Concern for commercial real estate

Many cities have seen retail store closures in recent months. Insider recently reported that as many as 2,373 major retail stores are set to close this year across the U.S — not all down to crime, but some due to dwindling foot traffic in the age of online shopping and economic factors like rising interest rates.

These trends are causing headaches for commercial real estate investors, since they present more challenges for the already shaky and debt-ridden sector.

In particular, office real estate is under immense strain due to the rise in remote and hybrid work during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Rising borrowing costs are also squeezing property owners and complicating real estate financing.

In recent months, high-profile investors — including Elon Musk — have sounded the alarm about a potential market crash.

Real estate investing expert Patrick Carroll said the commercial real estate market is tumbling toward a crash that could be as devastating as the 2008 crisis.

“The party’s over, unfortunately,” he said. “The office market’s going to be destroyed, hotels are going to be destroyed — it’s going to be ugly.”

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

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Courtesy Attorney John Burris

Banko Brown was fatally shot by a man who never identified himself as a security guard, a lawyer for the Brown family says.

CNN
 — 

The security guard who fatally shot Banko Brown, a transgender man who was suspected of shoplifting from a San Francisco Walgreens in April, must pay $1,500 in fines for code violations, says the agency that regulates security services in California.

Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony is being fined for carrying a concealed firearm and for uniform violations, according to a citation order from California’s Bureau of Security and Investigative Services.

The notice, issued by Deputy Chief Samuel Stodolski, says Anthony did not have a concealed weapons permit at the time of the shooting but was carrying a gun in a zippered pouch on the tactical vest he was wearing on April 27.

The citation order says Anthony was wearing a sweatshirt without “bureau-approved patches on each shoulder,” which should have said “private security” and the name of his employer, when he was on duty at a downtown Walgreens.

“(That) may be the reason (Brown) was trying to get away or resist as much as he can,” Brown family lawyer John Burris said during a phone call to CNN on Friday. “Nowhere did he (Anthony) say that ‘I’m a security guard.’”

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins declined to file criminal charges against Anthony, saying he acted in self-defense. In May, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office would investigate that decision.

According to a report released in May, the security guard told investigators Brown repeatedly threatened to stab him.

Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle/AP

Asia Hubbard, ex-girlfriend of Banko Brown, speaks outside City Hall, Monday, May 15, 2023, after a march from the Market Street Walgreens in San Francisco, following District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ decision not to prosecute security guard, Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony, for confronting and killing Brown, who was suspected of shoplifting inside the store. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

San Francisco security guard will not be charged in fatal shooting of suspected Walgreens shoplifter

Surveillance camera video also released in May shows the moment when Anthony attempts to stop Brown from leaving the store before Brown shoves him. A physical altercation ensues, the footage shows, where Anthony holds Brown on the ground and then releases him after about a minute. Brown begins to leave before turning around and moving toward Anthony, who shoots him.

Anthony must pay the $1,500 total for three fines within 30 days of the citation, which was issued on Monday, or he could face “disciplinary action” by the bureau. He can contest the decision with the disciplinary review committee, the citation order says.

Anthony has not responded to requests for comment from CNN.

The security company that employed Anthony, Kingdom Group Protective Services, also faces a $5,000 fine from the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services for failing to submit an incident report within seven days of the shooting, as well as failing to “maintain an accurate and current record of the proof of completion of the trainings” for Anthony.

The security company was also given 30 days from the citation date, July 13, to pay its fine. The company has not returned CNN’s request for comment.

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Walgreens has agreed to pay $230 million to settle a case brought by the city of San Francisco over the opioid crisis.

The settlement, announced Wednesday, comes months after a bank ruling in the case against Walgreens. Attorneys for the city of San Francisco had asked US District Judge Charles Breyer of the Northern District of California for $8.1 billion in damages – an amount that Walgreens called “completely excessive” – ​​but both sides held back initiate a compensation process settlement talks.

Prosecutor David Chiu said at a news conference Wednesday that San Francisco received more than $350 million from opioid defendants including the Walgreens settlement.

“They were more concerned with profit than compliance with their legal obligations,” Chiu said. “There is no amount of money that can bring back the lives we have lost to this epidemic. But the only thing we can do as lawyers is fight for justice and make sure those who do harm are held accountable.”

Other opioid companies that have reached an agreement with the City of San Francisco include manufacturing companies Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Allergan of AbbVie Inc., both of whom walked out of the San Francisco trial for $54 million, and Endo Health Solutions, which paid $10 million in the previous trial.

In a statement, Walgreens denied liability and said there was no fault as against.

“We have not manufactured or marketed opioids, nor have we distributed them to ‘pill factories’ and internet pharmacies,” the statement said. “The comparison allows us to focus on our mission to transform healthcare and the well-being of our patients, customers and communities.”

“Above the Waterline”

Attorneys for the San Francisco Attorney’s Office hired seven outside law firms in the case, including Assistant Trial Attorney Richard Heimann of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein in San Francisco; Aelish Baig, San Francisco partner at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd; Jayne Conroy from Simmons Hanly Conroy of New York; and Peter Mougey of Levin Papantonio Rafferty Proctor Buchanan O’Brien Barr Mougey in Pensacola, Florida.

“You were the outstanding face of this case,” Lieff Cabraser’s Elizabeth Cabraser said of the outside legal team at Wednesday’s news conference. “We won a litigation victory, the first of its kind, in opioid litigation nationally, and it enabled us to negotiate a settlement that will bring much-needed funds and resources to San Francisco faster and faster than the national settlements.”

Elizabeth Cabraser, Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein (Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM)

Last year, Walgreens agreed to pay around $5 billion to several states and Native American tribes that had opioid lawsuits.

Walgreens is one of several dispensaries targeted for their role in providing excessive amounts of opioids, which are prescription pain relievers, in communities. Breyer, of the Northern County of California, found in his Aug. 10 court ruling that Walgreens had failed federal opioid prescription due diligence requirements for 15 years, leading to illegal drug use in San Francisco.

The lawsuit is one of many for Walgreens. In one of the first landmark lawsuits, a Cleveland jury returned verdicts in 2021 against Walgreens, Walmart and CVS and for two counties in Ohio, Trumbull County and Lake County. Last year, the three pharmacies appealed a $650 million damages claim that, if extrapolated across all opioid cases, would cost them nearly $500 billion in public health costs. The US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has not yet scheduled hearings in this case.

Last year, Walgreens settled a case against the state of New Mexico and paid $683 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the state of Florida.

Minnesota: “A Clear Message”

Separately, Attorney General Keith Ellison on Wednesday announced the value of Minnesota’s previously announced settlement with Juul and Altria: $60.5 million.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison speaks at the University of Miami School of Law. Photo: Jenny Abreu

The settlement, which includes $8.6 million in legal fees and attorney fees, including for outside attorneys Robins Kaplan and Zimmerman Reed, is the largest per capita of any of the 48 states and U.S. territories that make up the Minnesota Attorney General, according to the Minnesota Attorney General have agreed with Juul office. Under the terms of the agreement, both companies will make payments over a period of eight years, starting at $22.75 million over 30 days.

Juul last year paid an estimated $1.7 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits brought by cities, counties, Native American tribes, school districts and states over its electronic cigarettes. Juul also agreed last month to pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia.

Altria, which owns a 35% stake in Juul, settled $235 million in a lawsuit against the San Francisco Unified School District this month. The comparison excludes cases from the states of Hawaii, Alaska and New Mexico.

The state of Minnesota began the state’s first trial over Juul’s e-cigarettes on March 28, but settled a confidential sum just before jury deliberations began last month.

“As we did in the Big Tobacco litigation 25 years ago, Minnesotans have again demonstrated their leadership by being the first and so far only state in the country to bring Juul and Altria to justice,” Ellison said. “This settlement, which is the largest of its kind in the country, also sends a clear message: We will not tolerate the marketing of nicotine products to children and adolescents in Minnesota and will hold you accountable if you do so.”

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CNN
—

The security guard who shot dead a suspected shoplifter at a Walgreens in downtown San Francisco last month will not be prosecuted, prosecutors said Monday, saying the gunman acted in self-defense.

Brooke Jenkins prosecutors on Monday released surveillance video and a written report of Michael Anthony’s April 27 fatal shooting of Banko Brown.

According to the report, the guard said Brown repeatedly threatened to stab him before the shooting. The report stated that police did not find a knife in Brown’s possession, but prosecutors nevertheless concluded that his fears were valid.

“Given the totality of the circumstances, including the threat, which Anthony believed and could reasonably believe, the evidence shows that Brown’s shooting was not a criminal act as Anthony acted in lawful self-defense,” the report reads. “Anthony is therefore not criminally responsible for Brown’s death.”

However, Brown’s family attorney, John Burris, told CNN’s Sara Sidner that the security guard’s actions “went far beyond what was reasonable and necessary.”

“Stopping someone and talking to them is different than stopping them, beating them up and eventually killing them,” Burris said Tuesday

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors last week sent a letter asking District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to release surveillance video showing the shooting after no charges were filed against the guard during the 72 hours he was in custody.

Courtesy of attorney John Burris

Banko Brown was fatally shot by a security guard at a Walgreens store in San Francisco on April 27.

Surveillance camera video released Monday shows Brown attempting to exit the store before being stopped by a security guard, identified by police as Anthony. Brown then shoves the guard, leading to a physical altercation.

Brown is pinned to the ground by the guard but released after about a minute, video shows. Brown is about to leave but appears to turn and walk toward the security guard, who then shoots him, video shows.

The murder and lack of charges have sparked protests in San Francisco linked to broader debates about crime, poverty, homelessness and criminal justice in the Northern California city.

San Francisco has seen a significant exodus of middle-class residents since the Covid-19 pandemic, and a spate of brazen property crimes and rampant public drug use have created a sense of disorder, as CNN reports in the current special, What About San happened?” did Francisco investigate?”

One such incident was a 2021 day theft at a Walgreens store that was caught on video, in which a suspect casually snatched items off shelves, tossed them into a black bag and exited the store, pointing at the store’s security guard and several onlookers passed. Walgreens said at the time this “blatant retail theft” was an ongoing problem at its stores, although a company executive said earlier this year “maybe we cried too much” over the issue.

As part of the backlash, progressive prosecutor Chesa Boudin was removed from office last year by a 55% majority. Jenkins was named to succeed him and vowed to “restore accountability and consequence to our criminal justice system,” saying this is the moment to “take back our streets.”

San Francisco District Attorney’s Office

Surveillance camera video shows part of the encounter between Banko Brown (left) and security guard Michael Anthony before Anthony fatally shot Banko.

In his videotaped interview with police, the guard said Brown repeatedly threatened to stab him during the fight.

“I felt like I was in danger. I felt like I was about to be stabbed,” Anthony said.

According to the district attorney’s report, Brown was a transgender man. Anthony went on to describe his state of mind at the moment Brown approached him, using incorrect pronouns.

“And I didn’t know what she was up to, but, uh… turns out her intention was to… try to spit on me, and by that reaction of turning around and coming towards me… that’s when I raised it.” high (movements). with your hands) and then shot once.”

The district attorney’s report states that self-defense applies when a person has a reasonable belief that they are in imminent danger of being killed or seriously injured.

“There is no evidence that Anthony’s fear was genuine,” the report said.

However, Burris, the attorney for Brown’s family, said he would soon be filing a lawsuit in the case.

“I watched the tape and looked at it pretty closely, and I think that shooting was unjustified,” he told CNN.

“The family is very concerned that no prosecution has taken place, particularly the father and mother, and they want the matter escalated to the Attorney General’s Office for consideration.”

Aaron Peskin, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, said he is asking the Attorney General and the US Department of Justice to review the case. He told CNN affiliate KGO that the video worried him.

“There is a distance between them, Banko Brown is unarmed, Banko Brown is outside the store,” he said.

Walgreens issued a statement expressing condolences to Brown’s family.

“The safety of our patients, customers and team members is our top priority and violence of any kind will not be tolerated in our branches,” the company said. “We take the matter seriously and are cooperating with the local authorities.”

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SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco District Attorney on Monday released surveillance video showing the fatal shooting of a suspected shoplifter by an on-duty Walgreens security guard, along with other footage and documents that she says support her decision not to press charges against the guard , substantiate.

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins released the information amid public outrage over the April 27 death of Banko Brown, a 24-year-old who was unarmed, outside a downtown Walgreens building. Last week, the board of directors passed a resolution asking her office and the police to release more evidence. She justified her decision not to attack security guard Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony on the grounds of self-defense.

But the release of surveillance video didn’t seem to calm critics in a city dogged by brazen shoplifting and where there is much disagreement about the appropriate response to crime, especially when the suspect is homeless or impoverished.

The silent footage shows Brown walking towards the door with a bag in hand when he is stopped by Anthony, who then hits him repeatedly. The two fight until Anthony pinches Brown to the ground. Meanwhile, shoppers continued to enter the store during the altercation.

When Anthony lets go of Brown, Brown picks up the bag and makes his way out of the store. He turns and appears to walk towards Anthony, whereupon Anthony raises his gun and fires once, causing Brown to fall back onto the ground outside.

In a police interview, Anthony said he asked Brown to return the items, but Brown was aggressive and fought to keep the items. He said he told Brown he would let him go if he calmed down, and that Brown kept saying he would stab him. A knife was not found on Brown.

Anthony said he let Brown go, but he drew his gun and kept it pointed at the ground just in case Brown charged. He said he fired as Brown advanced, unaware that Brown would simply spit at him.

San Francisco supervisor Shamann Walton said in a statement that the video offered no justification for the shooting. He plans to join Chief Executive Aaron Peskin in asking the Attorney General for an independent review of the prosecutor’s decision.

But Jenkins, who initially dropped the case on May 1, said even after seeking further evidence, there was nothing to disprove the guard’s reasonable claim of self-defense. She urged viewers to review all evidence, including witness and police accounts, particularly given the lack of sound in the video footage.

“There will be a temptation as people to just look at the video footage of this incident and nothing else. We’re used to seeing videos online and often that’s what grabs our attention rather than going a step further” , she said in a press conference.

Brown, who struggled with homelessness, worked as a community organizer for the Young Women’s Freedom Center, a nonprofit organization that supports young women and transgender youth.

“We don’t have to see the video to know that the killing of Banko Brown was unjust. “Armed violence is not a justifiable response to poverty,” Julia Arroyo, the center’s co-executive director, said in a statement Monday. “We have to live with the sobering reality that he was killed for no reason other than $14.”

Arroyo described Brown as a bright and funny young man who was shy but made friends easily.

Supervisor Dean Preston introduced legislation last week banning private security guards from drawing their firearms unless there is an actual and specific threat to an individual.

Walgreens did not immediately respond to an email asking for comment. Walgreens, Target and other downtown retailers have complained of brazen shoplifting. Whole Foods recently announced it would temporarily close a downtown location, citing employee safety.

Kingdom Group Protective Services, which provides security for Walgreens, said in a statement it was cooperating with law enforcement and could not comment further.

State records show that Anthony has been licensed as a security guard since 2012.

Jenkins became district attorney last year after voters ousted her predecessor Chesa Boudin over criticism that he was too soft on crime. She promised to be a fair but tough prosecutor who would not ignore blatant retail thefts and open-air drug dealing.

___

Los Angeles Associated Press reporter Christopher Weber contributed.

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The opioid epidemic has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the US over the past two decades, counting those from prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and generic oxycodone as well as illicit drugs such as heroin and illegally produced fentanyl.

The surge in deaths has led to more than 3,000 lawsuits filed by state and local governments, Native American tribes, unions, hospitals and other entities in state and federal courts over the toll of opioids. In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed declared a state of emergency last year in the Tenderloin neighborhood, saying something had to be done about the high concentration of drug dealers and people consuming drugs in public.

The city attorney’s office says San Francisco saw a nearly 500% increase in opioid-related overdose deaths between 2015 and 2020 and that on a typical day, roughly a quarter of visits at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Emergency Department are opioid-related.

In 2020, 712 people died of drug overdoses, compared with 257 people who died of COVID-19, according to the city health department.

A high percentage of an estimated 7,800 homeless people in San Francisco — many of whom pitch tents in the Tenderloin — are struggling with chronic addiction or severe mental illness, often both. Some people rant in the streets, nude and in need of medical help.

Pharmacy chains have been south less often than opioid makers or wholesalers that distribute pharmaceuticals more broadly. In one groundbreaking case, a federal jury in Ohio last year found CVS, Walgreens and Walmart recklessly distributed massive amounts of pain pills in two Ohio counties.

In May, Walgreens reached a $683 million settlement with the state of Florida in a lawsuit accusing the company of improperly dispensing millions of painkillers that contributed to the opioid crisis. Walgreens did not admit wrongdoing in its agreement with Florida and will make payments to the state over 18 years.

The company also faces litigation in Alabama, Michigan and New Mexico, among other states.

Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. runs a network of around 9,000 drugstores in the United States. Walgreens and other prescription drug distributors have faced a slew of lawsuits over the opioid crisis.

This article was first published in the Associated Press, with contributions from Associated Press writer Tom Murphy in Indianapolis.

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A San Francisco shoplifter was filmed filling a bag with stolen goods behind the counter of a Walgreens store as staff stood helplessly and watched.

The heist took place on Tuesday at a Walgreens in the Richmond area of ​​the city, and saw the brazen shoplifter hurl bananas and cookies at one man who confronted him.

It is the latest in a long line of shocking shoplifting outrages to hit the famously-liberal Bay Area.

San Francisco and its Bay Area neighbors have been hit hard by a wave of property crimes and smash-and-grab robberies since the start of the pandemic. That has forced multiple branches of Walgreens to close in a bid to stem their theft-related losses amid mounting criticism of soft-on-crime DAs many say are enabling the widespread criminality.

Cellphone video captured by professional photographer Nicholas Stennet shows a man dressed in all black removing items from shelves behind the counter of the San Francisco drug store with utter disregard for two store workers standing right next to him.

One of the employees is on the phone with a 911 dispatcher, reporting a robbery in progress.

At the beginning of the clip, the brazen shoplifter can be seen behind the counter stuffing some of the Walgreens’ most valuable items into a huge bag, while helpless staff look on

Moments later, he was confronted by a male shopper, pictured left, but didn’t take kindly to the check on his behavior…

‘We have this person that is… taking everything from the counter,’ the woman says. ‘Can you send the cops? Can you send them right away, please?’

The looter, meanwhile, calmly moves to a different section of the counter and continues to fill a plastic bag with a variety of goods, including COVID tests, batteries and electronics, according to one eyewitness.

After ransacking the shelves to his heart’s content, the criminal emerges from behind the counter and makes it for the exit.

When a bystander makes an attempt to stand up to him, the audacious bandit grabs a bunch of bananas from a basket and forcefully hurls them at the man, who picks up some of the fruit and lobs them back at the attacker.

…and ended up hurling bananas at the would-be Good Samaritan, who then responded in kind

The shoplifter was evidently annoyed by the have-a-go hero’s decision to stand up to him, and returned to hurl nuts and candy at the unfortunate man

Visibly annoyed by such a hostile reception, the shoplifter grabs packets of chips Ahoy! from a nearby shelf and pelts the Good Samaritan with them, before storming out of he store and triggering the alarm on his way out.

Drug store chains like Walgreens and CVS have become attractive and easy targets for shoplifters, leading to numerous store closures in the Bay Area. In the area’s largest city, San Francisco, low-level offenses, such as retail thefts, have been effectively de-criminalized under the leadership of progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

Boudin, who in a recent interview with the New York Times argued that tough-on-crime policies do not work and blamed the police for the San Francisco’s soaring crime rates, is facing a recall vote on June 7.

Liberal San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin, whose soft-on-crime policies have been blamed for San Francisco’s soaring crime rates, is facing a recall vote in June

Roving gangs of criminals have been carrying out brazen smash-and-grab robberies, targeting high-end stores like Louis Vuitton and Burberry, but also national chains like Walgreens and CVS.

Walgreens said last year that retail theft in San Francisco was five times the chain average and security costs were 46 times the chain average, reported San Francisco Chronicle.

According to the latest available crime data, grand larceny rates in California’s liberal bastion were up 19 per cent in late February, compared with the same period last year.

California Gov Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has vowed to crack down on gangs of retail thieves, despite a controversial 2014 law – Proposition 47 – that barred prosecutors from charging suspected shoplifters accused of stealing less than $950 worth of merchandise with felonies.

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IIn mid-October, Walgreens announced the impending closure of five of its San Francisco stores. “Retail theft” has risen to an unsustainable level despite increased investments in security, the chain said. It was time to give up.

In the months leading up to the announcement, viral videos of outrageous shoplifting attempts at Walgreens locations around town – including one that appeared to show a man riding out of a store on his bike with a garbage bag filled with stolen items – had it taking center stage followed a heated national debate about fears of a pandemic-induced “crime wave”.

To critics of the San Francisco leadership, the closings seemed to confirm a narrative long advocated by people outside the city and, increasingly, by those within the city: that San Francisco is a lawless place where officials watch out to the detriment of local businesses shut off from crime. Political leaders, including Mayor London Breed, pointed at Walgreens. “When a place is not generating revenue and when it’s saturated – Walgreens has many Walgreens locations across the city – I think other factors come into play,” Breed told reporters.

The Walgreens Excelsior District site three weeks before its closure. Photo: Boris Zharkov / The Guardian

But neighborhood officials and lawyers for people trapped in the legal system paint a more complex picture of Walgreen’s role in San Francisco and the city’s struggles with shoplifting in recent years.

They described Walgreens stores as important places where San Franciscans can get basic groceries at a reasonable price and pick up last minute medicines and other essentials. “We have seniors, working families and long-term customers and I think it will be extremely disruptive, especially for older people who are more pattern-based,” Ahsha Safai said of the closings.

Safai represents the Excelsior District, just outside the historic Latino Mission District, on the San Francisco Board of Directors. The neighborhood’s Walgreens, which closed on November 11, were on a busy section of Mission Street, surrounded by clothing stores, banks, and local restaurants. On a Tuesday afternoon in the weeks leading up to the closure, the shop was lively, with seniors picking up essentials and residents waiting to be called to the pharmacy counter.

Many shoppers get off the nearby bus routes to get to the Walgreens, making it a convenient stop in a busy area where parking can be abysmal, Safai said. Pedestrian traffic from nearby stores feeds the Walgreens and vice versa, making the drugstore an important part of the neighborhood’s retail ecosystem.

Safai said he worked with police and community organizations to fight retail crime in his neighborhood. “There must be consequences for the most monstrous. People need to know that they can’t go into the store with a garbage bag, ”he said.

“But we’re not going to lock ourselves out of this problem,” he warned. “We have to steer people on the right path.”

“Walgreens were indispensable”

Gina Mullens’ father has worked for Walgreens for more than 40 years, first in the Mission District and then in the East Bay. She remembers going to company picnics as a child and, because of her family’s long history, chose the company to shop at a Walgreens instead of CVS. “Walgreens is a big, big part of my life. It sounds cheesy, but it fed my family. “

Mullens now lives in East Bay, where she sees her local Walgreens show telltale signs of theft concerns. More and more items were locked behind plexiglass, she said, and some shelves were consistently empty. While she’s frustrated with the wait it takes to get a store clerk to unlock the products, she doesn’t judge those stolen from the store out of necessity. “I understand that hard times do not judge anyone. Do what you have to do to support your family. “

Before moving over the Bay Bridge, Mullens worked in public housing near the Walgreens site on Cesar Chavez Street in the Mission District. There she got the flu vaccinations for her four children and bought basic food for the kitchen at lower prices than her local grocery chain. The site is slated to close on November 17th.

“The Walgreens was essential to at least my family,” said Mullens of the Mission District location. “It’s closer than Safeway, has more items than the corner shop, and has a pharmacy attached. It was a staple, so seeing them shut down in neighborhoods that really need them is heartbreaking. “

Mullens works for the Pretrial Diversion Project in San Francisco, a nonprofit that aims to deter people from shoplifting. The program helps participants keep track of court appearances and orders, and connects them to employment, addiction and other services that can deter them from bringing a new charge. Mullens oversees the employees and works with the groups that provide services to the nonprofit’s customers.

David Mauroff fears high-profile incidents are masking the decline in property crimes reported in 2020. Photo: Boris Zharkov / The Guardian

The organization’s CEO David Mauroff said there was no denying that people were stealing from drug stores, clothing stores, and cars. Mauroff, like many San Franciscans, has a connection with the Walgreens. “I don’t know how many times we ran here to get cold medicine because our child couldn’t sleep,” he said of the chain’s location in Excelsior.

Mauroff saw people steal shoplifting in his local shop. However, he fears high-profile incidents will mask the city’s 2020 drop in property crime. And while he didn’t see an increase in customers for the organization, he has found that the theft hotspots in San Francisco have changed over time as the pandemic progressed.

“There are fewer tourists and fewer people who drive to work – that’s where break-ins used to take place. But because of Covid, people had to find another destination, and unfortunately that turned into Walgreens and other retail stores.

“We do not allow ourselves to be driven by hysteria”

Crime data is complex and often incomplete, and a full picture of what happened in the city during the pandemic still emerges. San Francisco has long had higher levels of property crime than other California cities, but recent data suggests that while some categories of crime have increased while others have decreased.

Theft, the category that shoplifting falls under, appears to have declined from 2019 to 2020, which brought along all of real estate crime according to the San Francisco Police Department’s crime dashboard. Crimes like rape and robbery also fell in 2020, according to an analysis of the latest FBI data from the San Francisco Chronicle. Murders, car thefts, and break-ins increased according to the same FBI data.

The decline in shoplifting appears to continue in 2021. In 2020, according to the San Francisco District Attorney, 12,266 incidents and about 380 arrests were reported for the crime. By the end of October 2021, around 200 people had been arrested for theft or theft that year and there were 9,221 reports. By the end of September last year there had already been 9,558 reports.

Regardless of any discrepancies between perception, data, and lived experience, people breaking into cars near tourist spots like Fisherman’s Wharf and viral videos like the one documenting a man riding his bike out of a Walgreens forced the officers to join one Reaction.

At the end of September 2021, the mayor, together with the San Francisco Police Chief, presented the organized investigation and deterrence strategy for retail theft. The initiative will expand the city’s retail crime rate from two to five officials. The new hires will coordinate with other law enforcement agencies, including the California Highway Police and off-duty officers hired by companies under the city’s 10B program as private security. The city will also triple the number of unarmed community ambassadors from eight to 25.

Mauroff, the CEO of the Pre-Trial Program, said that while the police have a role to play in deterring and combating shoplifting, they are working to find solutions that are not just police-led, but rather the rehabilitative needs of individuals and racial differences taken into account in the criminal justice system.

He noted that during the pandemic lockdown, therapeutic services such as anger management courses, which had previously been found to be helpful, were only available remotely, which is what they are for most of the diversion program’s customers, especially those in the unsafe Living conditions, making it largely inaccessible.

“We mustn’t let ourselves be driven by hysteria so that we can find solutions,” said Mauroff.

The Excelsior District location was closed on November 11th. Photo: Boris Zharkov / The Guardian

Charles Ryan, a case manager with the Pretrial Diversion Project, argued that big companies like Walgreens also had a role to play.

Ryan lives in a community in San Francisco that has already gone through a Walgreens shutdown held responsible for “rampant” theft. In the summer of 2019, Walgreens closed its store in Bayview Hunters Point, a historically black working-class neighborhood on San Francisco Bay.

Ryan said he saw shoplifting in the store but complained that he saw no management efforts to make the drugstore a respected part of the community – for example, educating their staff on implicit bias and keeping the location clean. However, black customers are being followed in the store by employees who believed they had come to steal, he said.

“They didn’t have a manager to get the line on how to deal with people who came in,” Ryan said. “Nobody was there to do the high pressure wash and keep it clean, so people said, ‘We just go in and take what we want. They don’t treat us right and have never done anything for the neighborhood. ‘

“Closing the other locations is bad because they are closing some in neighborhoods where people would have to walk around town to get what they need,” he continued. “They’re only closing it because some people stole.”

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Walgreens Boots Alliance recently announced that it will close five stores in San Francisco because the company says it was “organized retail theft.” Theft in the Bay Area has risen to five times the national average for Walgreens stores in recent months, the company said, a statistic that has made national headlines and sparked discussions about shoplifting in the city.

San Francisco city officials, journalists and criminal law experts have denied this claim, raising questions about why Walgreens decided to close its stores. San Francisco Mayor London Breed dismissed Walgreens’ claim, saying the real reason could be that the stores are not generating enough revenue and the city is “saturated” with Walgreens outlets.

Walgreens said increased investments in security measures to combat shoplifting have proven costly. “To combat this retail theft, we’ve increased our investment in security measures in stores across town to 46 times our chain average to create a safer environment. This is primarily due to our participation in the city’s 10B program to recruit off-duty SFPD officials for a presence in our stores, ”said Phil Caruso, a Walgreens spokesman, in an email to Quartz. (10-B is a program that enables businesses and events to recruit off-duty San Francisco Police officers for overtime pay.)

In the statement, Caruso points out that the main concern is “organized retail crime,” where professional thieves steal goods for resale on digital marketplaces. In July, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill to reinstate a task force dedicated to combating organized retail theft rings.

City administration is skeptical

Some of the skepticism from San Francisco officials and the public came from Walgreens’ 2019 SEC filing, which reveals a plan to close at least 200 stores in the U.S. as part of a cost-cutting initiative. The drugstore chain lost $ 1.7 billion during the Covid-19 lockdowns and is likely to slowly recover.

“So is Walgreens closing stores for theft or because of a pre-existing business plan to reduce costs and increase profits by consolidating stores and moving customers to online purchases?” San Francisco manager Dean Preston tweeted.

Additionally, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Walgreens stores that are closing had only seven reported shoplifting incidents this year, and the five stores that are slated to close had an average of fewer than two reported shoplifting incidents per month. Many items in Walgreens – including toothpaste, shampoo, and allergy medication – are kept locked up so an employee has to unlock the cabinet for the customer. The Chronicle also reported that despite media reports, the number of reported shoplifting incidents is falling.

What is Prop 47?

Some observers attribute the Walgreens closure to Proposition 47, a 2014 referendum that aimed to reduce some felony to misdemeanor. The move was welcomed by advocates of the criminal justice system as a way to curb incarceration for lower-level crimes or “crimes of survival” often committed by the unhodged or living in poverty. However, a common misconception is that Proposition 47 prevents the arrest and prosecution of those who commit retail theft. The referendum classified the theft of property up to $ 950 as a misdemeanor only, not a crime. Retailers tried unsuccessfully to reset Proposition 47 in 2020.

Criminal law researchers argue that a better approach to curbing retail theft is to diagnose the real problems. “Prop 47 is believed to be responsible for these thefts,” says Charis Kubrin, professor of criminology, law, and society at the University of California at Irvine. “So many other things are happening at the same time along with Prop 47. We have a pandemic, we have a recession and increasing poverty, inequality and unemployment. We have mobility, people traveling in and out of San Francisco, which affects traffic, and people shopping at Walgreens. “

There are also criminal justice advocates that this Walgreens-sponsored narrative will spark efforts to recall progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and hamper criminal justice reform in the city. “What you have are people who support policies or develop strategies that are not based on what the data shows, but based on fear of crime, moral panic and the politicization of that policy,” said Kubrin.

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Nick Shoman has been with Charlie’s Pharmacy since he was 12 when his parents bought the storefront on Fillmore Street and Golden Gate Avenue. He started helping out on the floor and quickly got to know the names of the customers.

Almost 35 years later, Shoman now runs the business with his brother, and the family-owned drugstore has become an integral part of the neighborhood.

Shoman knows his regular customers and their families and calls his pharmacist Hank Chen the “best in San Francisco” because he takes time for each customer to look after and advise them individually. Charlie’s Pharmacy works with nearby nonprofits to offer delivery and bulk orders. Shoman will occasionally agree to refill prescriptions on credit for customers in financial distress.

Shoman says that’s a far cry from Walgreens, which recently announced plans to close five San Francisco locations.

“In a chain of stores, customers are just numbers,” he said.

Walgreens blamed uncontrolled retail theft for the recent wave of closings.

A Walgreens at 300 Gough St. is among San Francisco stores that are closing due to ongoing retail theft. (Kevin N. Hume / The Examiner)

Yet even San Francisco – which is known to be particularly tough on retail chains – has relatively little leverage over Walgreens or other corporate retailers when it comes to closing stores. This reality has left officials vying for recourse and struggling to find a way forward to prevent something similar from happening again.

Independent drugstores could be a way to fill the void left by corporate outlets in some communities.

Owners can live well, and the stores offer customers bespoke services and attention that they may not find in chain competitors, according to David Valencia, manager at Reliable Rexall Sunset Pharmacy.

“I think you will see more independents emerge,” he said.

Rexall Drugs in the Inner Sunset pharmacist David Valencia says his store offers specialty products that most chains don’t have. (Kevin N. Hume / The Examiner)

Any control the city has over the flow of business in and out of the market is done through the permitting process overseen by the planning commission.

For example, San Francisco’s formula retail ban prevents businesses with more than 11 locations from opening in certain business districts such as Hayes Valley, North Beach, and Chinatown, although exemptions may be granted.

Chains like Walgreens are required to obtain conditional use permits to operate in most other locations – which requires a thorough review by the planning committee to determine the impact on the surrounding neighborhood – and sometimes the applicant requires mitigating measures.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin even proposed legislation in July that would make it difficult for a new business to replace a laundromat. The aim is to protect laundromat owners from predatory landlords and to prevent these dwindling businesses from closing further.

However, none of these measures force a company to stay open or to encourage a certain type of storefront – like a pharmacy – to take up a vacancy.

Valencia, who has over 40 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including his time with several large chains, wants to make it known that independent drugstores can compete with their chain counterparts.

Rexall was once a widespread national chain, but it was phased out in the 1970s after being sold to private investors. Some franchise locations, such as the one on Ninth Avenue and Irving Street, were allowed to continue using the name but have no connection with the former Behometh and are now independently operated.

At Rexall, Valencia offers personalized customer advice, supplies products to elderly residents in the neighborhood, carries special health products and promotes wellness coaching opportunities. He says the store has established itself in the community by developing meaningful, lasting relationships with returning customers.

“Walgreens isn’t really a competition,” he said. “We can offer special products that most chains don’t have, and we’re more agile.”

From left, pharmacist David Valencia worked with pharmacy technicians Adam Le and Marc Adriano at Rexall Drugs on October 19. (Kevin N. Hume / The Examiner)

However, these outstanding qualities can only be offered when business is up and running. This is an expensive and time consuming process that has historically given many larger retailers an advantage over smaller ones.

In the wake of the pandemic, San Francisco has already taken steps to relieve local traders: Proposition H streamlines the approval process and increases flexibility for new small businesses. Shared spaces enable companies to operate more easily in parts of public space. And Mayor London Breed backed a bill that provides $ 5 million in fee waivers, reliefs and deferrals.

Valencia and Shoman would like more support. In addition to helping individual traders, they say it reinvigorates entire trade corridors by preventing vacancies and increasing pedestrian traffic – which itself could act as a deterrent to the type of retail crime that Walgreens cited as the reason for its departure.

“There are a lot of stores that have closed during the pandemic and it affects me because I used to have some of that pedestrian traffic,” Shoman said. “If I have free business around me, it does not help me and is of no use to anyone.”

In the name of economic recovery, other potential solutions have focused more on enforcement.

Supervisor Ahsha Safai, whose district is about to close one of five Walgreens locations in Excelsior, passed a law in September that allows sheriff’s deputies to work off-duty as security guards in private companies.

This option is already made available to officers in the San Francisco Police Department, so the program would only extend the option to law enforcement in the sheriff’s office.

“If we don’t take care … we’re not going to make people feel safe going back to The City,” said Safai. “We have to take care of it. I definitely don’t want to go back to the time of over-incarceration, but this has to stop. “

As for the fixes, however, doubling enforcement isn’t seen as the best way forward by everyone, even those who acknowledge that organized retail theft continues to haunt the city.

“That’s why it’s so important to understand why they’re actually closing, and not just take their representations at face value,” said District Five Supervisor Dean Preston. “It’s hard to come up with a solution to this or other stores closing without information on why they are closing.”

Residents and elected officials alike expressed frustration with Walgreens over the wave of closings. They phrased the decision as a decision for the drugstore to leave the community and leave seniors, families and other individuals who rely on pharmacies near their homes without warning.

“It’s a neighborhood where residents, especially the elderly and other vulnerable community members, depend on having a pharmacy nearby,” Preston said of the 300 Gough St site closure Local community.”

In contrast, independent drug stores are typically close partners in the community.

“We don’t care about the lower dollar,” Shoman said. “We’re pretty empathetic when it comes to our customers.”

cgraf@sfexaminer.com

Rexall Drugs in the Sunset is operated independently. (Kevin N. Hume / The Examiner)

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