Retailers Facing New Crime Wave and It’s More Violent Than Ever

Retailers are braving a new crime wave that promises to be one of the most violent theft tactics yet.

A van earlier this month crashed into Seattle boutique Rush Hour before thieves ran out and grabbed inventory. Just a few days later, the robbers were back, taking even more high-ticket items than the first time.

This type of crime, often called crash-and-grab or drive-thru burglaries, is becoming increasingly popular as brick and mortar stores fight off an uptick in retail crime.

“SPD [Seattle Police Department] has been seeing this type of tactic of utilizing a vehicle to ram a business’s entry in order to steal merchandise from within occurring in multiple incidents,” The Seattle Police Department confirmed to Fox News Digital. “It is unknown if these incidents are related.”

Earlier this month, an Oakland, California, Trader Joe’s was similarly hit by a group of thieves in the early morning hours. And two marijuana shops in Seattle reported crimes conducted in the same manner.

Meanwhile, St. Louis-area store Osage County Guns saw teens steal $28,000 in stolen merchandise and create $200,000 in damages this September. Those are just a few of the crimes that have been reported in the last few months.

These crash-and-grab crimes are highly coordinated with multiple participants in the vehicles as well as those waiting to make a getaway, according to Stefan Campbell, the owner of the Small Business Blog.

“These retail thefts require a high amount of organization and generally seem to be well thought out to maximize the stolen items they can get away with,” Campbell told Newsweek.

Upscale retail chains and independent retailers have been increasingly at risk due to the value of the goods they sell.

“Thieves are more likely to steal from high-end retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue than they are at Target,” Campbell said. “Electronic stores are also high up on their priority lists.”

At these highly targeted shops, leather goods and jewelry are in top demand, as they’re smaller to pack into a car and tend to be in easy-access areas of department stores.

“Typically, they are right there on the first floor, near an entrance, ripe for the picking,” Campbell said. “These smaller items are easier to grab, and they also tend to be of high value on the resale market.”

New York City Has a Shoplifting Problem

But not every city is as likely to have retailers targeted with crash-and-grab crimes, and the way local authorities handle crime could play a large role in how likely your local store is to become a victim. So far, big cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York are experiencing the lion’s share of violent retail crimes.

Shoplifting numbers for New York City top that of the country’s 24 largest cities, so much so that data skews lower if New York’s shoplifting stats are excluded, according to a Council on Criminal Justice report. The study included New York; Los Angeles; Boston; Chicago; Austin; San Francisco; Seattle; Dallas; St. Petersburg, Florida; St. Paul, Minnesota; Chandler, Arizona; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Cincinnati; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Denver; Lincoln, Nebraska; Little Rock, Arkansas; Memphis; Nashville; Minneapolis; Pittsburgh; Raleigh, North Carolina; St. Louis, Missouri; and Virginia Beach, Virginia.

With New York’s numbers included, reported incidents were 16 percent higher with 8,453 more incidents in the cities monitored by the study during the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2019. But without New York, the number was 7 percent lower.

“Unfortunately, depending on where you live, those penalties are sometimes just a slap on the wrist, with more violent crimes taking precedence for law enforcement,” Campbell said.

Retail Crime Hurts Workers and Customers

Still, retail leaders have been warning others about the prevalence of retail crime and the potential harm it has on both store employees and customers.

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2022 Retail Security Survey, 8 out of 10 retailers reported increased incidents of violence and aggression in the past year. In 2022, inventory shrink contributed to $112.1 billion in losses, up from $93.9 billion in 2021.

“Retailers are seeing unprecedented levels of theft coupled with rampant crime in their stores, and the situation is only becoming more dire,” National Retail Federation Vice President of Asset Protection and Retail Operations David Johnson said in a statement. “Far beyond the financial impact of these crimes, the violence and concerns over safety continue to be the priority for all retailers, regardless of size or category.”

Due to the rise of online marketplaces, thieves are quickly rewarded for their crimes, being able to sell stolen goods anonymously often without any consequences. And it’s only likely to get worse as thieves look to stock up on goods for the holiday season.

How Retailers Can Prevent Theft

Retailers are working to prevent the crime in many ways – reinforced windows and doors, advanced alarm systems, locked up merchandise and advanced alarm systems are all small ways they’re hoping to reduce the problem.

“The best way retailers can fight back against smash-and-grab crime is to make sure your store seems difficult to steal from,” Marc Mezzacca, a consumer savings expert at CouponFollow, told Newsweek. “This can include bollards in front of the store-front, installing security cameras and making the store seem like there are people there by keeping lights on at night.”

But as the brick and mortars deal with a nationwide ‘retail apocalypse,’ in which hundreds of stores are closing each year and even retail giants like Bed Bath & Beyond have declared bankruptcy, the fight to keep profits while dealing with the theft and online store competition is becoming increasingly difficult.

Still, the ‘mob’ incidents account for a small percentage of overall shoplifting crimes, according to a new report from the Council on Criminal Justice.

Most incidents, or more than 95 percent, are carried out by just one or two people, said Ernesto Lopez, a research specialist at the Council on Criminal Justice.

Although that means crash-and-grab crimes are still relatively rare across the U.S., the viral videos showing these robberies in progress could have troubling implications for retailers moving forward.

Those who watch the videos and realize the robberies were successful, with no arrests ever made, they may be encouraged to enact these types of crimes themselves, Lopez said.

“What concerns me most about these incidents is the potential for increased smash-and-grab or mob-style thefts because of a video going viral,” Lopez said. “While many factors influence criminal behavior, people alter behavior based on what they see.”

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