Coordinated crime sprees forcing retailers to close stores, limit hours

Coordinated crime sprees in major cities in California, New York and Washington are forcing retailers to close stores and limit operating hours, as packs of shoplifters regularly make off with hundreds of dollars' worth in merchandise to be resold online, at street markets or returned for gift cards.

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott told NBC Nightly News thieves calculate the worth of shoplifted goods to fall below the felony threshold, meaning officers cannot take action for misdemeanor theft and stores must be willing to hire security guards to make a private persons arrest.  Walgreens has closed 17 locations in San Francisco over the last five years citing this sort of theft, the San Francisco Chronicle reported in May. Jason Cunningham, regional vice president for pharmacy and retail operations in California and Hawaii, said at a hearing at the time that theft in Walgreens stores in San Francisco is four times the average of stores elsewhere in the country.  Walgreens spends 35 times more on security in San Francisco than other areas where their stores are in operation.