Some have wrongly accused progressive prosecutors like me of not pursuing accountability despite my office’s high prosecution rates on these kinds of crimes and our transparency on filing rates. Nor are they isolated to the Bay Area or even to progressive cities - retailers in Texas, Minnesota, Florida and beyond have all been targets.ĭespite this, some are falsely blaming criminal justice reforms - and reformers - for these offenses. They happened during the Trump administration, and they happened in cities like Los Angeles under the previous reign of an anti-reform prosecutor. If we truly care about preventing these crimes - as well as others - we must implement the systemic changes needed to make a real difference.Īlthough these crimes have understandably frightened store employees and have shocked those who watched the viral videos capturing the events, these types of thefts with multiple people running into a store and grabbing items are not new - reports of similar crimes go back years. Achieving long-lasting public safety means we must think about these crimes differently. The all-too-common response to these crimes has been calls for more policing and attacks on progressive reforms, but these knee-jerk reactions are short-sighted. Over the past month, following several high-profile retail thefts of luxury stores around the Bay Area and across the country - including in San Francisco’s Union Square - our city has been caught in the crossfire of attacks on criminal justice reform.