Pushing The ‘Shoplifting Crime Wave’ Narrative Allowed Cops To Stock Up On LEO Goodies

Legal Issues

from the making-the-most-of-a-non-existent-crime-wave dept

For most of a half-decade, law enforcement officials and retail execs have been engaged in a “mass crime spree” duet. Despite this hysteria being debunked several times by rigorous reporting, cops and shops have been manipulating a non-existent shoplifting crime wave for their own benefit for nearly as long.

Every time another smash-and-grab hits TikTok, pearls get clutched, poor business practices get buried, and cops get a few more toys for the cop shop. Crime rates continue to return to their historic lows. Even spikes observed during the COVID pandemic are now being treated like the outliers they are, rather than the starting point of crime rate escalations.

In the retail world, the mass crime spree narrative helped under-performing retailers obscure bad decisions, poor inventory control practices and, in some cases, allow them to close stores they were always planning to close anyway.

In the cop world, the inverse took place. Cops claimed the massive crime wave they also had only witnessed on TikTok proved they needed more money and stuff, even as those requests made it clear they really weren’t doing that great of a job fighting crime in the first place.

The Appeal has amassed a collection of public records related to this so-called shoplifting crime wave. Crime data shows the problem was always overstated. These documents show just how much law enforcement agencies profited from pushing a narrative that increased public fear while simultaneously exposing how useless cops are when it comes to deterring criminal activity.

You’d think a tacit admission of failure would result in more skepticism from purse-string holders when cops show up with their hands out. But the opposite is always true: the worse police are at stopping or solving crime, the more money legislators are willing to throw at them.

Sell fear, buy stuff. That’s how all of this really works.

According to a new analysis by The Appeal, the tactic paid off. California, Oregon, Illinois, and other states are now doling out money to police departments for retail theft investigations. California said it would give police over $242 million between 2023 to 2027. Illinois has awarded almost $15,000,000 over the past three years. And Oregon has allocated $5 million. 

Grant requests from California reviewed by The Appeal reveal the police intend to build out a mass surveillance network to catch shoplifters. 

The proposed dragnet includes automatic license plate readers, facial recognition software, real-time crime centers, and ample overtime funding for cops. Police are sharing access to their tech and data collected with each other, deepening the surveillance across their state. They’re also collaborating with retailers, integrating themselves into stores, and furthering the reach of police surveillance in private spaces. 

Some cop defenders might be saying resources are already stretched too thin to properly handle, um, this apparently brand new crime called “shoplifting.” But if that’s really the case, why is this money being spent on things that have almost nothing to do with tackling the stated problem of retail theft?

As The Appeal’s reporting points out, PDs are spending “retail theft” funds on Stingray devices, police dogs, social media surveillance tech, night vision goggles, “terrorist activity” agreements with DHS fusion centers (claiming there’s a nexus between retail theft and terrorism), and riot shields. Every one of these items was requisitioned with the assertion that these would help curtail retail theft.

Just as happy to push the same narrative are the companies selling these products to cops. Stoking the fires of public fear is so profitable, companies like Axon and Flock Safety are spending their own money lobbying on behalf of police departments, using the same debunked narrative police agencies have used to fill their own coffers with public funds.

Automated license plate reader (ALPR) manufacturers are the clear winners here. Both the private and public sector are willing to buy as many of these devices as these companies can make. Two companies are in the lead, but even those finishing third through last can expect year-over-year gains.

The [lobbying] campaigns have had an impact. In California, roughly 70 percent of the state’s police agencies requested Flock or Motorola’s Vigilant ALPRs in their grant requests.

[…]

In response to the latest shoplifting panic, multiple departments have said they intend to place ALPRs outside store parking lots or directly inside stores. (Some retailers have also bought their own ALPRs.)

This is what privacy activists and others have been raising alarms about for years. Tech that was previously obtained with the promise that it would only be used to track down the most dangerous criminals is now just another option for cops seeking out shoplifters. Property crime has always been grunt work for cops, most of which rarely show any enthusiasm for actually catching thieves. But now that it can be used to get them more stuff, they’ll at least pretend to care about it until the general public finally tires of hearing about it.

Filed Under: crime reporting, exaggeration, overhype, panic, police, retail theft, shoplifting