California businesses are striking back at the "destructive" reality of the state's Proposition 47 that downgraded theft under $950 from felonies to misdemeanors.
The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act has reportedly been anything but, having sought to reduce prison populations but ultimately leaving criminals on the streets in the state.
Businesses, stores, and shops have seen emboldened thieves steal goods under $950 and then sell them on the street to make cash for themselves, the New York Post reported.
"The problem now," California Retailers Association President Rachel Michelin told the Post, "is that, people who are drug addicted, who have mental health issues, they candidly will go into stores and they will steal.
"They will sell those items out on the street, they then make money, they then continue their habit or continue a destructive lifestyle."
Proposition 47 labels "misdemeanors instead of felonies for nonserious, nonviolent crimes like petty theft and drug possession, unless the defendant has prior convictions for specified violent or serious crimes."
A Target store in San Francisco was forced to lock down its entire inventory due to resulting theft, according to the report.
The National Retail Federation's 2022 report ranked San Francisco/Oakland metro area second to Los Angeles as being affected most heavily by "organized retail crime." New York City, run by Democrat Mayor Eric Adams, who calls it the safest big city, rounds out the top three.
"That's where there is a flaw in Prop 47 because Prop 47 was promised to say, Oh, we're going to have safe schools and communities," Michelin told the Post. "Well, we don't.
"When they made the changes, particularly to the retail theft, they opened this huge loophole where there's zero consequence for the behavior because I'm not going to be held accountable for going in and stealing."
In addition, store security guards are facing life-threatening situations when trying to stop the emboldened thieves, Michelin told the Post.
"Californians are going to continue to suffer and, what I'm afraid of is that you're gonna continue to see armed guards in front of our stores, which nobody wants," she said.
"But we have to protect our employees, and we have to protect our customers. And unfortunately, I think there are folks in California who are more interested in protecting the people committing the crimes than the law-abiding citizens of our state."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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