A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department said that officers responded just after 8 p.m. “to possible looting and vandalism to retail establishments in Union Square.”

Merchandise worth thousands of dollars was retrieved by police after stores including Jins Eyewear, Bloomingdale’s and Burberry were looted, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

San Francisco police Chief Bill Scott said that Hermes and Fendi stores were also damaged, but officers were able to intervene during the thefts. He said that eight people, all young adults, were arrested.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that this was not unplanned. Their plan was to overwhelm us. Their plan was hoping that we wouldn’t be here but we were,” Scott said during a news conference Saturday.

“The message here today is if you come to our city to commit those level of crimes, or to come and vandalize or to harm individuals, you will be held accountable,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) added.

Meanwhile in Walnut Creek, Calif., roughly 25 miles east of San Francisco, police said that three people had been arrested and one firearm had been recovered following looting in a Nordstrom store, ABC7 News reported.

Walnut Creek police said that they first received reports of the incident before 9 p.m. local time and that 80 people were involved in the incident.

“We probably saw 50 to 80 people in ski masks (with) crowbars (and) a bunch of weapons. They were looting the Nordstrom’s right here. And I thought they were going to start beating cars. I had to start locking doors lock the front door lock the back door,” Brett Barrette, the manager of a PF Chang restaurant, told the San Francisco TV station.

NewsNation affiliate KRON contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/west/california-retailers-looted-vandalized-nordstrom/

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Upscale department stores in and around Los Angeles and San Francisco during the past week were victims of incidents in which mobs of looters broke windows, beat and pepper-sprayed employees, and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in goods.

Now, after several years of progressives demanding that cities defund the police, it appears the “smash-and-grab” trend is extending to other areas of the country as Black Friday begins the holiday shopping season. WBNS in Columbus, Ohio, reported that local law enforcement agencies were remaining vigilant to protect local business owners.

Some area businesses were preparing so they don’t become the next victim.

“We’re not concerned about the holsters or the t-shirts, we are concerned about the firearms. That will have a direct impact on others if they were to be stolen from the store. That’s something we are going to do everything in our power to prevent,” LEPD owner Eric Delbert said.

“It’s the atmosphere of our culture right now, the violence in the streets.”

In Western New York, police arrested three individuals after a string of “smash-and-grab” robberies, Rochester’s WHAM reported. The three people were the same suspects involved in a string of about 20 burglaries in 2020.

“We reached out to parole and found the people involved in that investigation were out of jail and this was very much the same identical thing as a year ago,” said Livingston Chief Deputy Dan Rittenhouse.

In Orono, Minnesota, police issued a statement saying there had been a few incidents of “smash-and-grab” crimes involving vehicles.

“This is typically a crime of opportunity which occurs in just a few minutes, and valuable items are quickly taken with damage left behind,” the Orono Police Department statement said.

In Fargo, North Dakota, police officers responded to four reports of “smash-and-grab” thefts within two hours Saturday evening, KVRR reported.

The Daily Mail reported that organized crime syndicates were paying thieves in California as little as $500 to swipe items worth thousands, a law enforcement official said.

“We´re not talking about someone who needs money or needs food. These are people who go out and do this is for high profit, and for the thrill,” Ben Dugan, president of the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail, told the Daily Mail.

“Fact is, with police overwhelmed, woke prosecutors refusing to make such crimes a priority and criminal penalties heavily reduced, looters (and the crime rings they work for) often face little or no consequences,” the New York Post editorial board said. “Organized retail robbery has become a rational career choice.”

Progressive lawmakers and judges unwilling to support law enforcement has had an effect on police officers.

“Why should a police officer waste time getting into an altercation when the person is not going to jail?” Pete Eliadis, a former law enforcement official and founder of Intelligence Consulting Partners, told the Post.

Two Los Angeles-area Nordstroms were robbed this week, with the first incident involving at least 20 people doing the looting.

In Walnut Creek, California, near San Francisco, a mob of 80 stormed a Nordstrom on Saturday, attacking employees and grabbing merchandise by the armful. A day earlier, a mob hit San Francisco’s Union Square, targeting 10 retailers.

Three carloads of people last week robbed a Neiman Marcus on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, a shopping district that has seen skyrocketing theft, CBS Chicago reported.

Source: https://www.newsmax.com/us/smash-and-grab-looting-stores-california/2021/11/26/id/1046261/

The post Police Brace for Spread of ‘Smash-and-Grab’ Robberies Across Heartland first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.