SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco police officers have made 844 retail theft arrests over the past six months, an increase of 27 percent over the previous six months, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced on Sept. 8 in a press conference.
“Retail theft puts workers at risk, raises prices for customers, and can drive businesses out of our neighborhoods,” Lurie said. “That is why we are taking urgent action to stop it.”
More than 9,700 larceny thefts were reported from Jan. 1 to Sept. 6, a 18.3 percent drop from 11,915 cases the same period last year, according to crime data reported by the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD).
The mayor and other officials credited the numbers to anti-retail theft strategies, including blitz operations, in which the police department’s Retail Loss Prevention Team conducts undercover operations inside stores to catch thieves on site.
SFPD’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force is working with loss prevention teams to preserve security footage and other evidence, connect related crimes, and build cases against repeat offenders.
During an operation called “National Blitz Week” in August, the Organized Retail Crime Task Force arrested 19 suspects each connected with multiple recorded theft or fencing cases.
SFPD made 100 arrests for selling stolen goods in streets in July and August, according to Police Chief Derrick Lew.
Lee Mitchell, who has been arrested 16 times, was arrested again in August.
“In nearly every case, Mitchell uses a knife, pipe or other weapon to intimidate employees at a Walgreens in the Richmond District before stealing beer and other items,” the SFPD alleged in a Sept. 8 press release.
The California Supreme Court said in an April 30 ruling that “bail must be set in an amount reasonably attainable for the defendant.”
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told media during the Sept. 8 press conference that the ruling “is a huge impediment for us and for our city and for our state” because more people arrested for theft are having to be released.
“We are tracking to see the pace of whether or not people go back out and recidivate, so commit further crime. And we’re keeping that data,” Jenkins said. “We have seen it a fair amount. But we are waiting until we can collect enough data to really talk about that more openly.”
“The best that we can do at this time, is continue to make sure that if they commit further crime, they are rearrested,” she added.
Prosecutors can press felony charges against misdemeanor offenders who have been convicted of at least two other misdemeanors for certain theft and drug crimes, according to California Proposition 36, which was passed by voters in 2024.
The average number of people held in San Francisco County Jail began to decline from 1,256 on May 1, to 976 on Sept. 5, according to data from the County Sheriff’s Office.
Jenkins said that she is working to change the California Constitution to hold the most prolific thieves in custody while their cases are pending trial.
The rearrests are important to “build stronger cases to make a further argument to the court that something does need to change, and to the public who will have to weigh in on potential legislation or a ballot initiative,” Jenkins said.
