Brazen smash-and-grab thieves in San Francisco break car windows, steal bags from cars

Two unidentified individuals wearing hooded jackets were caught on amateur video during a brazen ‘smash-and-grab’ spree on cars in the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco mayor London Breed claims Walgreens is only shutting five stores to cut costs - but pharmacy chain says it spends nearly FIFTY TIMES as much on security at stores in that city compared to anywhere else San Francisco elected officials are claiming that Walgreens is using shoplifting as a false narrative to close stores for cost efficiency reasons Walgreens announced Friday that it is closing another five of its stores in San Francisco and cited constant shoplifting as the reason The pharmacy says it pays nearly 50 times as much on security at its city stores, which are targeted five times more than elsewhere in the country Viral videos taken throughout the summer show shoplifters brazenly sauntering out of stores with armfuls of stolen goods Walgreens closed 17 stores in the past five years due to rising shoplifting cases, leaving 53 stores still open The surge in shoplifting arose after a local law downgraded the theft of property less than $950 in value from a felony charge to a misdemeanor in 2014 Critics say that city officials are not proposing effective ways to curb such crime San Francisco mayor London Breed has disputed Walgreen's claims it needs to shutter five stores in the city because its soft laws on shoplifting have led to rampant theft, claiming that the big chain was simply trying to slash costs and increase profits - and that retail theft was an easy scapegoat. One of the stores closing, pictured above, was subject of a viral video showing a man filling a garbage bag full of goods as security guards watched and let him go Shoplifting incidents occurred at irregular levels across the five locations that are closing, according to data compiled by the San Francisco Chronicle and obtained from the San Francisco Police Department Walgreens officials have cited 'organized retail crime' - in which the thieves sell the swiped merchandise outside the stores - as a main reason for the most recent closures. City and Walgreens officials have cited a reason for the closures as a spike in 'organized retail crime,' in which the thieves sell the stolen merchandise on the same streets as the stores from which they pilfered Walgreens has closed 17 San Francisco locations due to shoplifting cases, where theft in the pharmaceutical chain's 53 remaining stores is four times the average for stores elsewhere in the country, according to the San Francisco Chronicle The Walgreens at 3400 Cesar Chavez Street will be closing on November 17 Each of the five stores that are closing will transfer prescription information to another store in close proximity and the chain intends to relocate employees from closing stores to other nearby ones. In addition to Safai's legislation, San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced last month that the city would be bolstering its organized retail crime unit and making it easier to report shoplifters.