Ocasio-Cortez recently told The Washington Times that "a lot of these allegations of organized retail theft are actually not panning out," naming a "Walgreens in California that cited the issue but didn't have the "data to back it up."
"In the words of John Adams, 'Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence,'" Villanueva began. "No matter how badly certain politicians want to perform the Jedi mind trick to further their political narrative, the facts and evidence cannot be altered."
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The Democratic New York Congresswoman's words referenced Walgreens' recent decision to close nearly two dozen stores in San Francisco, earning it the title "shoplifter's paradise."
Walgreens told the Times that "organized retail crime is one of the top challenges facing" the company, adding that the crime "has evolved beyond shoplifting and petty theft to the sale of stolen and counterfeit goods online."
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In October 2020, San Francisco law enforcement officials retrieved about $8 million in stolen merchandise.
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The trend of burglars breaking into stores and walking away with cart-fulls of merchandise has become known as "smash-and-grab robberies."
Black Friday saw news reports of such thefts in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
High-end stores in San Francisco were damaged, with thousands of dollars in merchandise recovered by police. While the trend is not particularly new, it may be happening more frequently.
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The Retail Industry Leaders Association has calculated that in 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, burglars stole an estimated $68.9 billion worth of products. A large majority of asset protection managers reported a moderate to a considerable increase in organized retail crime in March 2020 compared to March 2019, according to the RLIA. Meanwhile, 80% thought the situation would get worse in 2021.
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"Respectfully, the Congresswoman has no idea what she is talking about. Both the data and stack of video evidence makes it fairly clear that this is a growing problem in need of solutions," Jason Brewer, RILA senior executive vice president of communications, said in an email. "If she is not concerned with organized theft and increasingly violent attacks on retail employees, she should just say that."
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Fox News reached out to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press team, Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Communication Director, Sen. Alex Padilla’s Press Secretary, as well as Mayor London Breed’s and Mayor Eric Garcetti’s respective press teams. Fox News did not receive any response on whether the elected officials agreed with Ocasio-Cortez’s comment.
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