Shoplifters prompt Walgreens to chain freezers
A San Francisco Walgreens store is chaining up its freezers and has been doing so over the past two weeks.
Transcript
00:00 It didn't take long. Within the first hour of being at Walgreens on Geary Boulevard and 17th Avenue in San Francisco, we witnessed multiple shoplifters.
00:10 One of them even took the time to explain why he simply didn't pay.
00:15 Off camera, a Walgreens employee told me they're hit anywhere between 15 to 20 times a day.
00:22 Out of frustration, a week and a half ago, they decided to chain off their freezer section.
00:27 This is one of the hardest hit areas in their store.
00:31 Now, when you want something, you have to press this button.
00:34 A message goes off on the overhead speaker and an employee comes to unlock the freezer.
00:39 According to the employee we spoke to, company policy says they can't challenge shoplifters, but this customer has.
00:46 Sometimes I've stopped people myself and it just frustrates me so much to see the neighborhood fall apart and to have to ask somebody to unlock things.
00:55 Almost every aisle has products locked behind plastic cases. We asked what the brown marks were.
01:00 Turns out shoplifters have tried to burn the cases.
01:03 This vendor saw four shoplifters in the couple of hours he was working at the store today.
01:08 They just help themselves. It's a common thing. The problem is they're not punished.
01:14 SFPD's Sergeant Omar was on foot patrol outside the store.
01:17 It's getting worse, yeah, because more and more people are coming into the west side of the city on the 38 bus line.
01:23 They're getting off and they're basically stealing out of this store.
01:27 He did not want his face on camera, but said he detained eight people shoplifting yesterday.
01:32 People were entering the store and taking products, so outside, if they cross the threshold, they can be put under arrest.
01:38 The eight people that I took on yesterday, seven of them returned the items.
01:42 Basically all eight returned the items. With one, there was a problem with one of them.
01:47 So, did you arrest anybody?
01:49 No, because the store didn't wish to put citizens under arrest. All they wanted to do was get their product back.
01:55 But Walgreens is not the only store that's been victimized by crime here.
01:59 Across from it is this cigarette shop that was burglarized a month ago.
02:03 The owner said he lost over $100,000 in merchandise and cash.
02:08 Well, I hope somebody pays attention, you know, to stop this.
02:12 We can't afford it, you know, like this is a small business. We can't afford it, like $100,000.
02:16 Nobody came and take here. Nobody do anything about it. You know, that's really hard for us.
02:20 And two days before that breaking, this coffee shop across the street was also hit.
02:25 The city, mayor, anybody, they don't do anything.
02:29 Nobody pay attention, nobody do anything. I don't know why. What we do? We have no choice.