Beefing up law enforcement presence
Governor promises more help for besieged businesses
Gov. Gavin Newsom said recently that Californians could expect to see “substantially more” law enforcement officers near “highly trafficked” retail stores starting immediately, as businesses prepare for hordes of holiday shoppers after a weekend wave of Bay Area robberies that saw thieves abscond with thousands of dollars of merchandise. He directed the California Highway Patrol to increase its presence on thoroughfares around shopping areas and said he was coordinating with local police.
And it appears more stores were ransacked than in initial reports: Robbers made off with more than $40,000 in stolen goods from a San Jose Lululemon, storefront windows were smashed at Louis Vuitton and Saks Fifth Avenue on Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive, and burglaries at San Leandro and Oakland cannabis shops resulted in shootouts in the wee hours of Monday morning.
San Jose Police Sgt. Christian Camarillo: “(Thieves are) obviously getting emboldened, they’re moving to different locations. Everyone’s on high alert.”
Newsom said Monday that the budget proposal he’ll send to state lawmakers in January contains “an exponential increase of support” to help cities and counties fight organized retail theft “and other quality of life issues.” But he also suggested the problem isn’t just the state’s to solve. “Mayors have to step up,” Newsom said. “Gotta be assertive, gotta be tough.”
The governor, who said that his San Francisco wine and hospitality business has been burglarized three times in the past year, also touted a bill he signed in July that renewed the state’s organized retail theft task force. Newsom said the task force has conducted over 773 investigations that resulted in “hundreds of arrests” and nearly $20 million in recovered merchandise.
Newsom: “I have no sympathy, no empathy whatsoever for people smashing and grabbing, stealing people’s items, creating havoc and terror in our streets. … We want real accountability. We want people prosecuted. And we want people to feel safe this holiday season.”
Shortly after making those comments at a San Francisco vaccine clinic, Newsom’s office announced that the governor had left the state to join First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and their four children in Mexico, where they are slated to stay until Nov. 28. Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis will serve as acting governor in Newsom’s absence.