Some call for federal response as smash-and-grab robberies increase

WASHINGTON (TND) — Smash-and-grab break-ins are putting businesses on high alert. Big box stores and boutiques alike have been victims of a crippling crime wave hitting across the country. Now, there are calls to crack down on the thieves, with retail experts demanding Congress take action to curb the crime.

Surveillance video obtained by The National Desk shows a thief ramming his car into the front of a locally-owned business in Portland, Oregon.

"It’s a state of emergency out here," store owner Gabe Findley told The National Desk’s Ryan Smith. "It’s like the wild, wild west."

Findley says $15,000 worth of merchandise was swiped from his store, Street Vault, in seconds.

“Just a sickening feeling. Anger, sadness, just all the emotions,” Findley said.

Findley says the time, money, energy he poured into opening his boutique apparel and sneaker shop was taken along with the goods.

He says it's frustrating, "having to wake up in the middle of the night, check our phone and check our monitors and check our cameras, having to stake out outside of the shop having to prevent someone from breaking in."

These organized retail crime rings are hurting businesses' bottom lines.

Teens wearing ski masks recently raided a Home Depot in California, stealing hammers, crowbars, and sledgehammers. Several videos from Walnut Creek, California—just outside San Francisco—showed a group believed to be filling a car with merchandise stolen from a Nordstrom store.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was asked about the increase in smash-and-grab robberies happening across the state on Wednesday. He doubled down on his defense of Proposition 47, which changed the requirement for a felony shoplifting charge from $450 to $900.

“Don’t think for a second, I’m not defending the status quo, quite the contrary. It’s unacceptable,” Newsom said. “I want to see local efforts, I want to see them stepped up. I want to see investigations, I want to see arrests. But I also want to see prosecutions and you have the ability. Look at the laws. You have the ability to stack repeat offenders and to move to prosecute.”

Similar tools and tactics have been used in a slew of smash-and-grab robberies at high-end stores in several major cities.

“It’s not just hitting big box stores. It’s, unfortunately, hitting some smaller businesses that often can’t afford to absorb the losses the same way a larger retailer can,” said Jason Brewer with the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

Brewer is one of many pushing for tougher laws to crack down on reselling stolen items online. He’s lobbying Congress to pass the "INFORM Consumers Act,” which would require stricter verification on e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Facebook Marketplace.

“It would make it harder for somebody to hide behind a screen name and sell stolen products and that’s really what is driving a lot of this explosive growth in organized retail crime,” Brewer said.

Back in Portland, Findley says it's critical the federal government does something to bust organized retail crime rings.

“You know everyone was for defunding the police, and then we become victims of the police force being defunded, you know. Now, we’re exposed,” said Findley.

Several police unions are pinning the blame for the recent uptick in these "flash mob" style robberies on the American Civil Liberties Union. The unions have come together in a group called ACLU Watch.

"The ACLU protects some of the worst elements of our society: hate groups, sexual predators and violent criminals while at the same time fighting to reduce victim’s rights," ACLU Watch says on its website.

The National Retail Federation is also calling for a stronger response from the federal government and says it wants to see more coordination with local police as they believe this could be one of the strongest holiday shopping seasons on record.