Opinion: The perverse incentives behind the ‘smash and grab’ wave

Photo of Union Square, San Francisco taken December 15, 2016 by Dllu – CC BY-SA 4.0. Opinion article by Charles Lane. The Washington Post – November 30, 2021.

It has been two weeks since hammer- and crowbar-wielding thieves descended en masse upon retail stores in San Francisco’s Union Square, opening a surge of attacks, caught on video, that has frightened shoppers and employees across the country — and made “smash and grab” a household expression. Tragically, the wave has precipitated at least one fatality: […]

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Video: US sees spate of flash mob robberies | ABC News – November 22, 2021.

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Black Friday Smash And Grabs: Here’s The Cities That Were Hit | Forbes – November 27, 2021.

‘Flash mob’ thieves target U.S. retail stores on Black Friday | Reuters – November 27, 2021.