Brazen Smash-And-Grab Robberies Add To Holiday Shopping Stress

ACROSS AMERICA — Shopping centers and malls are beefing up security ahead of a busy holiday shopping weekend to protect against a wave of violent retail “smash-and-grab” robberies by organized crime crews.

The crime is just what its name implies. Large mobs of hammer-wielding criminals storm stores with expensive goods, then flee in waiting getaway vehicles. Equally frightening, police say, are the violent follow-through crimes, when thieves follow customers and rob them at their homes.

Authorities believe the thefts are the work of sophisticated criminals who recruit young people to their networks to steal merchandise, then sell it online. They warn the thefts are ratcheting up as the holiday shopping season gets underway.

A single incident can result in staggering, six-figure losses. More important, retailers are worried the smash-and-grabs committed by hammer-wielding mobs will frighten shoppers away, and community leaders worry they’re a signal that tony shopping areas like The Grove in Los Angeles are no longer safe.

There, about 20 people in a smash-and-grab mob used a sledgehammer and electric scooter/bicycle to ram through the window of a Nordstrom store and raid it just before 11 p.m. Monday. Similar crimes have been reported in the San Francisco Bay area and Beverly Hills.

Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday a string of similar heists have “a profoundly greater impact on the sense of safety and security than simply the dollar loss of the merchandise.”

It’s not just happening in California.

Earlier this month in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook, Illinois, a smash-and-grab mob scooped up $100,000 in Louis Vuitton handbags. Thieves hit the same store the month before, getting away with $66,000 in purses and luggage.

And it’s not just happening at luxury retailers.

Corie Berry, the chief executive of big-box retailer Best Buy, said in a third-quarter earnings call with analysts Tuesday the situation has become so troublesome that the company is stepping up security measures to protect staff and shoppers.

“This is a real issue that hurts and scares real people,” Berry said. “This is traumatizing for our associates and is unacceptable. We are doing everything we can to try to create [an] as safe as possible environment.”

• RELATED: Flash Mob Robbery: Thieves Steal $100K In Louis Vuitton | Thieves Steal $66K In Purses, Luggage In Illinois | Horde Descends On Minnesota Best Buy

In California, prosecutors in seven Bay Area counties are working with the state attorney general’s office in a partnership to “develop effective solutions to breaking up the fencing networks that are driving this kind of crime,” San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin said in a statement.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday the smash-and-grab mobs aren’t just “stealing people’s products and impacting their livelihoods.”

“They’re stealing a sense of place and confidence,” he said. “That’s why you’ve got to get serious about it. I’m not the mayor of California. But I was a mayor. And I know when things like this happen, mayors have to step up. That’s not an indictment. That’s not a cheap shot.”

• RELATED: In California, Smash-And-Grab Robberies Prompt Political Backlash | Alameda County Prosecutor Takes Aim At Organized Retail Thefts

In a separate call with reporters Tuesday, the Best Buy CEO said her company is seeing a rise in organized crime retail thefts nationwide, but particularly in the San Francisco area. In addition to hiring more security guards, Best Buy is working with its vendors to find ways to stage products that make it more difficult for thieves.

A recent National Retail Federation survey found stores are seeing an increase in organized thefts, and that the people who commit the crimes are becoming increasingly aggressive.

Newsom said Monday he had “no sympathy, no empathy whatsover” for the thieves, who he said are “creating havoc and terror on our streets.”

“None. Period. Full stop," the governor said. "We want real accountability. We want people prosecuted, and we want people to feel safe this holiday season."

In general, though, retail loss prevention and security guards aren’t trained or equipped to pursue or subdue suspects, and the likelihood of violence is too great if they do, mall and retail security expert David Levenberg told The Associated Press.

Instead, their role is to “observe and report.”

"The value of the merchandise is not worth somebody being injured or killed,” he said.

With the trend accelerating, retailers need to think more about how to manage customers when a smash-and-grab theft is underway and develop protocols similar to those followed in fires or other emergencies, workplace security expert Hector Alvarez told The AP.

The best way they can help is to take stock of what is happening around them and be good witnesses for police, he said.

He emphasized the brazen smash-and-grab flash mobs are still relatively rare, though he acknowledged that “it’s now become hazardous in some instances to go shopping.”

Ben Dugan, president of the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail, said the flash mobs are typically organized by local people who are recruited by criminal organizations across the United States to steal specific types of merchandise.

They’re usually paid $500 to $1,000 each to pull off the smash-and-grab, and the loot is shipped to other parts of the country.

“Crew bosses organize them. They’ll give him the crowbars, and in some cases even rent them cars, or provide them with escape routes or a list of products to actually go out and steal. It looks very chaotic, but it’s actually very well organized,” Dugan said.

“We’re not talking about someone who needs money or needs food. These are people who go out and do this is for high profit, and for the thrill,” he said.

Levenberg, the founder of Florida-based Center Security Services, told The AP that as the trend accelerates, copycats may see a lucrative new criminal enterprise,

They may be thinking, “'Did you see what happened in San Francisco? Let’s go to The Grove and do it,'” he said.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.