(The Center Square) – San Francisco’s District 5 County Supervisor Dean Preston announced on Twitter yesterday plans to introduce legislation to limit the use of guns by private security guards protecting retail stores in San Francisco.
“We must amend local law to prohibit guards from drawing weapons just to protect property. Human life is more important than property,” Preston tweeted. “We need to change local law so that security guards cannot unholster weapons to protect property.”
Last week San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins revealed her office would not prosecute Walgreens security guard Michael-Earl Wayne Anthony, 33, for the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Banko Brown. An altercation broke out when Wayne attempted to stop Brown from shoplifting. Jenkins said video footage, statements from those who were present at the time of the incident and evidence that Wayne acted in self-defense are reasons why she would not prosecute.
John Kabateck, California state director for the National Federation of Independent Business expressed his disgust with the inaction of California’s leadership in a statement released on Wednesday calling on California Governor Gavin Newsom and the state legislature to “pull their heads out of the sand and confront a crisis of their own creation — the rampant retail theft caused by Proposition 47.”
Last month Nordstrom revealed its plan to not renew its leases and instead will close both of its downtown San Francisco stores in July and August citing a change in “the dynamics of downtown San Francisco” adversely affecting their ability to operate successfully.
Target stores in San Francisco have taken to locking away multiple products behind plastic security cabinets in order to minimize theft due to shoplifting. Their downtown store inside the Metreon mall is estimated to have up to 10 thefts a day. Their store on Folsom Street gained attention in a viral Tik Tok post showing the extent of lockdown items making it almost impossible to shop without a store attendant with an access key.
After just one year of operation, Whole Foods Market at Eighth and Market Street is suspending operations because of concerns for its workers’ safety. Drug use and crime near the store posed a real challenge. The store initially cut back on operating hours last October to curb theft and increase the safety of store workers. Now its closing.
San Francisco has seen an exodus of retailers: Office Depot, Amazon Go, T Mobile, Banana Republic, Crate & Barrel, Abercrombie & Fitch, H&M and a host of other brands have all called it quits in San Francisco.
“If the retail hollowing out of one of the nation’s most visited destinations doesn’t crash cymbals next to their ears, their tone deafness will make them national examples of how not to govern,” said Kabateck.
California’s largest small-business association headed by Kabateck lamented the legislative inaction of the state’s lawmakers asking “Why … the quick, unceremonious death of Senate Bill 316 and the sentencing of Assembly Bill 1708 to legislative limbo? Both measures sought to make modest modifications to Prop. 47 that would not have threatened the main goals of the ballot measure that passed in November 2014, and both enjoyed bipartisan support.”
The bills sought to introduce jail time to offenders who have been convicted 2-3 or more times for petty theft. Offenders who have a history of serious, violent, or sexual prior offenses being convicted for shoplifting would also be sentenced to jail time.
The release by National Federation of Independent Business pointed out that “According to Kabateck, debate over the issue should not overlook the fact that the more pervasive, common-place retail theft crimes are not just the organized ones hitting big stores, they also strike the most vulnerable, including small, ethnic business owners, employees, customers and families in our communities.”
Meanwhile, Walgreens is being pressured by protestors of the pharmacy-shooting to stop the use of security guards on their premises.
If proposed gun legislation by Preston limits or removes guns from trained security guards, and the state’s legislature won’t act to ensure security for the city’s retailers and shoppers, then San Francisco is likely to see a continued shuttering of its downtown businesses.
“What is it about the highly flawed and mis-sold Proposition 47 that has turned so many of California’s legislators into cult-like worshipers of it? They willfully and stubbornly will not recognize any flaw in their criminal creed,” Kabateck bemoaned. “The first duty of all governments is to provide for the public safety.”
This article First appeared in the center square