The Weekly Newspaper of Inglewood Daily News on a Weekly Basis - Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - November 23, 2017 Senator Holds Turkey Giveaway On November 20 at El Camino College, Senator Steven Bradford (D-35th District that includes most of Inglewood) gave away approximately 1,000 turkeys to area families who needed a bit of assistance this Thanksgiving. Joining the Senator at the event were El Camino officials and students, elected officials from various area cities, and representatives from several charities and businesses. Photo provided by El Camino College. Shoplifters Get a High, But Stores Paying the Price for the Crimes By Rob McCarthy If UCLA’s men’s basketball coach wanted his team to play good defense and get some steals, three young members of the Bruin squad clearly misunderstood Steve Alford’s instructions. In what became an international shoplifting incident, the younger brother of Lakers guard LaVar Ball got caught stealing from a store in China. The goodwill tour turned into a lesson in Chinese criminal justice for Bruin fans and Americans. The three UCLA freshmen-- LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley-- escaped possible prison sentences in China, which considers retail theft a disrespectful act by anyone (including tourists) toward that host nation. Californians don’t share the Chinese government’s stern view toward stealing from stores, and in 2014 passed a statewide initiative to downgrade shoplifting to a misdemeanor when the value is $950 or less. The authors of Prop. 47 said the voter-approved change in the state’s penal code would lower adult prison populations, which it has done. An unintended consequence has been more shoplifting by individuals and criminal gangs, the retail industry says, though stealing was on the rise before the 2014 passage of the criminal-sentencing initiative. Still, shoplifting by American adults is a crime that’s expensive on a national scale and an embarrassment when it’s done overseas. The next time you’re in a South Bay store or at one of the malls, think about this statistic: One in 11 people will steal something from a retailer, and it’s not usually premeditated. Habitual shoplifters steal an average of 1.5 times per week, according to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention. For many, it’s addictive. The U.S theft prevention group estimates there are 27 million shoplifters in the country, equally divided between men and women. Many, like the UCLA basketball players, don’t steal out of need. It’s for the thrill of it. Shoplifters describe getting a rush or a “high” feeling every time they pilfer from a store and leave without paying for merchandise, the NASP says on its website. “Many shoplifters will tell you that this high is their true reward, rather than the merchandise itself,” the group says. The great majority of retail thieves aren’t professionals or shoplifting crews that have begun to plague the area, according to experts. In fact, 97 percent of shoplifters steal because of social pressure or for personal reasons. The other three percent are professional criminals who sell stolen merchandise or trade it. Interestingly, non-professional thieves don’t commit other types of crimes other than stealing, the NASP says. They’re typically non-violent and sometimes they even make a purchase in the store where they’re shoplifting, theft prevention experts report. The next time you’re in a department store, look around for the nearest 10 people because one of them is stealing. That is based on industry estimates that one in 11 people who frequent stores and malls shoplift. Employee theft is a problem for stores too, which is why stores are spending more on video surveillance and other technology to lower the dollar-value of pilfered merchandise. Organized retail criminal gangs, known as ORCs, are harder to stop and more dangerous for store security team members, according to the National Retail Federation. Criminal enterprises in Los Angeles County recently have begun targeting cell phone stores, where members grab as much as $60,000 in new phones before leaving. “These are not ordinary thieves, opportunists or people making bad choices,” Jerry Biggs, Walgreens’ ORC division director, says. “We’re talking about criminals engaged in human trafficking, drugs and terrorism. They’re committing retail crime to fund another illicit activity.” The national retail organization estimates that organized retail crime is a $30 billion nationwide activity. Gangs target specific products, such as baby formula, cosmetics, over-the-counter drugs, DVDs and expensive items. The Los Angeles Police Department formed a special unit in 2007 in response to these retail theft networks. These criminal networks send in “boosters” who use a variety of tricks to conceal stolen items, including belts worn under clothing or shopping bags with hidden compartments. Usually, a getaway driver is parked nearby often in a car with paper license plates, according to law enforcement. Thirty-four states have come down hard in recent years on ORCs, adding offenses to their penal codes for members of these retail theft crews. California is the only West Coast state not to have an ORC statute. Prop. 47 required that non-violent crimes that were felonies before 2015 require misdemeanor sentencing, including shoplifting and grand theft where the value of the stolen goods didn’t exceed $950. The same dollar threshold applies to receiving stolen property, forgery, fraud and passing a bad check. Experts and psychologists who’ve studied the behavior by shoplifters report that most adults who steal started as teenagers. Because shoplifters are hard to spot, stores train their employees to greet customers and ask if they need any help. A friendly offer of assistance is a deterrent to shoplifters, according to loss prevention experts. U.S. retailers lose $13 billion each year to theft, which includes employee theft. In California, the number of shoplifting arrests has increased five of the last six years, according to the state attorney general’s office. • Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................5 Classifieds............................3 Film.........................................4 Finance..................................3 Legals.......................... 2, 6-7 Looking Up...........................7 Pets........................................8 Police Reports.....................3 Seniors..................................4 Sports....................................5 Weekend Forecast Friday Sunny 75˚/62˚ Saturday Partly Cloudy 73˚/61˚ Sunday Sunny 72˚/61˚
Inglewood_FB_112317_FNL_lorez
To see the actual publication please follow the link above