Pandemic fueling surge in organized thefts at stores across the U.S.
CBSN
Major retailers across the U.S. are facing a rash of organized shoplifting, with an estimated 80 thieves this month ransacking a Nordstrom store in California and more than a dozen people swiping merchandise from a Louis Vuitton store in suburban Chicago.
Multiple retailers and at least two states report an increase in mass thefts, while experts point to the COVID-19 pandemic as fueling the incidents.
"Retailers have always had shoplifting, but the concern now is there seems to be a surge in organized, gang-related theft," said Neil Saunders, an analyst and managing director at GlobalData Retail. "Shoplifting was very covert — you don't see it — but this is very blatant."
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.