Walnut Creek police want to increase its presence in Nordstrom at Broadway Plaza, after a series of “grab and run” thefts officials believe may be connected to “organized retail crime groups.”
The city council will have to sign off on the increased police presence, which would be budgeted over the next year and come through voluntary overtime from officers, estimated to cost $231,514. Nordstrom would fully reimburse that amount to the city in quarterly payments.
The council will take up the matter at its Tuesday meeting. A staff report for the meeting says vehicles belonging to the same groups targeting high end stores around the Bay Area, have been captured on video casing Broadway Plaza.
“These thefts have resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost property and a perception that Nordstrom may be unsafe for patrons,” the report says. “The Walnut Creek Nordstrom has experienced instances of this type of crime. Nordstrom security staff and management is concerned about the safety of their employees and their customers.”
Officers volunteering for the assignment would be in uniform and subject to the regular police chain of command, which wouldn’t require services outside their regular duties to the public. Officers would be enforcing state and local laws, not private rules, regulations and procedures of Nordstrom. Nothing precludes the officers from responding to other emergencies in the city. The agreement would last from Aug. 4, 2021 to Aug. 4, 2022.
The Walnut Creek City Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday, at the council chamber at 1666 North Main Street, Walnut Creek. Face masks are required. The meeting can also be seen in at www.zoom.us, webinar ID 829 0337 7920, passcode 167071.
50 comments
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Let’s all thank Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Phil Ting, Scott Wiener, and those of Chesa Boudin’s ilk.
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Agreed.
Let’s not forget Diana Becton!
Let is us not forget State Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley).
Senate Bill 82, authored by Senator Skinner, would turn robberies where the value of the property was under $950 that don’t involve weapons or cause serious injuries into petty thefts.
Under this gem, Nancy Pelosi’s strongarm robbery in Oakland would only be punishable by up to 1 year in county jail or after good time work time – 6 months assuming the suspect got the max.
@Janus It was Barbara Boxer. A pox on both their houses.
@ Anonymous
This blog needs an edit option…. Thank you.
Why do you suppose shopping without dollars crowd is frequenting WC?
Could it be they’ve been conditioned by easy pickings and inaction of Walnut Creek during their previous shopping without dollars invasions?
Watch the video before it’s pulled down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei6UtgOisoc
WC brought this situation down upon their own heads.
Agree 100%. The council should apologize to the WCPD and declare that going forward they will be supported and allowed to do the job that they were hired for. There is no need to reinvent the wheel here. The cops already show up for work and get paid. They should let them provide the service.
Lululemon better hire some cops too.
Business owners need the laws changed all over this state for sure to eliminate any liability they have in stopping shoplifters. It is the common sense way. Then they could hire bouncers. Big Bouncers. Big bouncers that have graduated from bouncer school. Big bouncers that can retain people until the police come to arrest them. Felonies have to be charged for anything over a loaf of bread or a quart of milk. None of the crazy $950 stuff. It is all a matter of common sense. Or we can watch on the news as neighbors run out of stores with sacks of merchandize. Bring back the bail system.
Thank you WC Police!
Council will hopefully approve and it will make a statement that WC is back to being a law and order town
I would hope that county supervisors could go talk to Diana B and get her to make some kind of public statement as to her intent to prosecute
She can hit the bricks if she doesn’t comply
They all deserve time in jail big time and if they catch covid 19 so be it. Our country is so off the mark and it is getting worse everyday.
We nned to step up and stop this lawlessness and get law enforcement back on track. The excuses the politicians come up with and letting prisoners out of jail are so lame.
People who care bout this country are going to start to sadly have to protect their own property and families as government is to busy printing money and doing the give aways.
Hmmm, and what happens should one of these dirtbags be apprehended? Our kind hearted DA Diane Benton will refuse to prosecute so the dirtbag will be cited and released. How many of last summer’s Walnut Creek rioters and looters faced any time behind bars?
It’s outrageous the city let it get this bad, they should have done something the first time. What’s even more outrageous is that Nordstrom will reimburse the city. Why should they? They pay taxes, they are entitled to police services.
It’s about time the police start profiling, there are a certain type of people that look out of place in Walnut creek, especially at Nordstrom’s.
Come on Walnut Creek, learn a lesson from Rudy Giuliani when he was mayor of NYC, and stop anybody and everybody that looks out of place in your town. Don’t worry about the WOKE far left and what they will say, screw ’em and do your job. Nobody respects a weak police department.
A large group of poorly dressed who can’t keep their pants up and big mamas with oversized bags… look away everybody!
Proverbial old joke: “Close the barn doors after the horses are gone…”!!
So, NORDSTROM will have to pay back WNCK for police services that should be SOP??!! NORDSTROM should leave WNCK and take their business where it can be safer for all – especially the employees!
That asinine regulation protects the miscreant if they steal value under $950.00
You are absolutely correct…Nordstrom and other businesses and restaurants should flee WC. That’s the only thing that will wake up the WC city council…loss of $$$.
Can you imagine Broadway Plaza boarded up because no business can operate safely? Seems like that’s where we are headed.
(-continue: hit “submit” prematurely!)
and not face jail time. needs to be amended and bring it back to $250.00. The authors of that reg should be taken out also!
Need to bring in the “ROOF-TOP KOREANS”!!! Use 2×4’s to the knees and the side of their heads!
@ Concord74. Your “Rooftop Koreans” did, back during the Rodney King riots, and still do, make my spine stiffen a little and see Stars and Stripes floating in the air. Defending the business you built from lawless hordes with the tools available. That’s what I love about America. Sometimes it’s the recent immigrants that remind us old timers what it means to be American. I salute the “Rooftop Koreans”.
Install license plate readers in the area with auto alerts for stolen vehicles.
Great, advertise it! Now they’ll just go down the way to a different store.
I am against the proposal. Why should private businesses be allowed to hire police, what if I want to pay for extra policing around my home? And, who pays should an officer have to physically detain or shoot a suspect? Likely the citizens of Walnut Creek.
Let Nordstrom security tackle a few suspects.
108RS
Nordstrom would love to do that if they weren’t liable to lose their store to a sueing shoplifter. The liability law has to be changed to give stores protection.
Isn’t physically detaining and possibly shooting a suspect the job of the police instead of a minimum wage security guard with 2 weeks of training from BSIS?
Exactly how would the liability be different for the City if officers were assigned to Nordys instead of the officer just having driven by and on-viewed it or while en route to the store for a call for service the officer sees the suspect and an arrest occurs? The answer is, there is none.
It is either a good arrest/good shoot or it is not. You either followed policies and procedures or you did not.
Per the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services Security Guards are to prevent crime. If they are unable, they are to observe and report to the police. Any other action can subject them to the loss of their licenses, arrest and criminal and civil prosecution.
Nordstrom is going to pay them to stand there and watch them steal stuff like they watched last year? You can’t make this up.
first question are these grabbers
wearing masks
second question
why are masks so important but theft not
third question
why is it that crime gets no reaction
but show up to work without your vaccine papers and your fired
can any dem supporter answer these questions in a means that will help us all understand ….and by all i mean american citizens
because if you are for dems and their soft on crime approach
then you are not an american citizen
life liberty and the pursuit of happiness
i see no mention of smash and grabs
or gov supported crime and looting and riots
no mention of bowing to special interest groups
that push crime and coercion and assault people
while they eat outside of a restaurant to make their point
none of this is part of being an american citizen
but history has all ready showed us what it is a part of …….
So many things are behind lock and key now – at CVS, toothpastes, ice cream- hard to believe we’ve come to that. Why isn’t Nordstrom’s doing the same thing if it’s that bad.
Police cannot be omnipresent. Until the penalties get real the grab and runs will adapt and evade.
Walnut Creek is going to address this problem by placing a ban on running.
Crackdown on people not wearing masks in stores but yet much easier to go steal stuff…makes you think
All of those animals are high value targets. Treat them like riot police do in Europe or China.
Oh, no!! That’s barbaric! The WOKE and Cancel Culture will cry and scream!!
I agree whole heartedly! You give-up your freedom when you break the law! Bring back water cannons to quell protesting/demonstrations that refuse to disperse!
This will change anything. It’s window dressing. How will one police officer stop a group of black shoplifters? Prop 47 needs to be repealed as well as AB 109. Communities across California have already started petitions. Larry Elder has already said he’ll make this a priority in his administration.. As Willie Nelson said, “Vote them out.”!!!
A friend of mine who worked at Nordstrom got in trouble for attempting to stop a young man from stealing (a Grab-N-Go) Gucci belt. This is a Perfect example of why Cali is the laughingstock of our Nation.and other countries think we are nuts.
The thing I never understood is why Nordstrom put valuble purses and items these maggots desire….right by the door. They hire security that dress like they are in a gang and their walkie talkies are going off loudly every minute, so they are too easily identified.. They think they have the best security in town, but they are lacking in many areas. The staff is busy gossiping or checking their phones too often and noone is behing those obvious two way mirrors.
Parking police cars out front does not stop these morons, as they know they are usually empty.
Big burly Police presence would be appreciated, but definitely scare away many long time shoppers.
Broadway security has failed us in many ways.
Whatever happened to making a citizens arrest using resonable force to detain someone until the Police arrive?
And assume all the civil liability and possible criminal prosecution just to protect someone’s else stuff?
You think Nordstrom or any other corporation is going to come to your rescue and pay to defend you in court when you get sued by the criminal? The corporation has a vested interest in portraying you as a vigilante who acted of your own accord and outside the law.
There is a reason why employers forbid employees from arresting or detain criminals and it’s not all an overwhelming altruistic sense of protection for their employee’s safety either.
I visited Iran back in the 90s and saw money changers with their stacks of bills right out on the sidewalk (held down with rocks or similar). No grab and run there. Of course, while not commonly carried out, there is the possibility of a sentence of dismemberment for theft in Iran.
Clearly, the future of retail is all merchandise and staff behind bulletproof glass.
Armory style
The future of retail is Amazon. Which makes me wonder, what would Amazon do if one of these criminal groups hit one of their warehouses?
… they know nothing will happen to them even if they are caught … it will continue unless somebody is will to stand up and do the right thing
The DA says that if they need it, it isn’t theft.
They needed a Camaro Z28, they needed Gucci clothes, they needed a nice three story house, they needed a pommeranian with proper paperwork…
This is a very bad idea. You have a private business paying the city to better protect their business. What about the other businesses?
Some might find parallels to organized crime protection rackets. I won’t go that far, but who knows in time.
The correct solution is to increase loss prevention personnel. They have the power to detain, correct? They can hold the thieves until police arrive.
My spouse was shopping at Nordstrom today for the first time in a year and was surprised the staff was not helpful or very friendly. It was that way in each department visited. Remember when Nordstrom staff was almost too friendly and helpful?
They’ve probably grown tired of the lousy clientele coming into Walnut Creek to do their “cashless” shopping. Who can blame retail workers for being less than chipper when having to observe the dregs of society.
We are all tired of it.
Low paid retail workers are giving horrible service now because they have to work 30 or 40 hours to make the same amount of money that others are making on unemployment from the comfort of their couch.
I may be opening a can of worms but what is your ethnicity?
But then again if you are the same as the persuasion they may just fall over themselves to show inclusivity!!
anon hit it right on the head. Many are working longer days / hours, and with school starting up soon, businesses are once again scrambling to try to get anyone to work. When you are outmanned and short staffed, you hire bodies instead of employees, and service suffers. Combine that with clientele that has grown increasingly short tempered and impatient, powerless loss prevention, and media attention that all but encourages theft without fear of prosecution, it creates an exhausting work environment.
The politicians snuck it in on-a proposition. The people voted for this! Pay attention and vote those idiots out!
Over 200 years of hard-on crime BS. Crime is still here so I guess give the other way a try. It takes time to settle in a new system maybe it will work better. The other way did not work. It really does just give people the feeling of revenge. yay revenge and such the way of the world.
now they want to stop thefts after they encouraged blm and leftists with their behavior and antics? pfffft
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