Smash-and-grab criminal acts are so rampant in San Francisco these days that pharmacy chain Walgreens is resorting to chaining its freezers shut to deter thieves from stealing foods like ice cream and pizza upwards of 20 times a day.
The following video footage captured by a customer at the Walgreens location on 16th Street and Geary Blvd. shows every single freezer case padlocked shut with chains.
The grocery aisles of this same Walgreens location have also been retrofitted with large sheets of Perspex and glass, behind which the products are kept out of reach of potential thieves.
The chains stay on the freezers and coolers overnight to prevent thieves who break in after hours from easily accessing the contents inside. In order to open them, a thief would have to have a chain and lock cutter or something to smash in the glass.
Another San Francisco Walgreens location keeps its windows completely boarded up at all times to deter potential thieves from making it one of their targets. That location recently saw a fatal confrontation between a homeless transgender and a security guard.
(Related: Park Hotels & Resorts announced that it is leaving San Francisco entirely because city's "path to recovery remains clouded.")
As residents and business flee, homeless vagrants are flooding in to take their place
Other nearby cities including Vallejo are seeing similar measures at local grocery stores where shoplifting is a problem. One Safeway supermarket across the San Francisco Bay installed giant metal barriers at the exits in an attempt to stop rampant theft.
If thieves attempt to leave the building with stolen goods, an "alarm will sound" from the metal gates.
Many area supermarkets are reportedly closing up their second entrances and exits, leaving only one doorway to get in and out of the building besides the emergency exits.
Another Safeway location installed large metal gates across closed checkout lanes to deter thieves from trying to escape through the gaps.
"Bars everywhere, multiple security guards, you have to scan your receipt for the gate to open in order to exit, and if you don't buy anything an employee has to open the gate to let you out," one person tweeted about what it feels like to shop at a heavily guarded Safeway store in Oakland.
Such deterrent measures are also appearing in other crime-ridden places such as New York City, which like San Francisco has adopted a lax approach to crime, homelessness, and open-air drug use.
Because of all the out-of-control crime and businesses leaving the city, San Francisco has seen a 16 percent reduction in tourism compared to pre-pandemic levels. Many workers throughout the city have also abandoned in-person work ever since the stay-at-home orders became the norm.
The result of these changes has been an increase in the homeless population of around 7,000 vagrants who now rove the city, particularly in tourist trap areas where visitors are likely to be holding cash.
San Francisco's historic Flood Building, which used to be a shopping destination, is now just about completely empty. Gap and pretty much every other business that used to operate there is long gone, the two exceptions being a tired Dr. Martens location and an Urban Outfitters store offering 70 percent discounts.
Robberies are up 12.5 percent in San Francisco this year while overall crime is slightly down by 5.9 percent compared to 2022 figures.
"The homeless don't make people want to stay for sure – it's just not very appealing," commented Edward Liu, a 49-year-old local resident and hospital worker.
Things are on the down and out for far-left San Francisco, which is in the throes of a total collapse. Learn more at Collapse.news.
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