“We will be working effectively to go out, to immediately identify, to arrest these individuals,” Deputy Chief Kris Pitcher of the LAPD said.
Los Angeles city officials say they are cracking down on flash mob robberies. A task force of local area authorities is being formed to prosecute anyone connected with the smash-and-grab robberies, promising no one will be granted bail.
“We will be working effectively to go out, to immediately identify, to arrest these individuals,” Deputy Chief Kris Pitcher of the LAPD said.
Over the last two years flash mob thieves have conducted over 170 robberies, looting stores by smashing and grabbing what they see.
The new task force will consist of 22 investigators focused entirely on these robberies.
The crackdown was triggered by a robbery on Sunday at a Nordstrom store. The next day juvenile robbers hit a Nike store. The thieves seemed to take everything as other shoppers watched in shock, and no one stopped them.
A Yves St Laurent store was robbed in early August, and thieves stole $300,000 worth of merchandise.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says that these crimes will come to an end.
“Our message is clear: those who commit these crimes will be caught,” Bass said. “They will be held accountable.”
The National Retail Federation estimates stores have lost nearly $100 billion to organized retail theft in the past year.
