SF police arrest girl, 14, accused of being ‘prolific’ shoplifter

Amid an investigation into retail crime at San Francisco Centre mall and nearby stores on Market Street, San Francisco police said Wednesday they arrested a 14-year-old girl accused of stealing more than $30,000 in goods from local stores.

The girl, whose name is being withheld due to her age, stole from stores on 15 separate occasions, between April and November, the San Francisco Police Department said in a news release.

Police called the girl a “prolific” member of a ring of both minors and adults who shoplift regularly at local stores. She was arrested on Nov. 24 when police responded to a report of a retail theft on the 800 block of Market Street that includes San Francisco Centre, formerly Westfield San Francisco Centre, SFPD said. The girl was brought to the San Francisco Juvenile Justice Center.

SFPD did not share whether any adults associated with the crime ring were arrested.

In October, SFPD announced it was cracking down on retail theft with undercover enforcement operations at local stores.

“Our city will not tolerate criminals ransacking our businesses,” Chief Bill Scott said in a news release issued when the new operations were announced on Oct. 6. “Not only are these crimes devastating to our business community and local economy, too often we’ve seen these crimes escalate into violence. I want to thank our hard-working officers who are making sure our city is a safe place for businesses and shoppers.” 

A $15.3 million state grant aimed at targeting organized retail crime is funding the enforcement actions.

Efforts to deter retail theft seem to be working. A new report from the Council on Criminal Justice examining shoplifting data in major U.S. cities found that San Francisco shoplifting incidents in the first half of 2023 are down 35% compared with the first half of 2022. This marks the largest percentage drop among the 24 cities included in the study over the same time period. What’s more, SF’s shoplifting rate has gone down by 5% from January 2019 and June 2023, according to the report.