‘Crime spike fee’: Business charging customers a fee to try and make up for massive losses from theft
A Downtown Denver business owner says shoplifting at his stores has gotten so bad he's having to charge customers a fee to make up the cost
DENVER, CO – A business owner in downtown Denver has decided to charge a small fee in all purchases to make up for the financial losses he is having due to retail theft.
He’s calling it the “crime spike fee.”
Derek Friedman, the owner of several different Sportsfan and Sock Em Sock Emporium stores throughout Denver has reported shoplifting has tripled in his downtown and Federal Boulevard locations since 2019. Friedman reports the financial loss to the company is in the tens of thousands and is making it difficult for him to keep his stores open.
Friedman reports that the financial losses are significant, in the thousands. He said:
“We’re talking about six figures for a really small business like us, and that is meaningful. It impacts our employees, and, more importantly, it now is going to impact our shoppers.”
So that his stores can remain open, Friedman has decided to start charging all customers a 1% fee to help recoup some of the financial losses caused by theft. Friedman calls it the “Denver Crime Spike Fee.” He said:
“[It’s the] Denver Crime Spike Fee, and so that’ll be a 1% transaction fee for all of the items that are purchased in our stores.”
Friedman believes the spike in crime in Denver is caused by the legal system, which, in his opinion, is not giving any consequences for the thieves when they are arrested and charged. He said:
“There’s zero consequences, I think, for property crime in the Denver area. It seems like it’s dropped to barely anything.”
While the small fee may help out recoup some of the financial losses, Friedman still notes that it is hard for him to attract employees because of the crime. He said:
“When you have the impact of having someone come in and wander around the store and then grab a jersey and a hat and pull out a machete and walk out, it does have an issue with your ability to recruit and retain employees.”
The Denver Crime Spike fee will become active in February and Friedman hopes that he can keep it at only 1%. He said that he hopes that city leaders will see what he is doing and realize there is an issue and hopefully take some action.
Friedman said:
“My hope is over the course of the coming months, some different approaches are taken to enforcement and police presence and attitudes towards police and the great job that they do protecting businesses like ours.”
One city leader, the Denver Police Chief, agrees with Friedman’s opinion that there is a “lack of accountability and consequences” which is emboldening criminals. Chief Paul Pazen recently spoke to the Colorado Springs Gazette in a Zoom video in which he blasted the judicial system.
Chief Pazen reports that his officers are making plenty of arrests, but as soon as the criminals get to the jail they are provided extremely low bail amounts, sometimes as little as $1.
And what may be worse is the new Misdemeanor Reform bill will go into effect on March 1st which will prohibit officers from making arrests for traffic, petty, municipal, misdemeanor, and several felony offenses.
Instead, officers would be required to issue those suspects court dates.
Some of the felonies that officers would no longer be allowed to make arrests on include identity theft, criminal trespassing, car theft, criminal extortion, internet luring of a child, arson, burglary, bringing contraband into a prison, bribing witnesses or juries, buying a gun, property theft, voting illegally, inciting a riot and…the list goes on.
Concerned that these reforms are only going to cause a further increase in crime, Chief Pazen said:
“We already have more felons that we’ve been arresting with guns, more felons that we are seeing utilizing weapons on our streets involved in these shootings, in these homicides. And now, we are changing what that qualifying felony looks like.”
Chief Pazen then added:
“The criminal justice system does not exist to try to get people out of jail – the criminal justice system exists to keep people safe. And when I talk to people, they don’t feel safe.”
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Police: Rampant retail thefts are so bad in Seattle that even Target is struggling to keep the doors open
SEATTLE, WA -- A Target in downtown Seattle is having a hard time making a profit while paying its employees. The reason why is not a lack of business, but rather the continued retail thefts that are occurring daily.
Jason Rantz, from the Jason Rantz Show, reports that he looked into the number of thefts that have been occurring at the local store over the last year.
Rantz alleged that he asked one of the employees if the theft was that bad and he was told that something is stolen about every ten minutes.
Rantz stood by to check out the situation for himself and noted that he observed Target employees confront two separate criminals within 12 minutes after they had allegedly stolen items. He Tweeted:
“Within 12 minutes of stepping foot into the Downtown Seattle Target, I saw security confront two shoplifters.
“One staff member told me this happens about every ten minutes in the store. The shelves are empty because of the shoplifting.
“Seattle is thriving!”
To combat some of the thefts that have been occurring, Target has stationed security guards at each of the entrances and exits of the building. The hope is that the presence of security will deter those that are considering stealing items.
Rantz stayed inside the store for a few hours and reported on some instances where he believed retail thefts had occurred. The first one he noted was around 11:45 am when he saw a man get off of an elevator with household cleaners in his hands.
Rantz claimed that the items in the man’s hands were stolen as the only way to check out would have been on a different floor. The man walked in the direction of an off-duty Seattle Police Officer who was working security and stopped.
The man dropped one item which prompted the off-duty officer to order him to turn over anything else that was stolen. Despite collecting a majority of the items, Rantz alleges that the criminal was still able to escape with at least one stolen item.
The next instance occurred just before noon when Rantz saw a staff member confront a woman who was accused of stealing. He said that the security guard ordered the woman to remove several items of stolen clothing out of her bag while they watched.
After security was satisfied that they had removed all of the stolen merchandise, she was escorted out of the store. Rantz said, despite her being allowed to leave, that the woman hurled insults at the staff during the entire event.
To help combat some of the thefts that are occurring in the store, Target has resorted to only selling high-end items online. Items such as PlayStations or Xbox’s are not available unless the product is paid in full online.
A sign that announces this is placed in the area where stores in other states have them on display:
“For the safety of our guests, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles are only available for purchase on Target.com and Target App via Order pickup and Drive Up.”
Rantz said although it is clear the stores throughout Seattle are victims of organized crimes as seen in other large cities, he also believes that the homeless population in the area are as much to blame. He said:
“But Target and other stores in the downtown core of Seattle are dying via death by a thousand homeless-induced cuts.”
Rantz noted that the current Seattle City Attorney, Ann Davison, ran on a political platform of prosecuting these types of crimes, but is having difficulty following through. Rantz does not seem to blame her, but rather said that her position is difficult with the large number of thefts occurring and too few police to make arrests.
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