Shoplifting surged whopping 64% in NYC most of any US city in past 4 years: study

Published

2 years ago

November 9, 2023

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New York City has led the US with the sharpest increase in the number of reported shoplifting incidents since before the pandemic, according to a study.

The Big Apple saw a 64% increase in reported incidents of retail theft during the four-year period between mid-2019 and June of this year, while Los Angeles experienced a 61% surge in the same metric, according to the Council on Criminal Justice.

Despite the spike in reported shoplifting incidents, New York City saw an 8% decrease in the first half of 2023, according to the study.

A New York Police Department spokesperson pointed to crime statistics showing that there were more than 93,000 incidents of petty larceny so far this year — which is 29% higher compared to the same period two years ago but 5% lower compared to the same period last year.

LA, meanwhile, saw a 109% increase in reported retail theft incidents in the first six months of this year — the highest in the country, the report found.

Dallas was second with a 73% bump in the number of reported shoplifting incidents in the first half of 2023.

Virginia Beach, Dallas, Raleigh, Boston, and Pittsburgh are the other cities that saw a spike in the number of shoplifting incidents that were reported over the course of the last four years — although their gains were well short of those in New York and LA, the report found.

The analysis was put together using data gleaned from law enforcement agencies or city websites as well as statistics from the National Incident-Based Reporting System.

The analysis, which examined shoplifting data in 24 cities where police publish data on retail theft, found that shoplifting reports were 16% higher — about 8,450 more incidents — during the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2019.

With New York excluded from the sample, however, the number of incidents among the study cities was 7% lower — about 2,550 fewer incidents.

A surge in shoplifting has forced retail locations nationwide to train security cameras on product shelves containing socks and men’s underwear while locking up items such as electric toothbrushes and razors in hopes of combating the surge in shoplifting.

The authors of the Council on Criminal Justice study caution that it is unclear what lies behind the trends, though “bail reform is one possible explanation.”

Another factor contributing to the increased reportage of shoplifting incidents is the change in the rate which retailers contact law enforcement.

Shoplifting, especially smash and grab episodes caught on video, has received extensive attention from the media and policymakers, and retailers have cited theft concerns in closing stores and placing goods in locked cases, said CCJ Research Specialist Ernesto Lopez, co-author of the report.

Far better data from law enforcement and the retail industry data is needed to help strengthen our grasp of shoplifting trends. For now, its unclear if the increase is a result of increased shoplifting, increased reporting from businesses to police, or a combination of both.

In 2019, New York State approved sweeping changes aimed at keeping defendants who cant afford bail from being disproportionately jailed.

But those changes have been tweaked twice before amid criticism that judges were being deprived of a tool they could use to hold people likely to commit new crimes.

In April, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that judges will have more discretion to jail people awaiting trial for alleged crimes — a policy change fiercely resisted by some of her fellow Democrats.

A recent report by the National Retail Federation, a trade group representing US retailers, said that chains had lost $112 billion due to a wave of organized theft rings in New York, San Francisco, LA, and Houston last year — up from $93.9 billion in 2021.

Target said earlier this year that it expects to suffer as much as a $1.3 billion hit to its bottom line because of theft and organized crime.”

The latest police statistics show that rates of burglary and grand larceny have fallen so far this year compared to the same period in 2022.

To date, burglary in the five boroughs has fallen 13.2% since the start of the year compared to the same period last year while grand larceny has dropped 3.3%.

Incidents of robbery have also decreased in number, according to the New York Police Department.

Since the start of the year, there have been a reported 14,159 incidents of robbery — down nearly 5% compared to the same period last year.

San Francisco and Seattle saw the two biggest drops in the number of retail theft incidents between January and June of this year, according to the research.

Analysts found there was a 35% decrease in the number of reported shoplifting incidents in the Bay Area, where several high-profile thefts were caught on camera.

Seattle, meanwhile, saw a 31% drop during the same period.

US

Donald Trump sending ‘top of the line’ weapons to support NATO in Ukraine war

Published

3 hours ago

July 15, 2025

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Donald Trump sending 'top of the line' weapons to support NATO in Ukraine war

Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.

Speaking with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.

“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”

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Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.

Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.

The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.

Later on Monday, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Mr Trump and said he was “grateful” for the US president’s “readiness to help protect our people’s lives”.

After criticising Vladimir Putin’s “desire to drag it out”, he said he appreciated “preparing a new decision on Patriots for Ukraine” – and added Kyiv is “working on major defence agreements with America”.

It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump over Mr Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.

During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call”, but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.

“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.

Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Mr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.

After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”

Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.

He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.

US

Trump is clearly fed up with Putin – but will his shift in tone force Russia to the negotiating table?

Published

3 hours ago

July 15, 2025

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Trump is clearly fed up with Putin - but will his shift in tone force Russia to the negotiating table?

As ever, there is confusion and key questions are left unanswered, but Donald Trump’s announcement on Ukraine and Russia today remains hugely significant.

His shift in tone and policy on Ukraine is stark. And his shift in tone (and perhaps policy) on Russia is huge.

Ever since Mr Trump returned to the White House he has flatly refused to side with Ukraine over the Russian invasion.

He has variously blamed Ukraine for the invasion and blamed Joe Biden for the invasion, but has never been willing to accept that Russia is the aggressor and that Ukraine has a legitimate right to defend itself.

Today, all that changed. In a clear signal that he is fed up with Vladimir Putin and now fully recognises the need to help Ukraine defend itself, he announced the US will dramatically increase weapons supplies to Kyiv.

But, in keeping with his transactional nature and in a reflection of the need to keep his isolationist “America-First” base on side, he has framed this policy shift as a multi-billion dollar “deal” in which America gains financially.

American weapons are to be “sold” to NATO partners in Europe who will then either transfer them to Ukraine or use them to bolster their own stockpiles as they transfer their own existing stocks to Kyiv.

“We’ve made a deal today,” the president said in the Oval Office. “We are going to be sending them weapons, and they are paying for them. We are manufacturing, they are going to be paying for it. Our meeting last month was very successful… these are wealthy nations.”

This appears to be a clever framing of the “deal”. Firstly, America has always benefited financially by supplying weapons to Ukraine because much of the investment has been in American factories, American jobs and American supply chains.

While the details are not entirely clear, the difference now appears to be that the weapons would be bought by the Europeans or by NATO as an alliance.

The Americans are the biggest contributor to NATO, and so if the alliance is buying the weapons, America too will be paying, in part, for the weapons it is selling.

However, if the weapons are being bought by individual NATO members to replenish their own stocks, then it may be the case that the US is not paying.

NATO officials referred all questions on this issue to the White House, which has not yet provided clarity to Sky News.

It is also not yet clear what type of weapons will be made available and whether it will include offensive, as well defensive, munitions.

A key element of the package will likely be Patriot missile batteries, 10 to 15 of which are believed to be currently in Europe.

Under this deal, it is understood that some of them will be added to the six or so batteries believed to be presently in Ukraine. New ones would then be purchased from US manufacturers to backfill European stocks. A similar arrangement may be used for other weapons.

The president also issued the Russian leader with an ultimatum, saying that Putin had 50 days to make a peace deal or else face 100% “secondary tariffs”. It’s thought this refers to a plan to tariff, or sanction, third countries that supply Russia with weapons and buy Russian oil.

This, the Americans hope, will force those countries to apply pressure on Russia.

But the 50-day kicking of the can down the road also gives Russia space to prevaricate. So, a few words of caution: first, the Russians are masters of prevarication. Second, Trump tends to let deadlines slip. And third, we all know Trump can flip-flop on his position repeatedly.

Maybe the most revealing aspect of all this came when a reporter asked Mr Trump: “How far are you willing to go if Putin sends more bombs in the coming days?”

“Don’t ask me questions like that…”

Mr Trump doesn’t really know what to do if Mr Putin continues to take him for a ride.

Mr Biden, before him, supplied Ukraine with the weapons to continue fighting.

If Mr Trump wants to end this, he may need to provide Ukraine with enough weapons to win.

But that would prolong, or even escalate, a war he wants to end now.

There’s the predicament.

Technology

Nvidia says U.S. government will allow it to resume H20 AI chip sales to China

Published

3 hours ago

July 15, 2025

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Nvidia says U.S. government will allow it to resume H20 AI chip sales to China

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang attends a roundtable discussion at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris on June 11, 2025.

Sarah Meyssonnier | Reuters

Nvidia announced Tuesday that it hopes to resume sales of its H20 general processing units to clients in China, saying that the U.S. government had assured the company would be granted licenses.

Nvidia’s sales of the H20 chips, which had been designed specifically to keep them out of export controls on China, were halted in April.

“The U.S. government has assured NVIDIA that licenses will be granted, and NVIDIA hopes to start deliveries soon,” the company said in a statement.

This comes against the backdrop of a preliminary trade deal between Washington and Beijing last month that sought China to resume rare earth exports and the U.S. to relax tech export controls.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in recent months has ramped up his lobbying against export controls, arguing that they inhibited American tech leadership. In May, Huang said chip restrictions had already cut Nvidia’s China market share nearly in half.

Huang also announced a new “fully compliant” GPU, NVIDIA RTX PRO, saying it was ideal for smart factories and logistics.

The potential change in U.S. stance follows a meeting between Huang and U.S. President Donald Trump last week.

In his meeting with Trump and U.S. policymakers, Huang had reaffirmed Nvidia’s support for the administration’s job creation and onshoring efforts, as well as the aim for America to lead in global AI, the company said.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, it was confirmed that Huang has met with government and industry officials to discuss the benefits of AI and ways for researchers to advance safe and secure AI for the benefit of all.