“We will immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft. Very simply: If you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot...” According to President Trump, just “one really violent day” could end shoplifting. But his comments don’t exist in a historical vacuum.
CNN traces it back to the 1800s, when Victorian middle-class white women venturing outside the home were “diagnosed” with kleptomania. In the 60s and 70s, “hippie” U.S. college students were painted as shoplifters. Today, the Department of Homeland Security names organized retail theft as a public safety threat.
Police departments received heavy funding and resources to “address shoplifting.” The Appeal found that California police, for example, received $242 million for 2023-2027 for “retail theft investigations.”
They’re shopping for automatic license plate readers, facial recognition software, overtime funding, cell phone interceptors, K9 units, social media surveillance, and guns and tactical equipment. Plus, fusion center cooperation, which shares information between local and federal agencies on “public safety threats." The “threats” are us.
Shopping while Black already speaks to a living history of racial profiling. Now, police are working with retailers to expand surveillance and their presence within and outside stores. While shoplifting panic is a myth, the police state weaponizing it against us is very real.