With the abrupt closure of yet another drugstore in downtown San Francisco due to rampant theft, the question of why store security guards aren’t allowed to use force has arisen anew. It’s apparent that force is the only way to deter shoplifters, and yet these guards are not permitted to use it. In fact, they’re not even allowed to interfere with thieves, which makes me wonder why stores bother to hire them in the first place.
In San Francisco, the issue of security guards reached new urgency after the shoplifter, Banko Brown, was shot and killed by a Walgreens security guard. The liberal S.F. Board of Supervisors reacted in typical kneejerk fashion: guards are now banned from even drawing their firearms unless there’s a specific threat to a person, which there usually isn’t.
But why shouldn’t security guards be allowed to use force? In the Bay Area, our woke leaders have more regard for the safety of criminals than they do for store owners and the rest of us. These habitual shoplifters know that they’re not going to get hassled if they load up with stuff from stores, so they do it, brazenly and contemptuously, while we citizens, through the ineptitude of our electeds, let them get away with it.
Whatever happened to the right of a store owner to protect himself, his employees and his property from thieves? I’ll tell you what, we’ve thrown it away, because we keep electing “progressive politicians” who pass laws prohibiting security guards from actually providing security. I’m not quite sure what the progressives’ argument is against letting guards use their weapons. They probably would say it’s too dangerous, innocent people might get shot in the crossfire, and so on. But that’s disingenuous. Yes, there’s a slight risk, but the alternative—doing nothing and letting the crooks get away free—is awful, and a complete dereliction of government’s responsibility for public safety. Most shoplifters aren’t armed, so there wouldn’t be pitched gun battles. If the security guard confronted the shoplifter and warned him to get out of the store while another employee took the perp’s picture, the shoplifter would probably leave—and wouldn’t return a second time.
As part of this, we’d need to tighten requirements for security guards, as well as raise their salaries to attract good candidates. Guards should, of course, be trained in the use of firearms, as well as non-lethal defense tools, like Tasers. They also should be strong, capable fighters, who could take down would-be shoplifters and hold them until police arrive. I guarantee you that if these thieves start getting shot, hurt and/or arrested, we’ll see a lot less shoplifting. We have an intifada going on here in Oakland, and unless we fight back, we’re going to lose the war.
I’m sure our woke City Council members will react in horror at this suggestion: “Steve wants shootouts in our stores!” Nonsense. I want lawful behavior in our stores. I want people who think they have the right to invade a store and steal, to have second thoughts. I want to eradicate criminal behavior in Oakland. And, no, that doesn’t mean addressing “root causes.” We don’t have multiple generations to try and figure out how to end poverty, which will never end anyway because it’s part of the human condition. See Mark 14:7. The people who blather on about “root causes” avoid dealing with what has to be done now. They like the status quo. Fife, Brooks, Bas and Price are poverty pimps—they make money off the plight of those whom they claim to serve, such as the poor and communities of color. The tragedy is that these latter individuals, who really do need help, don’t realize that they’re being exploited, not by “structural racism,” but by the venality and lust for power of wokes, who—let’s get real—wouldn’t have jobs if they weren’t pimping poor people, because they don’t know how to do anything else.
So I’m calling for a reimagining of our laws concerning security guards. Let them be armed. Let them use their devices without fear of punishment. Let’s take our stores back, let’s get rid of the parasites who rob them, and let’s fire the awful politicians who got us into this mess and refuse to get us out of it!
Steve Heimoff