Not a victimless crime.

 

Michael Jacobs, a CVS store manager in Mesa, Ariz., thought a man was stealing from his store so he confronted him and called the police.

Officers arrived moments later and the suspect was released after the manager said he wouldn’t press charges. The suspect then went home, grabbed a gun and returned a few hours later to the store, where he shot and killed Jacobs, according to police. 

Retailers are facing a growing wave of theft that has led companies to take different steps in response, including locking up more merchandise on shelves, hiring off-duty police officers and closing some hard-hit stores. Most shoplifting isn’t violent, but several retailers have reported an increase in organized theft rings and violent incidents that are complicating the task of stopping thieves while keeping workers safe.

A spokesman for CVS Health said that the company was saddened by the Sept. 7 shooting at the Mesa store and that it made counseling services available to Jacobs’s co-workers and was assisting Jacobs’s wife with access to benefits. CVS instructs its employees to avoid conflict and contact police if they observe criminal activity in its stores. 

Jacobs’s family started a GoFundMe page to raise $10,000 for funeral expenses and said they hadn’t yet received assistance from CVS. The 49-year-old’s death left behind two children and his wife of 23 years, Stacy. 

“He gave so much to that store,” Stacy Jacobs said. She couldn’t understand how this happened to her husband while working where he had spent the last 20 years. She said her husband usually would be the one to defuse difficult situations with others. 

Scott Glenn, vice president of asset protection at Home Depot, said “the violence and intimidation that’s going along with [theft] is starting to become even more aggressive.”

In April, a Home Depot employee working for the company’s asset-protection program was fatally shot inside a store in Pleasanton, Calif., after attempting to stop a female suspect from stealing. 

A Home Depot spokeswoman said security personnel at stores are specially trained to address shoplifters to reduce the risks for employees and customers. Other store workers are directed not to approach a suspected shoplifter because it is too dangerous, she said.

A National Retail Federation report this year said eight in 10 retailers responding to the trade group’s annual survey had seen an increase in violence and aggression associated with organized retail-crime incidents in 2022. 

Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell said last month that the retailer recorded a 120% increase in theft incidents involving violence or threats of violence during the first five months of the year. The company didn’t immediately provide the number of incidents.

How employees are required to handle shoplifting cases varies depending on the business, according to the retail federation’s report. Small businesses have fewer resources to combat crime and can’t easily move locations. Most big chains, such as CVS and Home Depot, instruct clerks not to confront shoplifters. Some stores ask employees to call the police only in response to thefts that involve violence or pose a physical safety threat. 

A shoplifting incident in a Walgreens store in Nashville, Tenn., in April led to the shooting of a pregnant suspected shoplifter. A store worker started recording two women as they left the store with items they hadn’t paid for. One of the women turned to spray the man with mace; the employee pulled out a gun and started firing. He later told police he was afraid and didn’t know if the women were armed, according to police.  He was charged by the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office with aggravated assault but a grand jury declined to indict him this week. The woman was indicted for theft and assault.  

Walgreens didn’t respond to a request for comment. The chain invested last year in additional security and antitheft measures, some of which executives later said was ineffective.

“The safety of employees and customers is always the top priority,” said Nordstrom CEO Erik Nordstrom last month during a call with analysts, after a video of a robbery at Nordstrom inside a mall in Canoga Park, Calif., went viral. 

In the video, dozens of people can be seen grabbing as much merchandise as they can carry and running out of the store while staff and others stand by and watch.

Companies are collaborating with law enforcement to track repeat offenders, and some have started conducting their own investigations so they can hand cases to local police. 

We do think that in some jurisdictions here in the U.S. there needs to be action taken to help protect people from crime, including theft,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said last month.