Walgreens responded after far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., downplayed the growth of organized retail thefts in retail stores nationwide, saying that it was “one of the top challenges” the retail pharmacy chain faces.
In an interview with The Washington Times, Ocasio-Cortez attempted to dismiss the growing problem, saying that “[A] lot of these allegations of organized retail theft are not actually panning out. I believe it’s a Walgreens in California cited it, but the data didn’t back it up.”
Walgreens, however, told the Times that the problem “has evolved beyond shoplifting and petty theft to the sale of stolen and counterfeit goods online.” Walgreens added that theft at its San Francisco stores have become so bad that security costs are now 46 times greater than the average Walgreens store.
Jason Brewer, senior executive vice president of communications of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, told the Times that Ocasio-Cortez “has no idea what she is talking about,” and that “both the data and stack of video evidence makes fairly clear that this is a growing problem in need of solutions. If she is not concerned with organized theft and increasingly violent attacks on retail employees, she should just say that.”
Additionally, the National Retail Federation constantly finds that organized retail crime is a problem that continues to grow.
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