California Gov. Gavin Newsom has shared a story about a Target employee refusing to stop a shoplifter in his presence because she said “the governor” removed consequences for the crime.
Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, was making chit-chat with California mayors before a Zoom meeting Wednesday when he began recounting his recent shopping trip.
He said he witnessed the female employee grab something the shoplifter had dropped and give it back to the thief, who then walked out of the store with the merchandise.
Mr. Newsom said the employee told another person that the thief “is just walking out, he didn’t pay for it.”
“Then I said, ‘Why didn’t you stop him?’ She goes, ‘Oh, the governor,’” Mr. Newsom said, which drew some shocked laughter from attendees such as Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson.
“‘The governor lowered the threshold, there’s no accountability,’” Mr. Newsom recounted the employee telling him.
Mr. Newsom said he began pushing back on the woman’s reasoning, saying that California’s $950 threshold for felony theft is one of the lowest in the nation.
He said the woman doubled down, telling him, “Well, we don’t stop them because of the governor.”
It eventually dawned on the employee that she was talking to the governor, Mr. Newsom said, and she began calling people over and asking to take pictures with him.
Mr. Newsom shut down the photo op and instead wanted to see the woman’s manager so he could ask why she keeps blaming the governor, he said.
“Why am I spending $380 when everyone can walk the hell right out?” Mr. Newsom said to the virtual room of mayors.
Retail theft has been an ongoing issue for the Golden State in recent years.
Whole Foods, Nordstrom and Target all have said they’ve closed stores in the San Francisco area because of brazen shoplifting.
Theft and other crime concerns led In-N-Out Burger to shutter its only store in Oakland earlier this month — the first time the popular West Coast fast food chain closed a store that it didn’t intend to relocate.
Mr. Newsom made a push last fall to crack down on organized retail crime after two fast-moving “flash mob” robberies in the Los Angeles area netted thieves nearly half a million dollars in goods.
Earlier this year, the governor proposed creating new laws and expanding tougher penalties for professional thieves who raid stores and resell the merchandise.