Flash Mob Robberies Continue Despite Ramped Up CHP Policing Efforts

A massive flash-mob style robbery occurred at a Nike store in Los Angeles earlier this week, with 17 robbers stealing around $12,000 worth of merchandise within minutes, despite the California Highway Patrol saying that they had increased their presence around shopping areas for the holiday season.

For the last few years, massive planned robberies involving over a dozen people showing up all at once at a location to quickly steal as much merchandise as possible while also overwhelming security staff have been on the rise. Two years ago in 2021, those types of robberies plagued the state, with San Francisco’s Union Square getting specifically targeted because of a reduced police presence. While police were temporarily posted to areas that were deemed likely to hit, they continued on into 2022 and 2023, with Bay Area cities and the Los Angeles area being the two areas most attractive for robbers because of the presence of many high-end retail stores and relatively few, if any, security personnel attached to the stores.

With flash mob and large scale robberies always seeing a peak during the Christmas shopping season, the Governor’s office and the CHP announced this week that the New Public Safety Plan will send more CHP officers and other law enforcement to retail areas across the state to help deter those kinds of robberies. While many retail areas will see an increased presence, the CHP Organized Retail Crime Task Force (ORCTF) will also be working with local law enforcement in the event of any large scale robberies.

“The men and women of the California Highway Patrol are working around the clock to keep shoppers, merchants, and retail districts safe this holiday season — and year-round,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee in an announcement this week. “Much of our task force’s success can be attributed to the strong working relationships we have with our law enforcement partners throughout the state and the rapport we have cultivated with the retail industry. Working together with our partners, and utilizing the CHP’s extensive statewide resources, we are cracking down and stopping unacceptable criminal activity.”

Governor Newsom added, “When criminals run out of stores with stolen goods, they need to be arrested and escorted directly into jail cells. Leveraging hundreds of millions of dollars in law enforcement investments, the California Highway Patrol — working with allied agencies — is increasing enforcement efforts and conducting and supporting covert and confidential takedowns to stop these criminals in their tracks during the holiday season, and year-round.”

The return of flash mob robberies

Despite the increased presence, flash mob robberies have already taken place ahead of this holiday season. Earlier this week, a Nike store in the South Gate neighborhood of LA was robbed of $12,000 in merchandise after a flash mob robbed the building.

“Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Commercial Crimes Division, Organize Crime Retail Taskforce (ORCT), are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the suspects involved in a grand theft incident in which a flash mob took $12,000 in merchandise,” said the LAPD in a press release. “17 suspects arrived in five vehicles at a shopping center located in the 9800 block of South Alameda Street. The suspects, whose faces were concealed by medical masks or other material ran into a retail store with trash bags in hand. They placed clothing and boxes of shoes in the trash bags and fled from the location without paying for the merchandise.”

With other large-scale robberies likely to occur between now and the end of the year, security experts told the Globe on Wednesday that while an increased number of officers being strategically placed is good, it likely won’t deter a lot of larger robberies.

“More law enforcement is always good, but even if you have several more officers in an area, it still leaves a lot unprotected,” said former Bay Area law enforcement officer and security consultant Frank Ma to the Globe. “It’s like putting on a bigger bullet-proof vest than the one you usually wear. A lot more is covered, but there are still a lot of uncovered areas. These are coordinated robbers, so they’ll send scouts to go into stores and the complexes ahead of time and see what kind of security is. They aren’t just going in blind.

“If they see a lot of mysterious people waiting outside a store, they’ll pick a different target. Union Square was successful because of the lack of security at the time. Those pricey stores in LA and Beverly Hills, same deal. If there was security there, it was usually only a person or two. Staggered security shifts so that they can’t be clocked can work to better catch robbers off guard, as can better response times.

“But the fact is that the underlying causes need to be dealt with to really see a cut in crime, and that includes bigger penalties for those caught. There needs to be a deterrent. More CHP officers is good, but they can’t be everywhere, and a variety of other things are needed.”

More robbery deterrent announcements from the CHP and other law enforcement agencies will likely come in soon as the holiday shopping season begins in earnest on Friday.