theft is rampant in San Francisco. We walked into a store and easily spotted and recorded shoplifters in action. Now some retailers are going to new lengths to protect their products. Christian Captain joins us now from a Walgreens in the city's Richmond district that has taken the drastic step of using a chain to lock up the food there. Christian Yeah, pretty incredible, Julie. The workers and customers here at this Walgreens say that they are frustrated at the amount of rampant theft that goes on. And now this. Now the shop, as you said, has taken the somewhat unprecedented step of simply chaining off an area there. That is their latest attempt to try to thwart the thieves customers at this Walgreens at 16th Avenue. And Geary Boulevard say this is a distressingly common sight shopping afters making their way through the aisles, helping themselves to whatever they want. Then walking out. I have seen people actively grabbing stuff off the shelves and walking out the door. Now this Walgreens has taken a drastic step, changing up the refrigerated and frozen foods. The only way to get any items inside ringing for assistance. Customers say they're frustrated that it's come to this. It is terrible because you have to wait. You have to ask for a clerk to come and unlock anything that you want to buy, anything, including a soda in the span of less than two hours, we saw four confirmed shoplifting incidents as thieves making off with drinks, food and stationary supplies. In a statement, Walgreens said retail crime is one of the top challenges facing their industry and that the company is focused on safety. The company says it continues to take preventative measures to safely deter theft and still deliver the best experience it can for customers. We spoke with a San Francisco police sergeant who works undercover, so he asked us to not show his face. He says ultimately it's up to the retailer to protect their goods and hire security if needed. He said oftentimes, Walgreens will call the police and only ask that the items be returned and will then decline to press charges. But then what happens is the Walgreens, the corporation, that means their employees will have to show up to court and testify. And I think that's where the particular problem is. It's tying up their employees to go to court on these on these retail thefts. Walgreens isn't the only retailer facing a shoplift problem. This Safeway on Webster Street in San Francisco joined with others in Oakland and San Jose to install these glass gates where shoppers have to scan their receipts to exit. Safeway released a statement saying the grocery chain recently made the change at select Safeway stores in the Bay Area to maintain a safe and welcoming shopping experience for customers and associates. Given the increasing amount of theft, some shoppers said they didn't like the new gates, others say they understand why they're a necessity. It was different. I thought it was more like an airport, kind of like or, you know, a security job, you know, But if it does a job to keep shoplifters from shoplifting, okay, another common security measure, these stores have implemented is only having one way in and out to monitor who comes and goes. That means customers have to either backtrack to the entrance where they first entered or as in the case of this Walgreens, use the stairs. We're live in San Francisco, Christien Kafton ktvu fox two news. So Christian? Yeah i'm curious. You were there with your photographer. How long were you there before you to actually spotted people shoplift and obviously not being bothered by the fact that they were being recorded. Yeah Literally as we pulled up and I mean that literally as we pulled up, we saw somebody walking in who was kind of giving furtive looks around. He walked in, my photographer was able to kind of follow him in, monitor what he was doing. And sure enough, he took items off the shelf, put it in his pocket and simply walked right out. So literally, the moment that we arrived and then we were here for maybe two hours and that two hour span, no fewer than four times to be see people shoplifting from this store. Yeah, you can see it clearly is
