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On Friday, New Jersey Democratic operative James Devine was arrested for attempting to snatch $22 worth of merchandise from a local ShopRite pharmacy. Devine tried to smuggle lettuce, shampoo and protein powder out of the store, perhaps trying to hide the fact that he was about to make the world’s most disgusting salad. To avoid detection, he stashed the goods in a reusable grocery bag.

What seems to be just another edition of Democrats doing dumb deeds actually represents a nationwide problem. Thanks to laws in several major cities banning the use of plastic carryout bags in retail stores, there has been a spike in shoplifting incidents over the past couple years, a trend that business owners, law enforcement officials and customers have duly noted.

In 2011, Washington D.C. enforced a reusable bag tax and officials became steadily more suspicious of shoppers’ activities.

“Since the fee was established last year, we have noticed customers using traditional bags, along with less traditional pieces such as backpacks, to not only transport items from the store, but to carry items throughout the store,” spokesman of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission of Washington D.C. Craig Muckle said in an interview with Washington City Paper.

This suspicion solidified into disturbing data a year later on the other side of the country. When a Seattle ordinance banning plastic bags took effect on July 2012, 21.1 percent of surveyed Seattle business owners said that the plastic bag ban led to an increase in shoplifting problems. Seattle’s Lake City Grocery Outlet, for instance, had thousands of dollars worth of goods stolen that year.

Austin, Texas instituted a plastic bag ban in March of this year and officials have noticed that shoplifters are trying to take advantage of the new law, though no conclusive data exists on the subject.

“We are getting a new type of offender that is taking advantage of the system,” Austin police officer David Silva said in an interview with the Leader-Telegram. Owners have also noted that the ban could make it easier for people to steal, and though theft rates have not substantially increased, it is difficult for store employees to differentiate between customers and shoplifters.

Many cities have instituted plastic ban bans or taxes amid environmental concerns, though many policy experts are not convinced of the productivity of these laws.

“Moving consumers away from plastic bags only pushes people to less environmentally friendly options such as paper bags, which require more energy to produce and transport, and reusable bags, which are not recyclable,” environmental policy expert Mark Daniels said in a 2011 New York Times interview.

San Francisco, California, which was the first U.S. city to ban plastic carryout bags in 2007, and Portland, Oregon are among the other cities that have instituted a bag ban.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/07/24/plastic-bag-ban-leads-to-nationwide-increase-in-shoplifting-rates/

The Los Angeles City Council gave final approval Tuesday to an ordinance that makes Los Angeles the most populous city in the nation to ban single-use plastic bags.

The ordinance will take effect Jan. 1 for large stores and six months later for smaller stores.

The council voted 9-1 in support of the ban, with Councilman Bernard Parks casting Tuesday's lone dissenting vote, making official their tentative approval last week.

Under the law, customers would be required to provide their own reusable bags when they visit stores, or pay 10 cents each for paper bags.

Activists said a plastic bag ban would lead to cleaner beaches, storm drains, rivers and other public spaces that tend to become the final resting places for the non-biodegradable bags. Representatives of plastics companies countered that it would cost jobs, while other s contended reusable bags are prone to germs and posed a health risk.

To help make ban easier, the city plans to hand out about 1 million reusable bags in low-income areas, and women who get food benefits through the Women, Infants and Children program would be exempted from the ban.

The city spends about $2 million a year to clean up plastic bag litter, and the implementation of a ban would result in the loss of 15 jobs at companies within the city, the council was told.

The law is similar to one adopted by Los Angeles County. Other cities in California, such as San Francisco and Santa Monica, also have plastic bag bans.

A statewide ban proposed by former City Councilman and current Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, was defeated in May.

The local ban will take effect Jan. 1 for stores that gross more than $2 million a year or are housed in more than 10,000 square feet.

Starting July 1, 2014, the ban will include liquor stores, and independent markets that carry limited groceries but have staples such as milk and bread.

Proceeds from the 10-cent charge for recyclable paper bags will be kept by stores and used only to recoup the costs of the bags and comply with the city ban. It also will pay for for materials to promote reusable bags.

Doctor Steuss wrote:I love plastic bags. They keep me from having to buy bags to pick up my water buffalo's dog's poop.

Viva la plastic!

Albion wrote:"Guns don't kill people...people kill people." "Plastic bags don't create shoplifters...people create shoplifters." Goose and gander.

“Moving consumers away from plastic bags only pushes people to less environmentally friendly options such as... reusable bags, which are not recyclable,” environmental policy expert Mark Daniels said in a 2011 New York Times interview.

ldsfaqs wrote:

Albion wrote:"Guns don't kill people...people kill people." "Plastic bags don't create shoplifters...people create shoplifters." Goose and gander.

At first blush that might seem like a great comeback.... Problem is, that it's missing some important facts to make that judgment, thus making it false, as usual with liberals.

“Moving consumers away from plastic bags only pushes people to less environmentally friendly options such as paper bags, which require more energy to produce and transport, and reusable bags, which are not recyclable,” environmental policy expert Mark Daniels said in a 2011 New York Times interview.