Mag Mile businesses welcome new Cook County State’s Attorney’s crackdown on shoplifting
By Tara Molina
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CHICAGO, Illinois (WBBM) — It’s holiday shopping season on the Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago, and with thefts across the city at the worst levels in five years, retailers have high hopes for a crackdown on shoplifting by the county’s top prosecutor.
The Mag Mile and surrounding shopping district in the Streeterville, River North, and Gold Coast neighborhoods is the economic engine for the city when it comes to sales taxes generated, but the area has been battered when it comes to retail crime over the years.
Newly sworn-in Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has done away with the $1,000 threshold her predecessor put in place for prosecuting shoplifting cases as a felony, and instead will follow state law, which allows for retail theft to be prosecuted as a felony when the total amount of stolen goods is $300 or more.
“The State’s Attorney’s Office will be following state law, which sets the threshold for charging retail theft as a felony at $300. Previous policies that did not align with this statute are no longer valid. ASAs are permitted to use their discretion and consider the circumstances of each case when charging, including whether the offender has committed retail theft before or additional factors,” a spokesperson for O’Neill Burke’s office said in a statement.
Mag Mile retailers and other business owners hope that shift will make a difference.
Holiday shopping was in full swing on the Mag Mile on Friday, and along nearby Oak Street, but the CBS News Chicago Investigators have tracked less than holly jolly behavior in the area over the years.
Smash and grab burglars have repeatedly targeted high-end stores in the city’s premiere shopping district.
The latest data showed more than 3,000 retail thefts have been reported this year in the districts that cover the Mag Mile and Oak Street shopping areas.
For perspective, during the 8-year tenure of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who didn’t run for re-election this year, there were 3,704 guilty verdicts in theft cases, with arrest rates for theft at 7%, according to the numbers shared by the State’s Attorneys office.
One possible explanation for the low arrest rate in retail theft cases is the typical value of property taken in such thefts. The median case involves less than $100 taken:
Year
Median value of property taken
2010
$ 30.00
2011
$ 26.98
2012
$ 30.66
2013
$ 45.00
2014
$ 43.99
2015
$ 40.05
2016
$ 50.00
2017
$ 52.99
2018
$ 49.16
2019
$ 50.00
2020
$ 47.43
2021
$ 69.99
2022
$ 80.00
2023
$ 55.85
The types of thefts that make the news are extremely rare. Out of more than 96,000 retail thefts, less than 5% were for more than $1,000, and just 0.5% of the total cases were for more than $5,000.
O’Neill Burke is doing away with the $1,000 threshold for prosecuting shoplifting as a felony that Foxx put into place after she first took office.
The change was hailed as great news for groups like the Magnificent Mile Association, led by Kimberly Bares.
“Criminals, and especially organized retail crime, they’re very aware of the laws and how they’re being applied; and we fully expect to see a decrease in those kinds of crimes here,” she said.
Bares said it’s not just the change in felony cases that could make a difference, but how O’Neill Burke will handle the state’s retail theft law overall.
Prosecutions under that law hinge on decisions by individual state’s attorney’s offices, county by county.
“We have the laws in place. They just need to be followed, and that’s why we’re very happy to hear the news from Cook County State’s Attorney Burke that she will enforce the laws that are on the books,” Bares said.
CBS News Chicago is told things are looking up for the Mag Mile, now reporting a slight drop in their vacancy rate, with new stores moving in.
This year also saw a record-breaking start to the holiday season during the Mag Mile Lights Festival, according to an economic impact report prepared by the city’s tourism office, with $40 million spent that day.
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