Ghislaine Maxwell: The Trial the Media Does NOT Want You to See | The News & Why It Matters | Ep 914

Ghislaine Maxwell: The Trial the Media Does NOT Want You to See | The News & Why It Matters | Ep 914

'Experts' warn against calling California crime spree 'looting' because of racial connotations



Amid a spree of smash-and-grab robberies terrorizing businesses and shoppers in California's Bay Area, "experts" are warning against using the term "looting" to describe the crimes.

Dozens of storefronts and businesses in California were ransacked over the weekend in what local police are calling organized burglaries. In Walnut Creek, just 25 miles outside San Francisco, police said a "criminal mob" of 80 masked and armed robbers raided a Nordstrom department store, assaulting three employees and stealing thousands of dollars in expensive goods. Three suspects were arrested, but dozens more escaped with the merchandise.

San Jose police said thieves made off with an estimated $40,000 worth of merchandise stolen from a Lululemon store Sunday night. At the same time, a bigger attempted robbery took place at the Westfield Valley Fair Mall.

Another smash-and-grab robbery was caught on video at a jewelry store at Southland Mall in Hayward, California. Hayward police said no arrests were made and the suspects fled in several vehicles, making off with an unknown amount of loot.

And a San Francisco Louis Vuitton store was ransacked by robbers on Saturday.

Police have characterized these crimes as looting.

"The Louis Vuitton store was burglarized and looted. The Burberry in Westfield Mall was burglarized and looted," San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott told reporters on Saturday.

But others have shied away from using that term to describe the robberies, including experts who say "looting" is a term with racial connotations.

"We are talking about two incidents, we're not going to call this looting. This is organized robbery. That's what it is," said Sergeant Christian Camarillo with the San Jose police department, referring to the robbery at Lululemon.

KGO-TV reported Tuesday that under California Penal Code, the crimes committed do not meet the technical definition of "looting."

California law defines looting as "theft or burglary ... during a 'state of emergency', 'local emergency', or 'evacuation order' resulting from an earthquake, fire, flood, riot or other natural or manmade disaster."

A criminal justice professor at the University of New Haven said that the words police and journalists use to describe the crime matter.

"Looting is a term that we typically use when people of color or urban dwellers are doing something. We tend not to use that term for other people when they do the exact same thing," said Lorenzo Boyd, Ph.D., Professor of Criminal Justice & Community Policing.

KGO-TV observed that while there was no local emergency declared in the Bay Area cities where smash-and-grab crimes were committed this weekend, the identities and races of the majority of the suspects remain unknown.

Still, another expert who spoke to the local news station suggested the term "looting" has racial undertones.

Martin Reynolds, the co-executive director of the Robert C. Maynard Institute of Journalism Education, observed that after Hurricane Katrina, a large number of black New Orleans residents were labeled looters for "crimes of survival" — stealing water, food, and supplies before federal government aide arrived.

"This seems like it's an organized smash and grab robbery. This doesn't seem like looting. We're thinking of scenarios where first responders are completely overwhelmed. And folks often may be on their own," Reynolds told the local news station.

"People draw their own conclusions, if the terminologies that you use are tethered to people's understanding of how they have been used in the past," he added.

A mob of 20 robbery suspects descends on yet another California department store



Another robbery mob staged a mass break-in at a Los Angeles, California, Nordstrom department store on Monday.

Earlier this week, a mob of 80 stormed a Nordstrom in the San Francisco area and made off with an undisclosed amount of goods and merchandise.

What the details?

According to a report from KCAL-TV, the lawlessness unfolded late Monday night at the Grove.

Authorities say that a group of at least 20 looters "took part in a smash-and-grab break-in" and used a sledgehammer to break into the store.

KCAL reported that the group began to ransack the store after gaining entry and fled from the scene in several vehicles, prompting a police pursuit.

Authorities were able to catch up to one of the vehicles as it sped down the 110 freeway — but the car quickly exited and drove into a side street, where the occupants abandoned the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot.

Police took into custody at least three people and arrested them on charges related to the burglary.

There were no injuries reported in connection with the incident.

It remains unclear at the time of this reporting how much merchandise may have been taken from the Los Angeles Nordstrom location.

What else?

Authorities continue to investigate whether the mass break-in was linked to a similar burglary that took place in another Los Angeles neighborhood approximately one hour earlier.

Earlier in the evening, six suspects hit a CVS store in the city and were said to have stolen approximately $8,500 in cash.

On Sunday night, a mob of at least 80 suspects took to the San Francisco-area Nordstrom after blocking the street with at least 25 vehicles.

Authorities were only able to arrest three people on robbery and weapons charges in connection to the incident.

A local reporter captured some of the melee on camera and shared the video to Twitter.

She wrote, "About 25 cars just blocked the street and rushed into the Walnut Creek Nordstrom making off with goods before getting in cars and speeding away. At least two people arrested at gunpoint."

Three people were injured in connection with the Sunday night siege.