The numbers tell a brutal story. According to the National Retail Federation, U.S. retailers lost $112 billion to theft in 2022, up from $94 billion the year before. Retailers also reported a 93% jump in average annual shoplifting incidents in 2023 versus 2019 and a 90% surge in shoplifting dollar losses over the same period.

That kind of sustained hit breaks more than balance sheets. It breaks neighborhoods. When stores cannot protect inventory, they lock shelves, cut hours, or leave. Jobs disappear, foot traffic collapses, and the city budget takes the punch with falling sales taxes.

Major brands are not waiting around. Target projected \$500 million in additional losses this year from organized retail crime, much of it in blue strongholds like San Francisco, Portland, and New York. Walgreens has shuttered dozens of locations in San Francisco. Nordstrom exited downtown. When national retailers retreat, small shops follow.

The ripple effects are visible on every block. In San Francisco’s downtown, commercial vacancies have climbed to roughly 34.8%. Empty storefronts mean fewer paychecks, less security presence, and fewer reasons for families to visit or invest. Once empty stretches become magnets for drug markets and violence.

Crime’s reach does not end at the register. It drags down home values and chases away families who can afford to move. In cities with persistent violence and open-air drug dealing, higher-end condos and homes lose value. Lower assessments then starve schools, parks, and infrastructure of stable funding. It is a feedback loop of decline.

New York shows how expensive mismanagement can be. The city spends about $925 per day—more than $337,000 per year—to incarcerate a single person. Yet leaders keep cycling offenders through arrest and release while overtime costs for the NYPD soar. Officers are asked to do more with less while politicians tie their hands.

Tourism notices disorder first. If visitors do not feel safe in places like Times Square or Union Square, they pick another destination. Conventions do the same math. Estimates point to roughly two million fewer international visitors heading to New York this year, risking about \$4 billion in lost foreign tourism dollars for 2025. Once that reputation slips, it is hard to win back.

The policy signals are just as damaging. Politicians who argue for slashing police budgets, like Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, would multiply these losses. Fewer officers and weaker enforcement mean more theft, fewer businesses, and bigger deficits. Investors read those signals and redirect capital elsewhere.

This is why leadership matters. President Trump’s record has always favored law and order, backing police, and demanding real consequences for crime. That approach restores deterrence. It gives retailers confidence to keep doors open, families confidence to ride transit, and cities a path back to solvency.

Fixing this does not require new theories. Enforce the law. Prosecute theft and organized retail crime. End revolving-door policies that put repeat offenders back on the street. Coordinate with prosecutors to target fencing rings. Support store-level security and proven technologies that help police track serial crews. When offenders face certainty of arrest and punishment, the trend reverses.

America’s great cities can be safe, prosperous, and proud again. But that only happens when leaders stop making excuses and start protecting citizens. Choose order over chaos, prosperity over decay, and common sense over ideology. Stand with the police, stand with the shopkeepers, stand with the families—and take our cities back.