How bad is shoplifting in Chicago? “They got the men’s drawers locked up with a padlock.”

Men’s boxer shorts are secured behind locked doors at this Chicago Walmart store. | YouTube

How rampant is shoplifting in Chicago? 

Pretty bad, according to a freshly-posted YouTube video.

“They gotta be really stealing up in Walmart now,” says a woman as she records video in one of the chain’s Chicago stores. “They got the men’s drawers locked up with a padlock.”

Indeed they do.

The woman’s video shows an entire aisle of men’s t-shirts and underwear secured behind locked display cases.

“Padlocks,” the woman says. “Just like the soap aisle.”

Retailers across Cook County have expressed frustration with policies instituted by first-term Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. Since gaining office, Foxx has refused to pursue felony charges against shoplifters steal less than $1,000 in merchandise or who have a criminal record with fewer than ten felony convictions.

Shoplifting reports are up 20% in the city of Chicago since Foxx won her first term in office three years ago.

And retail theft mobs are a daily occurrence in the downtown retail corridors. Some of the theft rings are using children as young as 10-years-old to carry out raids on beleaguered retailers.

But Foxx insists that her policy is sound and necessary given her office’s “limited resources.”

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CWBChicago was created in 2013 by five residents of Wrigleyville and Boystown who had grown disheartened with inaccurate information that was being provided at local Community Policing (CAPS) meetings. Our coverage area has expanded since then to cover Lincoln Park, River North, The Loop, Uptown, and other North Side Areas. But our mission remains unchanged: To provide original public safety reporting with better context and greater detail than mainstream media outlets. Our editorial email address is news@cwbchicago.com