Seattle mayor Katie Wilson’s absurd non-solution to retail theft
by Editorial Board · The Washington TimesOPINION:
Seattle’s socialist mayor, Katie Wilson, has a brilliant nonsolution to the problem of theft from the city’s grocery stores: Spend $1.7 million for more security at private grocery stores.
It beats the heck out of actually fighting crime.
The problem is real. Seattle’s property crime rate is approximately 184% above the national average, much of it because of theft from retail establishments.
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Yet the mayor’s proposal has been compared to putting a Band-Aid over a bullet wound.
Critics wonder exactly what the city’s subsidy will accomplish. If stores hire more security guards, shoplifters will breeze right by them. Unlike police, they are not authorized to make arrests.
Theft from retail establishments is influenced by Seattle’s quality of life. Like her recent predecessors, Ms. Wilson has made a habit of ignoring the glaring symptoms of urban decay.
During the Black Lives Matter unrest, Seattle experienced a steep decline in police staffing, falling from 1,424 officers in 2019 to 1,054 in 2024 before rebounding somewhat.
Retail associations have pleaded with the mayor to close the city’s open-air drug markets. Drug overdose deaths, especially from fentanyl, are on the rise. Addiction plays a major role in shoplifting.
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Homeless encampments are another problem. Seattle and King County, of which the city is a part, have the third-largest homeless population in the United States.
For socialists, however, these are not real problems.
New York State Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher, a Democratic Socialists of America member from Brooklyn, said people steal things such as soap and toothpaste to “meet a biological need,” so what’s the big deal?
In its 2025-2026 platform, the Democratic Socialists of America called for treating drug addiction as a health issue rather than a crime, effectively opposing drug prosecution.
Some prominent socialist organizations and politicians have called for the abolition of police and prisons. Then, social workers will enforce laws against shoplifting and other property crimes. Culprits who are apprehended will be forced to write “I will not steal” 100 times on a blackboard.
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Socialism is inherently averse to law enforcement. If property is theft, as socialists contend, then a shoplifter is merely returning property from capitalists to its rightful owners: the people.
If she really wants to fight crime in the city she was elected to govern, perhaps Ms. Wilson should arrest herself.
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