When it comes to public safety in Boston’s downtown retail shopping districts, the city is at an inflection point. Many of our once thriving retail areas are already suffering, as evidenced by the growing number of darkened stores fronts. If we don’t act soon, the public safety concerns attributing to these closures will continue to spiral. More businesses will flee, fewer consumers and their families will visit the city, and the tax revenues we need to address these issues will plummet.

This isn’t a new problem. Last summer media coverage detailed nearly weekly stories of new public safety issues arising in these areas. Spillover from the challenges at Mass and Cass resulting in major stores having to deal with extensive drug use and overdoses in public restrooms. Groups of teens harassing, and even assaulting, workers and passersby. These issues are not simply a matter of perception. According to Boston Police Department data at that time, violent and attempted robberies in Boston shot up nearly 10 percent over the previous year – while the number of thefts jumped by 14 percent. The end result is an unsustainable environment in which to do business and for consumers to shop.

Recognizing this, RAM engaged Mayor Wu’s office, the Boston Police Department and Suffolk County District Attorney to forge a public private partnership designed to address these issues. Yet despite best efforts, public safety issues not only persist, but their pace and severity continue to accelerate. In the last several months we have seen robberies by masked men using hammers, armed robberies and “smash-and-grab” burglaries of tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise on Mass Ave., Boylston and Newbury Streets. These criminal offenses aren’t being carried out by small-time crooks, petty criminals or teen shoplifters. It’s gangs of criminals organized by a handful of bad actors – who know they can get away with it.

Decisions by policymakers to decriminalize such behavior have only compounded the problem. In 2018 the Legislature raised the felony threshold for larceny from $250 all the way up to $1,200, exceeding most states, including California. And on the local level, the previous Suffolk District Attorney kept a list of “low-level offenses,” including theft, that her office would not prosecute. Such policies embolden recidivist criminals who know the law, and understand the enforcement, prosecution and incarceration trends and priorities of elected officials and the judiciary.

What’s not understood, or sufficiently publicly acknowledged by state and local elected officials is the fact that the leaders of these organized groups preying upon retailers are more than just thieves. They are often financing other serious criminal operations through the proceeds of their theft offenses. Furthermore, their theft activity has become increasingly more violent, placing customers and employees at further risk. Just last month the Department of Justice announced a myriad of charges against 41 members of a notorious Boston street gang including racketeering, murder, drug and gun trafficking, fraud, and thousands of dollars in brazen retail theft, which involved the threatening of retail security personnel as they walked out the front door.

As a result, businesses are left taking matters into their own hands. Walk into many retail stores and you’ll see large amounts of merchandise under lock and key, behind the counter or located far from the door. Over the past two years, businesses have begun running their own crime prevention and safety enforcement units. This has the effect of not only increasing costs but also losing sales as consumers shop elsewhere.

In the face of this growing problem, some shops are choosing simply to close their doors, resulting in underserved neighborhoods, shopping districts, and commercial office areas of the city.

Certainly, there are multiple reasons for fewer consumers and commercial establishments. Online shopping, COVID shutdowns, hybrid work, and even ongoing challenges at the MBTA are all contributing to lower foot traffic. But public safety is a significant factor – and addressing it is vital to bring more office workers, tourists, and consumers back into the city.

To have a vibrant downtown, we need to make protecting retailers, their employees and their customers a priority.

How to do that? Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox and District Attorney Kevin Hayden have proposed a task force to address the problem – which we believe is a good start. RAM and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce are at the table for this important effort. Solutions must include more police officers on the beat and visible in details, as well as more available for private details at commercial establishments.

We also need to change state law to allow for aggregation of multiple offenses into the $1,200 felony category. We need to see more arrests of repeat offenders, with actual prosecutions, and appropriate penalties. To be sure, we must balance this with compassion for those who are not repeat offenders, nor threats to law-abiding citizens. But as Commissioner Cox said, “We do need to hold people accountable for what they’re doing out there, or else crime will grow.”

The good news is that Boston has not yet faced the kind of major store closings other cities have due to crime. But given the number of vacant store fronts and spiraling problems in certain neighborhoods, it’s no longer unreasonable to fear that we are just one more bad season of low sales and high theft away from a crisis.

The time has come for the retail industry, elected leadership, local police, prosecutors, and the judicial system to work together with the community to fix this problem. It’s time to make public safety a priority.