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Research firm SafeWise finds city residents lost more than $254
million in stolen goods in 2025 stemming from at least 6.5
million incidents. Ugaste said it’s not hard to deduce why
Chicago has become such an easy target.
“Until earlier this year when Cook County got a new state's
attorney in Chicago, there was a very lax enforcement of laws,”
Ugaste, R-Geneva, told The Center Square. “No consequences for
actions and for bad actions and this is what you get. The other
thing is the SAFE-T Act. My guess is if we toughen up law
enforcement and if we especially do something to make certain
repeat offenders are held accountable, we'll see a steep decline
in that number.”
Enacted in 2021, the so-called SAFE-T Act institutes criminal
justice reforms that include a no cash bail provision.
With the thefts having also cost retailers nationwide roughly
$22 billion in replacement, refund, shipping and customer
service costs, Ugaste said Chicago is among the places where
that price-tag is proving to be most costly.
“It’s going to raise prices for people in our areas and people
are not going to want to live in an area that's like that
because they don't have to put up with this in other areas,” he
said. “It has all sorts of negative impacts.”
SafeWise officials add the data is based on individual accounts,
FBI crime statistics and analyses from loss prevention and
e-commerce operators.
“For the first time in years, porch piracy is showing signs of
slowing down,” the report said. “Fewer Americans experienced or
worried about package theft in 2025 — but with millions of
stolen packages and billions in losses, the problem is far from
solved.”
Chicago is joined at the top of the list by the likes of New
York City, Miami, Houston and Baltimore, with states such as
Florida and Pennsylvania having recently sought to crack down on
bandits by upgrading such crimes from misdemeanor to felony
offenses.
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