Harger: Auburn Police arrested five shoplifters at Fred Meyer and booked them into jail. Here’s why that matters more than you think

I was heartened to see this post on Facebook the other day.

“On Aug. 5, Auburn Police detectives and officers from our Special Investigations Unit, General Investigations Unit, Community Response Team, School Resource Officers, and even our K9 Unit teamed up for a retail theft emphasis at Fred Meyer,” the Auburn Police Department wrote. “Our goal was simple: Proactively identify and arrest shoplifters who impact our local businesses and contribute to higher costs for everyone in our community.

“In total, five suspects were arrested and booked into SCORE Jail on charges including theft, criminal trespass, and drug-related offenses,” the department continued.

Then, the department ended its post with a line that, at one time, wasn’t controversial: “The Auburn Police Department welcomes everyone to our community. But if you believe paying for your items is optional, your next stop may be the SCORE Jail.”

Good.

I’ve shopped there hundreds of times. I’ve watched it get worse

About that Fred Meyer. It’s my store. At least it used to be. I’ve shopped there hundreds of times. I know the staff. They’re warm, kind people who care about that store, and you can see how much it grinds them down to watch brazen theft happen in front of them, over and over, and know there’s nothing they can do about it.

I actually live about halfway between the Auburn Fred Meyer and the Sumner Fred Meyer. Given the choice, I now drive to Sumner. That’s how bad it’s gotten.

And I have that choice. A lot of people shopping at that store don’t. They don’t have the car, the gas money, or the time to drive to a nicer store in the next town. They just have to live with it.

Last year, Kroger closed the Fred Meyer in Kent, about 10 minutes from the Auburn location, citing “a steady rise in theft and a challenging regulatory environment.” They closed the one in Everett too. And Tacoma. And Lake City. And Redmond. Five stores gone.

That’s what happens when we tolerate this. The stores leave, the jobs leave, and the families who depended on them are left with one fewer place to buy groceries.

Somewhere along the way, wanting laws enforced became a political position

When I write about shoplifting enforcement, I see the comments. Apparently being against shoplifting is a right-wing thing now. Believing people shouldn’t steal and that laws should be enforced somehow makes me a “simp” for a multibillion-dollar corporation. I’m against the little guy just trying to get by.

That’s where we are.

Never mind that theft drives up costs for everyone, and hits hardest on families who are poor and honest and don’t steal — which is most poor people.

Never mind that watching theft in broad daylight is a quality of life issue for an entire neighborhood.

And never mind the biggest thing we’re missing: when we don’t assign consequences, we lose the chance to change the trajectory of a human life.

Corey Rattleff thanks God he got arrested for shoplifting

I’ve written about Corey before, and I’ll write about him again, because his story is the whole argument in one person.

Corey was addicted and making bad choices for 13 years. Aurora Avenue to Tacoma. He shoplifted to pay for drugs. Steal, sell, buy dope, get high, repeat. His life was in a tailspin with no bottom in sight.

Then one day, thank God, he was arrested.

Corey will tell you he asked God for a sign that day. He was done. He couldn’t do it anymore.

And God sent him Andrea Suarez.

Andrea runs We Heart Seattle. She’s been on the streets for years meeting people where they are, and she got Corey into a 21-day inpatient program at Evergreen Health in Monroe. From there he connected with Art Dahlen at Battlefield Addiction, a recovery program in Kent that works the old-fashioned way: move in tonight, get up early, swing a shovel, earn honest money, stay clean, do it again tomorrow. Break the cycle. Get your mind and your life back.

That’s what Andrea does. She connects people to the help that actually works, not the kind that warehouses them in permanent supportive housing and calls it compassion. She shows up. She reaches out. And when someone’s ready, she grabs them by the hand and walks them to the door.

Corey’s mom Rebecca posted an update this week:

“Working, enjoying life, girlfriend, family, healthy, support meeting, volunteering, got his driver’s license, legal issues gone, and bought him his first car.”

His first car.

If that arrest never happens, we’re not having this conversation. Corey doesn’t meet Andrea. Andrea doesn’t connect him to Art. And Corey is still out there, or worse.

I had a brief exchange with Corey’s mom Sunday night. Here’s what she wants you to know: “He has and continues to work hard. And it most certainly is. Tears of joy. I have my son back and healthy and living life. The way he should be. Looking forward to the days, his smile, his laugh and his hugs.”

Five arrests. Five chances

So when I see five people arrested at the Auburn Fred Meyer, I don’t just see five shoplifters off the floor for a day.

I see five people who just got stopped. Five people sitting in a cell, who might, possibly, start to think this is no way to live. Five chances for somebody like Andrea to reach them. Five opportunities for one of them to end up where Corey is right now, buying his first car, playing baseball again, calling his mom.

A photo of Corey Rattleff with his new car. (Photo courtesy of Corey’s mom, Rebecca, via Seattle’s Morning News)

Some won’t take it. Most won’t. But Corey didn’t look like a success story the day he got booked either.

You can’t reach somebody you never stop.

So yeah, maybe I’m a simp for a corporation not having to eat rampant theft. I’m also a simp for a community that shouldn’t have to live with crime at the grocery store.

And I’m a simp for those five people getting the same chance Corey got. The chance that starts with handcuffs and ends with a set of car keys.

Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here. 

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