Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn wants Police Commissioner Michael Cox to dedicate more resources to reducing shoplifting following a Herald report that arrests for the crime were up 261% compared to the five year average.

Boston also saw shoplifting arrests doubled between 2024 and 2025, according to data from the police department.

“I am respectfully requesting increased efforts on enforcement operations to target repeat, high volume, and violent shoplifters,” Flynn wrote in a letter Monday to the police commissioner.

In a phone interview, Flynn said that would mean hiring more officers and getting more on the streets. He noted that staffing was low in part because of early retirements on the force.

He also said that the city needed a policy “that is crystal clear to everyone that crime is not tolerated.”

Flynn, who represents Boston’s District 2, blamed past policies that “did not take a zero tolerance approach” for the increase in shoplifting.

“Retail theft affects everyone,” he said, describing it as a “quality of life issue.”

In his letter, the councilor said that shoplifting can drive consumer prices higher as retailers compensate for stolen goods. Theft also impacts customers’ experience when business keep merchandise “under lock and key.”

An advocate for the Safe Shopping Initiative, he wrote, “I am respectfully asking we continue to take meaningful steps to protect the city’s economic vitality and quality of life of those who live, work, and shop here.”

Cox did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

But he told the reporters earlier this month that shoplifting is an issue in the city. The commissioner explained the higher arrests were largely due to more reporting from businesses and increased enforcement through the Safe Shopping Initiative.

He encouraged businesses to continue reaching out to the department.

“Our officers in every district are now trying to reach out to the business community to be as responsive as possible,” Cox said at a community meeting focused on shoplifting in Back Bay. “We need to hear from you.”

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The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office agreed that more reporting and more enforcement likely caused arrests to soar.

“Unfortunately, the impact of inflation on the affordability of grocery and other items, both locally and nationally, may also factor in,” James Borghesani, a spokesperson for the DA, told The Herald. “But we are very pleased with the strides made by the Safe Shopping Initiative and we look forward to even greater success in the coming year.”

Retailers Association of Massachusetts President Jon Hurst said that the higher numbers were good news: “Everyone from law enforcement to elected officials to the retailers themselves are taking this much more seriously and actually looking at enforcing the law.”