Los Angeles is launching a new task force to combat the unprecedented rise of organized retail crime thefts across the region, including a recent "flash-rob"-style incident where more than 30 people in masks stole $300,000 worth of merchandise from a Nordstrom department store.

The new force will include law enforcement agencies from multiple Southern California areas, including the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, agents from the U.S. Marshals Apprehension Task Force, and the FBI Apprehension Task Force, Mayor Kim Bass announced Thursday.

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"These are not victimless crimes — especially in the case where Angelenos were attacked — through force or fear — as they did their jobs or ran errands," she said. "No Angeleno should feel like it's unsafe to go shopping and no Angelenos should feel like it's unsafe to open a business in Los Angeles or Los Angeles County. This task force will aggressively investigate these incidents and hold individuals that are responsible for these crimes fully accountable."

Bass called the brazen daytime Nordstrom attack at the Westfield Topanga mall in Canoga Park "unacceptable."

On Aug. 12, 30 masked robbers dressed in black and gray stormed the upscale department store, taking designer purses, entire clothing racks, and jewels. They dragged display cabinets still attached to expensive accessories, shattered glass cases, and in their haste, yanked apart shelving. The incident has left retailers frustrated, workers terrified, and customers rethinking their options.

At an Yves Saint Laurent store in Glendale, which is part of Los Angeles County, a gang of thieves walked into the high-fashion store around dinnertime on Aug. 8 and stole $300,000 worth of merchandise. Authorities said 30 to 40 people were involved in the incident and escaped in multiple get-away cars. On Aug. 17, Glendale authorities announced they had made their first arrest in the smash-and-grab case. Ivan Isaac Ramirez, 23, was arrested and charged with organized retail theft, burglary, grand theft, and conspiracy. Police announced a second suspect, Brianna Jimenez, 21, was still at large. They did not have any information on the 28-38 others who looted the designer store.

Between the fall of 2021 to Aug. 16, there have been at least 170 organized retail thefts in its jurisdiction, which included smash and grabs jobs, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office said

While the two incidents took place in the same state, retail theft isn't California-centric.

New York, Houston, Miami, Chicago, Seattle, Atlanta, and Dallas are among the top 10 most affected, according to the National Retail Federation's Retail Security Survey.

In New York, retail crime has soared. In 2022, more than 63,000 reported retail theft cases were called in, a 45% increase from the previous year.

In Chicago, a group of thieves broke through a glass door at a MAC cosmetics store on the city's famed Magnificent Mile on Aug. 12, making off with $1,000 in merchandise. Four days later, two people stole from another Michigan Avenue store. This time, it was MCM, a luxury clothing store. The Chicago Police Department said one person took the goods while the other threatened the security guard with a handgun.

"It is just out of control," Lisa LaBruno, an official at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, said.

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While some retailers like Walmart, Walgreens, and Barnes & Noble are installing cameras, putting a majority of their merchandise under lock and key, or tethering it with steel cables to shelves, the national conversation has grown into frustration over how law enforcement responds to the cases and how a wave of progressive prosecutors have refused to demand harsh sentences for those caught.

In New York, 327 people accounted for one-third of the shoplifting cases last year. Collectively, they were arrested and rearrested more than 6,000 times, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell told the New York Times.