Yeah, every city/county labels it differently or might not publicly release daily/weekly crime reports. Try searching the city name followed by "crime report" or "police report". Look for the official police FB, Twitter, Youtube, or blog site. You can also search for local news articles.
"small" amounts are anything that is considered a misdemeanor in your state. 400-600 is a misdemeanor in most states, so you might be fine if you are taking a break at least 1 to 3 months in between each lift. Just try to be unpredictable with your patterns & check police reports to make sure they haven't posted your picture.
Always assume that stores within 50 - 100 miles of each other are actively communicating. If you're lifting small amounts you should be fine, but lifting large amounts repeatedly will definitely get you on their radar.
I'm not surprised, whenever bank robbers throw money at bystanders cops might try to arrest them. They can access cctv or cellphone footage to identify people who picked it up. Your average citizen isn't ready to risk breaking the law.
If you know what you're doing, October - December might be easier with the rush. But it's still riskier since most stores hire more LP and local cops tend to focus on retail theft during the holidays. You might have a higher chance of getting caught in January since the rush has slowed down, but there is still a lot of LP working.
It might be easier to just do a walkout and never go back to that store for a while. Trying to sneak extra clothes into the dressing room, so you can detag them creates more time for LP to be notified. If you act like your shopping and just walk out with the items you want, you reduce the time LP has to react. It might also help if you have a shopping bag from a nearby store that you can drop the clothes. As your shopping hide your bag from the cameras by covering it with decoy clothes. Or find a store that doesn't count.
Idk how lucrative that is, but if you upload your own video linking to cracked software you can set up pay per click ads & monetize the youtube video. Selling the physical copy is a little more tricky
You definitely could getaway using different methods. The first method is to get a black shopping bag that isn't tagged and put the items you want in it. Try stuff on and act like a real customer and then walk out when the cashiers are busy. Be cautious of people standing near the exit because they might be managers or LP. The second method is swapping your old shoes for new ones and putting them in a box on the bottom of the shelf. Try to do this in a blindspot and immediately leave. Try not to go over your state's felony limit because ORC groups regularly hit these stores and SA will call the cops if you're obvious.
It depends on the methods that you use. If your concealing in a blindspot, you can go back soon (less than a month or 2). If you're walking out with bags filled up or exploiting the self-checkout, wait at least 2 - 3 months. If you start to recognize employees you might want to add more stores into your rotation.
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