Psaki says the FBI and DOJ are stepping in to track down smash-and-grab gangs after suggesting the pandemic was the 'root cause' of the crime surge 

• Psaki said on Friday that federal agencies were helping tackle crime wave
• Luxury stories in major cities are being targeted by smash-and-grab raiders
• She said the FBI was working with a Los Angeles task force  
• A day earlier she said COVID-19 was a 'root cause' of crime surge 
• The White House has repeatedly linked violent crime to the pandemic
• She was asked whether it was responsible when gangs ransacked stores
• 'I think a root cause in a lot of communities is the pandemic. Yes,' she said 

Federal law enforcement agencies are working with local officials to crack down on a wave of smash-and-grab raids, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced on Friday, a day after she said the pandemic was behind the surge in crime.

Big U.S. cities are being plagued by gangs of thieves storming through luxury stores and making of with thousands of dollars in merchandise at a time. 

San Francisco and Los Angeles have been particularly badly affected.  

Psaki was asked about the issue on Thursday and said the pandemic was a 'root cause' of the problem.

A day later she brought up the subject withou#t being asked during her daily briefing.

'The Justice Department, the FBI and federal law enforcement has been in touch, in contact with jurisdictions where we have seen this high level of retail theft,' she said. 

She said the FBI was working with a task force set up with LA Police and that San Francisco was getting funding to hire 50 more officers.  

California is worst affected but cities across the nation have been hit, including Chicago and its suburbs, where more than a dozen suspects attacked a Louis Vuitton store recently stole more than $120,000 worth of high-end clothing and other merchandise. 

On Thursday, Psaki said:  'I think many people have conveyed that and also one of the ... root causes of crime in communities is guns and gun violence,' she said. 'And we've seen that statistically around the country.'

Fox News' Peter Doocy continued with his line of questioning

He said: 'So when a huge group of criminals organises themselves and they want to go loot, a store, CVS and Nordstrom a Home Depot until the shelves are clean, you think that's because of the pandemic?'

Psaki replied: 'I think a root cause in a lot of communities is the pandemic. Yes.'

The White House and the president have made the same point a number of times this year, suggesting that a surge in violent crime this year was the result of the country reopening.  

In June, Biden said: As we emerge from this pandemic, with the country opening back up again, the traditional summer's ... summer spike may even be more pronounced than it usually would be.'

Psaki's comments follow a string of reports of attacks on well-known stores and the intervention of former President Trump who hours earlier accused the mainstream media of ignoring the issue.  

'You know, the media, outside of you people and a few others, the media isn't reporting this problem but when you have hoards of people running in, kids mostly, running in and stealing, robbing stores where drug chains are closing all their stores in different cities because they can't keep them open, we just don't have law enforcement, we're not allowed to have law enforcement,' Trump told Fox & Friends.

But Psaki hinted that part of the blame lay at his door, when she was asked what Biden was doing to take the spike.

'I would say that one: The President proposed additional funding in his budget over the funding that had been proposed by the prior president to increase and support local police departments, make sure we keep cops on the beat. 

'The President proposed additional funding in his budget over the funding that had been proposed by the prior precedent to increase in support local, local police departments, make sure we keep cops on the beat.'

California has been worst affected. 

At least 18 people broke into a Nordstrom department store in Los Angeles last week, according to city police. 

And it followed a string of similar incidents in the San Francisco Bay Area, including one in which hammer-wielding thugs smashed cases at a jewelry story in Hayward.

Police in Los Angeles say robberies are up almost four percent on last year's figures. 

Crime experts say stores stocked for Christmas and the low priority that police give to such crime is part of the story. 

Some are skeptical of the role of COVID-19. 

'This has nothing to do with the pandemic,' Pete Eliadis, a former law enforcement official and founder of Intelligence Consulting Partners, told CNN.

'The pandemic is overused at this point.'

And Ben Dugan, president of the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail, said criminal networks were offering young people up to $1,000 to steal specific merchandise from stores before selling it online. 

'We´re not talking about someone who needs money or needs food. These are people who go out and do this is for high profit, and for the thrill,' Dugan said.

They also point to specific factors in California. 

In 2014, the state enacted Proposition 47, a voter-approved ballot measure that barred prosecutors from charging people suspected of certain offenses with felonies, including shoplifting, grand theft, and receiving stolen property.

That meant anyone caught shoplifting items whose value does not exceed $950 would be charged with misdemeanors. Previously, such crimes could be charged as felonies.

Critics said that the measure has encouraged the rampant organized retail theft. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom last month said he would provide extra support in the next state budge to combat retail theft rings. 

'We need to break up these crime rings, and we need to make an example out of these folks,' Newsom said. 'We cannot allow this to continue.'

He also promised extra police patrols for Black Friday, but the robberies continued.