A new Los Angeles task force launched this week has arrested 11 people in connection with recent organized smash-and-grab robberies involving large groups of thieves, authorities said.

The nearly one dozen suspects arrested by the Organized Retail Crimes Task Force include at least one who was allegedly involved in recent smash-and-grab robberies at a Nordstrom and an Yves Saint Laurent store.

The task force, which was announced Thursday by Mayor Karen Bass, the LAPD, and several other law enforcement agencies, follows a chaotic week that saw two smash-and-grab robberies by large groups in the Los Angeles area.

Over the weekend, a mob of nearly 50 people in hoodies and masks stole up to $100,000 in luxury merchandise from a Nordstrom in Los Angeles. The thieves also attacked security guards with bear mace.

Last week, another group of 30 to 40 thieves robbed an Yves Saint Laurent store in southern California in broad daylight, absconding with an estimated $300,000 worth of merchandise, police said. The brazen smash-and-grab robbery was caught on video just before 5 p.m. The store is located at the Americana at Brand mall in Glendale, just north of Los Angeles.

Footage from the Yves Saint Laurent incident shows over a dozen people mostly dressed in dark clothes, hoods, and masks dashing into the store and running out again, their arms full of the expensive merchandise.

Police said Thursday that they had arrested the first suspect in the Yves Saint Laurent robbery. A 23-year-old man was charged with organized retail theft, burglary, grand theft, and conspiracy.

Detectives on the new task force were investigating nine cases involving organized retail crimes. The 11 arrests were related to four of those cases.

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Those four cases involve crimes at the Nordstrom store, the Yves Saint Laurent store in Glendale, a Versace store in Los Angeles, and a Warehouse Shoe Store in Highland Park, the LAPD said.

“Many of these retail theft cases have adopted linkage to other retail crimes which occurred in neighboring cities,” the LAPD said Thursday in a statement.

The investigations by the task force remain ongoing.

“What we’ve seen over just the past week in the City of Los Angeles and in surrounding regions is unacceptable, which is why today we are here announcing action,” Mayor Karen Bass said when she announced the task force alongside law enforcement agencies.

“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, adding that the task force will “aggressively investigate” these incidents and hold the perpetrators “fully accountable.”

Los Angeles has been plagued by rampant retail and personal theft in recent months.

Most types of violent crime are down in Los Angeles except theft, which is up 15% to more than 20,409 thefts compared to this time last year, according to police data.

Since the fall of 2021, Los Angeles County has seen at least 170 organized retail thefts, including the smash-and-grab trend, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.

Late last month, police said another group of masked thieves stole $900,000 worth of merchandise from a jewelry store in Irvine just south of Los Angeles and Glendale.

Yale University students were welcomed to campus with crime “survival guide” flyers featuring the Grim Reaper that were handed out by the Ivy League school’s police union.

The “Survival Guide for First-Year Students of Yale University” warns students about “shockingly high” crime in New Haven, Connecticut, where Yale is located, wishing them “good luck” alongside a picture of a skull in a Grim Reaper hood.

“The incidence of crime and violence in New Haven is shockingly high, and it is getting worse,” reads the flyer from the Yale Police Benevolent Association.

The flyers closely resemble the infamous “Welcome to Fear City” flyers handed out by the NYPD to tourists in the crime-ridden New York City of the 1970s.

Murders have doubled, burglaries are up 33%, and car thefts are up 56% in the seven months ending July 23, the police union warned.

City spokesman Len Speiller confirmed to the New Haven Register that “those specific data points are all accurate.”

“Nevertheless, some Yalies do manage to survive New Haven and even retain their person property,” the flyer said.

The police union warned students to stay off the streets after 8 p.m., to avoid walking alone, to avoid public transportation, and to stay on campus, among other safety advice.

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City and Yale officials both blasted the police union for handing out the ominous flyers to incoming students.

Yale University officials called the flyers “misinformation,” as well as “disturbing and inflammatory.”

“This weekend, the Yale Police Union, which is currently in contract negotiations with the university, handed out misleading pamphlets to Yale students as they moved into their residential colleges,” Yale said Monday in a statement.

Yale officials said they “unequivocally condemn the irresponsible and reckless actions of those who chose to spread this inaccurate information.”

The school claimed that robberies and burglaries are down both on campus and in New Haven. Yale said the most reported crime on campus is the theft of laptops, cell phones, and motorized scooters that have been left unattended and unsecured.

“The university supports the right of union members to rally peacefully, but today’s leafleting both ran counter to the spirit of the day and detracted from the exemplary work performed by Yale Police officers, Public Safety team members, and their partners at the New Haven Police Department,” Yale said.

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker slammed the flyer as “totally offensive” and “false and scary,” saying crime is down in New Haven since 2020, when many cities across the country saw a spike in violent crime.

“As the Mayor stated at the press conference, when you look most of the trends over time, crime is down,” said Speiller, the city spokesman, adding that you can “cherry pick certain data points to construct a false narrative.”

The 1970s New York City pamphlets warned tourists, “The best advice we can give you is this: Until things change, stay away from New York City if you possibly can.”

The New York pamphlets were widely condemned at the time despite the high levels of crime in the city.