Posted on 11/26/2023 3:55:33 PM PST by george76
Retailers across New York state say there’s no end in sight to the rising epidemic of organized shoplifting rings — and warn it could lead to more store closures, increased costs for consumers and threats of violence against store employees.
Store owners said they lost $4.4 billion last year as a result of retail theft — which they say adds to the urgency for Gov. Kathy Hochul to crack down.
However, Hochul vetoed a bipartisan bill last week — to the chagrin of store owners — that would have created a task force to combat organized theft.
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The Retail Council of New York State, the Albany-based lobbying group which represents retailers statewide, said it was “extremely disappointed” by Hochul’s veto.
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Law enforcement officials from New York City to Albany to Syracuse have reported increases in incidents of retail theft — blaming the spike on progressive prosecutors who encourages criminal behavior with lenient punishment for shoplifters.
Last month, the chief of police in Syracuse said that the city has seen a 55% spike in shoplifting since 2021 — and that’s a conservative estimate.
“That number is likely higher because businesses often don’t report it
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One local pharmacy chain in Syracuse alone suffered losses of more than $250,000 per year due to the epidemic of organized retail theft,
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The Big Apple saw a 64% increase in reported incidents of retail theft during the four-year period between mid-2019 and June of this year,
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one-third of all shoplifting arrests in the five boroughs last year involved just 327 people who were collectively arrested and re-arrested a total of more than 6,000 times, according to the NYPD.
These 327 alleged shoplifters targeted 18 department stores and seven chain pharmacy locations, which accounted for 20% of all complaints, the NYPD said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Gov. Hochul is as efficient as a plant. I say to my New York family and friends, “Hochul is a plant in the office in Albany. She is going to help NY as well as your petunias in your garden will. Not too bad to look at but WORTHLESS in leading NY State!”
Just getting reparations for what was done to George Floyd.
We all pay higher prices because of shoplifting. They just spread out the cost to all of us. I’d be fine if they shot them on site.
I must be doin’ something wrong payin’ for stuff. It is free for all!
Reparations .
4.4 billion? They fence that much merchandise? If the FBI was even -slightly- professional they should easily make some huge arrests.
FBI is corrupt.
If the local government would step away, private companies could create secure shopping zones for urban buyers.
But, local government loves these shoplifting rackets.
Who cares.
F’ em.
The insidious aspect to this story is that it assumes that individual theft is okay — it’s only bad if organized.
The dims voting for this order all of their stuff or have their personal shoppers do it for them. This kind of crap only hurts the rank and file that try to live on normal paychecks. Of course, much of that rank and file vote for who they are told to vote for. Let them eat cake.
Typical gubmint response to a problem they create....hey...let's create a blue ribbon panel to study this. It'll need a couple of million dollars for the study and we'll get the results in a year. And the answer will be....gubmint needs more money.
But here's the simple solution.
Just arrest the criminals.
Prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
Serve the maximum time possible based on the crime.
I'll bill NY for $500,000.
Might be a good time to rename the city to “New Detroit”.
If any of the elected officials cared, this would not be happening.
NY shoppers lost $4.4 billion due to HIGHER PRICES to offset theft by organized shoplifting rings in 2022: FACT
“..Those aren’t losses, they are Reparations....”
^THIS^
28 snatch and grab days till Christmas, get your posse organized.
Why? Because Demonrats love and protect criminals instead of law-abiding citizens. Really.
The major retailers and the Soros D.A.’s refuse to prosecute. It will only get worse until those in charge are gone.
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