New Yorkers elected Eric Adams because he claimed he'd bring law-and-order back to NYC.
Shoplifting has become a crisis in New York City, with recent numbers showing a 44 percent jump in incidents in 2022.
Mayor Adams says repeat offenders were behind a third of those thefts last year, and now he is rolling out a new plan to tackle the issue.
"250 people in 2023 have been arrested almost 2500 times, again, that's 30 percent," said Michael Lepetri, the NYPD's Chief of Crime Control Strategies. "Who are these people: 52 percent are convicted felons."
The new crackdown includes...
Get ready for this "crackdown."
giving first-time offenders intervention programs instead of prosecution...
That's not a "crackdown." That is letting thieves walk free.
...de-escalation training for retail employees...
"De-escalation training" means training retail employees to not confront or attempt to stop thieves.
Again, this is not a "crackdown." This is teaching shopowners how to more efficiently permit thieves to loot their stores.
... establishing neighborhood retail watch groups to share information about a theft in real-time with one another and the police...
For what purpose? Eric Adams doesn't intend to arrest these people and is telling shop owners not to grab thieves so that the police can collect them.
And this is my favorite:
...and installing kiosks in stores to connect would-be thieves with social service programs.
These kiosks would provide counseling to thieves, asking them, do you really want to loot this store?
So there's your "crackdown"!
A look at some of the more notable crimes across the New York City area this week, including two cases of stolen dogs, a knife-wielding thief in Home Depot, a 16-year-old girl shot in the head, and one resident's battle against illegal police parking in his neighborhood.
But the crackdown isn't pleasing everyone.
Don't call it a "crackdown." It's not. It's open encouragement for thievery on an industrial scale.
Literally an industrial scale -- these thieving crews are run by organized crime, often Eastern European.
No single person needs that much Prell.
...
"So when people come in that were just about to steal, they won't because they realize that stealing is a source of a different problem for them. So they're going to use the kiosk to access social services. I'm sorry, but that's just a pipe dream," said Ralph Cilento, a retired NYPD Lieutenant Commander of Detectives and currently an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal College. "And that is he's doing that specifically to satisfy his liberal base, which I understand he has to do."
According to Cilento, there is one deterrent to crime.
"Shoplifters need to be caught and prosecuted," he said. "That's the end game."
Nah that's racist.
David Strom notes that Eric Adams had some kind of commission meet for six months to brainstorm how to stop shoplifting. This is what they came up with! MacGruff the Crime Dog kiosks! After six months!
Get out of the cities while you can.
Meanwhile, the camping/outdoorsmanship retailer REI has closed its store in Portland.
Released emails show that REI had been pleading with Portland to please, please, please do something about the rampant theft making doing business in Portland a losing proposition.
Portland's mayor Ted Wheeler said "no."
Less than an hour before REI made public its plans to close its Pearl District store, the outdoor retail giant gave a courtesy notice to Mayor Ted Wheeler's office, saying that operating a store within the city limits appeared untenable.
An hour's notice isn't a courtesy. It's a calculated discourtesy.
And one that Wheeler well-earned.
Cameron Janes, REI's chief commercial officer, wrote that the company did "not believe a store in the city of Portland will be possible in the near term." It acknowledged the mayor's "city-wide priority for community safety and initiatives to address crime, homelessness and more" but said the company hadn't seen "substantial progress ... to give us the confidence to invest in another long-term lease."
The terse message, and months of preceding emails that The Oregonian/OregonLive obtained through a public records request, offer a window into REI's frustration over the city's response to its concerns, even as city officials said they were moving expeditiously to keep the store where it was.
REI cited safety concerns and an increase in crime and theft among its reasons to close its flagship Portland store in early 2024. In its public announcement, the outdoor and recreation retail said its Portland store "had its highest number of break-ins and thefts in two decades," despite making costly investments in store security.
Only after REI announced it was fleeing Portland did city "leaders" move to appease them.
In response, Janes agreed to meet with city leaders but warned that the "likelihood of staying in our current location in downtown Portland is essentially zero." Janes added that REI would only be willing to engage with the city as long as the discussions were "about longer-term ideas and opportunities for bringing back REI to Portland vs. solving for maintaining our presence in our current location."
...
The city had been aware of REI's woes for months. Emails indicate that REI had complained about rampant crime and safety issues for months and had been seeking help from the city as far back as July 2022, when the retailer applied for a permit to install surveillance equipment on a public parking space outside of its store.
REI wanted to install a mobile surveillance system near the store's front doors off of Northwest Johnson and Kearney streets due to an "increase in criminal activity." But the outdoor retailer struggled to navigate the city's bureaucracy to get approval.
...
Months later, in early November, REI appealed to the mayor's office for help in getting approval to install the surveillance system, records show. Although REI wanted the camera system near their front door, they got one on their loading dock instead.
What happened next will not surprise you in the least.
Documents indicate that talks between the mayor's office and the outdoor retail giant intensified after a car crashed through the glass front doors of REI's Pearl District store in late November.
The stolen car was rammed through the glass front doors so that thieves could loot the store.
Too bad there was no video surveillance system installed at the front of the store so that police could see the thieves' faces.
Roughly 12 hours after REI made its public announcement, Wheeler sent a letter to the retailer, acknowledging that the city's efforts were "not enough" and that the city is willing to work with the company to find "more creative solutions to address (its) immediate needs."
Note that Wheeler, like Eric Adams, will not commit to simply arresting, prosecuting, and imprisoning thieves.
Oh no -- they will only entertain more "creative solutions" than the one solution which works.
And oh -- Jordan Neely's uncle was arrested for pickpocketing and possession of a knife.
He was just turning his life around. He's a gentle giant. Here are some pictures from his high school graduation, 22 years ago. Look he's wearing a mortar cap. What a scholar. So much promise. He was thinking of applying to CUNY and recording a rap album.
An uncle of Jordan Neely -- the homeless man choked to death on the subway this month -- was arrested near the Port Authority Bus Terminal for allegedly stealing purses from restaurants, police sources said Tuesday.
Christopher Neely, 44, had acted as something of a representative for the grieving family in the aftermath of his 30-year-old nephew's May 1 death, frequently speaking out about the lightning-rod case.
But Neely was also allegedly wanted for a pattern of grand larceny, including the handbag thefts, according to the sources.
A member of the NYPD's pickpocket team spotted Neely, of Hamilton Heights, at about 11 p.m. Monday near the Manhattan bus station.
He allegedly took off when the officer approached him -- and fought back when cops caught up to him after a brief chase, the sources said.
Violently resisting arrest, you say? Plot twist.
Eventually, authorities cuffed him and charged him with criminal possession of stolen property, resisting arrest, bail jumping and unlawful possession of a weapon.
It was not clear when he would be arraigned.
How about never? Soros prosecutors don't prosecute criminals. They prosecute citizens who resist the criminals allowed to prey on citizens by Soros prosecutors.