Three and a half years ago the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail proclaimed the NYC area and Long Island were shoplifting “hot spots.”
Since then, the problem has gotten worse here in New York and across the country.
Shoplifting has cost New York stores an estimated $4.4 billion and $112.1 billion nationwide. That dubious distinction could rise to $140 billion in losses due to shoplifting according to “Capital One Shopping.”
The numbers are more than likely higher since law enforcement believes a high percentage of shoplifting crimes are not officially reported.
“Crime is one of the reasons why people are leaving New York,” said New York State Conservative Party Chairman Gerald Kassar.
To combat the crime of shoplifting in New York State, Governor Hochul proposed spending $40 million in taxpayer dollars to fight it. Far more than half of those funds, $25 million, would go directly to the New York State Police.
Since those arrested would then be prosecuted, $10 million is geared to District Attorneys, and the remaining proposed funds to police in local municipalities.
The funding proposal comes on the heels of Hochul vetoing a measure in November of last year that would have created a crime task force to curtail shoplifting in the Empire State.
“This criminal activity goes well beyond the financial loss for retailers – it threatens the safety of store employees and the community,” said Melissa O’Connor, President of the Retail Council, in a statement.
Critics calls on Hochul to incest more on local police who are on the front lines of the shoplifting crisis, and believe the law is pointless since “no bail” and “cashless bail” will put those arrested right back on the streets.
“Gov. Hochul's plan to end shoplifting is a rip-off: Little will be achieved as long as nobody’s guilty ‘bail reform’ legislation remains in place. Hochul’s ‘crackdown,’ feeble as it is, might not even make it through the leftist- and Democratic-dominated state Legislature. It rejected similar proposals last year,” said New York State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox.
CUNY Professor Maggie Dickinson took to “X,” formerly known as Twitter, to blast Hochul, not for cracking down on crime, but not spending the $40 million elsewhere.
“$40 million to address a fake, made up, shoplifting crime panic. Meanwhile, CUNY is being cut to the bone (again, always) and public libraries have to close on Sundays because of a fake, made-up budget crisis,” said Dickinson.
Now the budget negotiations begin. Both the Senate and Assembly must approve the shoplifting spending measure.
“With our partners in the Legislature, we're going to take on some of the stubborn issues, like crime,” said Hochul.