Is it an accident that big cities with radical Democratic mayors and radical prosecutors are suffering from the most spectacular — and worrying — streak of organized retail theft in history?
Democrats might want you to think that. They will claim that their radical policies with regard to criminal behavior have nothing to do with the lawbreaking that’s happening in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis.
Just an unlucky coincidence, right?
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced felony charges for nine of the dozens of looters who crashed into luxury stores in San Francisco and ran out with several hundred thousand dollars in merchandise.
“These are not petty thefts,” Boudin said in a Tuesday afternoon press conference. “This is not misdemeanor conduct. This is felony conduct,” said the adopted son of Weather Underground parents Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.
Of the dozens seen at Louis Vuitton and other retailers on Friday night, the nine individuals arrested by San Francisco police and charged by the District Attorney’s Office are between the ages of 23 to 53. They are largely based in San Francisco and the broader Bay Area, with the exception of one man from Georgia, according to a list provided by San Francisco police.
“We do not tolerate that kind of behavior in our city,” Boudin added.
Well, yes you do, Mr. Boudin. You tolerate it on a smaller scale, that’s all. When two or three kids fill a shopping cart full of merchandise and run out of the store into a getaway car, and you don’t prosecute them because the value of what they took is less than $950, that’s a tolerant attitude to take.
Related: San Francisco Police Commissioner: Arrests Won’t Stop Crime
In response to the luxury store smash-and-grab robberies, police were out in force on Black Friday hoping to deter more trouble. But the increased police presence didn’t make shoppers more at ease.
The increase in security is in response to last week’s organized mass retail theft that made national headlines and left some shoppers and business owners on edge.
Some shoppers on Friday said the plywood decorated storefronts and heavy police presence made it hard for them to get into the holiday spirit.
“You expect to find holiday decorations,” said Yousre, a tourist from Paris who visited Union Square on Friday. “It’s sad.”
Businesses said the recent rash of thefts across the Bay Area have left them no other choice but to take precautions.
“We’re just limiting how many people are allowed to come in the store at once,” said Jeffrey Chery, a manager for DITA.
It’s not just San Francisco, of course. Minneapolis with its radical Mayor Jacob Frey was the scene of massive looting of a Best Buy store.
A mob of 20 to 30 suspected looters converged on a Minnesota mall, rampaging through a Best Buy electronics store — the latest in a rash of “flash mob” type thefts across the US in recent weeks.
The incident in suburban Minneapolis, which police said involved no weapons, took place near the Burnsville mall Friday night. Police did not have an estimate on how much merchandise was allegedly stolen.
The problem for these cities is that the situation won’t get any better until voters throw the radicals out. But there are so many people who think as the radical prosecutors think: the looters are justified in taking whatever they can carry because they are oppressed and victims of racism.
Boudin is probably too smart of a politician to give voice to that sentiment. But does anyone reading this think that he doesn’t agree with it?
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