New York retail theft crisis is escalating, prompting the state legislature to pass a budget proposal pushed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul to increase penalties for attacking store employees. Yonkers, a suburb of New York City, is also one of the areas heavily impacted by zero-dollar shopping sprees.
According to the New York Post, data from the Yonkers Police Department on serious crimes from January to April 17 this year showed a 63% increase in robbery cases compared to the same period last year, a 33% increase in home invasions, an 8% increase in violent crime, and even a 2% increase in car thefts.
Yonkers Police Commissioner Christopher Sapienza pointed out that many of the perpetrators are habitual shoplifters who are repeatedly released back into the community to commit crimes. Since December 2022, the top three shoplifting offenders in Yonkers have been collectively charged with 14 misdemeanors or felonies in Yonkers and neighboring cities.
Petty thefts targeting retailers are now escalating into violent smash-and-grab incidents.
Former New York State Senator Marisol Alcantara, now a member of the Yonkers Chamber of Commerce, expressed concern in an interview with NTD Television about the rampant store break-ins and robberies. She mentioned that many business owners are feeling discouraged.
Alcantara highlighted a supermarket run by a Dominican immigrant on South Broadway that faces smash-and-grab incidents almost daily. With suspects facing no consequences, businesses eventually become reluctant to waste time reporting to the police or filing records.
In January, Commissioner Sapienza told Fox News, “We’ve seen petty crime turn into more serious crime.” He pointed out that bail reforms and raising the age of criminal responsibility make it harder for the police to do their job and incarcerate offenders.
To combat retail theft, the Yonkers Police Department introduced guidelines in early spring 2023 to assist businesses in reporting theft to the authorities.
According to the Yonkers Times, cases of retail theft in Yonkers doubled compared to the same period in 2022, with a 10% increase in property crimes. From December 2022 to February 2023, Yonkers reported 162 incidents of shoplifting, but many more cases likely went unrecorded as local businesses refrained from calling the police.