Crime has continued to spike in many liberal states, with mainstream media continuing to blame pro-gun states for the mess. Many hosts, such as CNN co-host Jim Sciutto, even tried to accuse the southern states of transferring guns back to their own states and contributing to the surge in homicides. While the media has started talking more about the morale of police officers, they haven’t acknowledged their own role in over-reporting and overemphasizing police-involved violence.
Oakland Police chief LeRonne Armstrong even suggested that the more conservative states have “liberal gun laws” and are using the iron pipeline to get weapons from southern states up to New York. He said he recalls finding guns coming into California from Nevada and Arizona, to which co-host Erica Hill described the situation as a “public health emergency.”
The CNN host asked the police chief if the drop in police officers’ morale is part of the reason behind the jump in crime. Armstrong said he sees the impact of reducing staff and those who feel it is “just a difficult time” to be a police officer. He said there have been some recruiting and retention issues with keeping the police officers in uniform.
Things have gotten so bad in left-leaning states like California that some businesses will be closing their stores over the ongoing organized crime. Walgreens announced that they would close five additional San Francisco stores, citing the ongoing crime in the city. They have already closed at least 10 stores in the city since the beginning of 2019.
Areas like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento have seen some of the highest rates of organized retail crime in the country. Some of the documented footage shows shoplifters committing the crimes in broad daylight, in the presence of security guards who are doing nothing to stop the act. In one of the videos that went viral, a man was seen jumping over the front of the counter and stealing the goods from the store. Another video showed a masked man stuffing items into a trash bag before casually cruising out of the store on a bicycle.
One of the first stores Walgreens closed was their 790 Van Ness Ave. store in October 2020, which was raided and had up to $1,000 of merchandise stolen every single day. Walgreen spokesperson Phil Caruso announced the decision to close five more stores across San Francisco, adding that they would transfer prescriptions to a nearby Walgreens location and place store team members in other locations.
“Organized retail crime continues to be a challenge facing retailers across San Francisco, and we are not immune to that. Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average. During this time to help combat this issue, we increased our investments in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average in an effort to provide a safe environment,” Caruso adds.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors Ahsha Safai even wrote on Twitter that he was “devastated” by the news of the store closures. He even notes how one of the Walgreens stores is less than a mile away from seven schools and has been a staple for seniors, families and children for decades, adding that it will “significantly impact” the community.
Target has also announced that they would cut store operating hours to address the rise in shoplifting and keep guests, team members, and communities as their top priority. This is what happens when you vote Democrats into office who want to keep criminals on the street, lower the police department’s morale and blame everything else on guns instead of the criminals.
