Crime is at an epidemic level across America. Emboldened by soft-on-crime district attorneys and woke liberal policies that simply refuse to lock up criminals and ensure public safety, crooks are more brazen than ever,
Many of our larger, Democrat-run cities are losing businesses at an alarming rate simply because of retail theft. San Francisco has lost dozens of stores, as has Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, Seattle, New York, and pretty much anywhere crime is left to run wild.
In some cities, local regulations prohibit stores from even trying to stop theft or shoplifting. Other woke retailers have threatened to terminate employees who try to stop thieves.
This has led to crooks simply walking in, often in large numbers, grabbing armloads of whatever they want, and walking out. Since most don’t fear repercussions, criminals rarely bother to hide their identity. Why would they? Arrests are rarely made despite ample video evidence.
The latest wave of criminal activity took place in Philadelphia Tuesday night. On Wednesday, all liquor stores in the city were ordered closed after looters cleaned out 18 stores overnight. The looting took place after protests against a judge’s decision to dismiss charges against a Philly policeman after a fatal shooting resulting from a traffic stop.
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board issued a statement: “Today, all FW&GS (Fine Wine & Good Spirits) stores in Philadelphia and one in Cheltenham Plaza, Wyncote, Montgomery County, are closed in the interest of employee safety and while we assess the damage and loss that occurred. We will reopen stores when it is safe to do so and when the damage is repaired. It is too early to tell how much was damaged or destroyed.”
The city has made 52 arrests as of Wednesday, and Mayor Jim Kenney issued a warning to would-be criminals in the wake of the mass looting: “To anyone planning to participate in criminal activity, please know: there will be consequences.”
The thefts began in earnest after the police dispersed the protesters. Commissioner John Stanford claimed that the criminal activity had nothing to do with the protest and was simply teens and young adults taking advantage of an opportunity to steal. He said: “This had nothing to do with the protests. What we had tonight was a bunch of criminal opportunists take advantage of a situation. We were told at one point that crowd got as large as maybe 100 or so that were just making their way through Center City area. We’re investigating that there was possibly a caravan of a number of different vehicles that were going from location to location.”
The liquor stores weren’t the only victims. Cell phone video captured looters ransacking Lululemon, Apple, Foot Locker, and numerous pharmacies. Commissioner Stanford vowed to continue making arrests, “We made arrests and we will continue to make arrests until we have all of the individuals, or a number of the individuals, that have been responsible for what we’ve seen tonight in custody.”
Arresting criminals is a start, but will Philadelphia prosecute and lock up those responsible for the rampage? If they don’t, criminals are going to see further proof that they can get away with whatever they want.
Many cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles are too far gone. Can Philadelphia be saved? Time will tell, but the events of the next several weeks will give us a good idea.
Featured image screen grab from embedded YouTube video
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