© CNP
House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing “Fueling the Climate Crisis: Exposing Big Oils Disinformation Campaign to Prevent Climate Action”
NEW YORK (77WABC) — In a letter exclusively obtained by 77WABC, Ohio Representative Jim Jordan is asking House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler to schedule a hearing addressing the shoplifting crisis in New York and other large cities across the United States. In the letter, Jordan — the ranking member of the committee — calls the rise in retail theft is a direct result of “soft on crime” laws and progressive district attorneys refusing to enforce the law.
“These retail businesses are already suffering due to record inflation, a massive labor shortage, and supply chain issues,” the letter states. “Now this surge in theft is forcing some retail stores to close permanently. Given our Committee’s jurisdiction and the importance of this issue to American commerce, we urge you to convene a hearing of the Committee soon so that we may examine and begin to address the surge in retail theft in our country.”
According to a study by the National Retail Federation, retail theft has risen 60 percent since 2015 and now amounts to retail store losses of $719,548 per $1 billion in sales, the letter states. In the NRF survey, retailers “cited relaxed law enforcement guidelines, changes in shoplifting laws and decreased penalties for shoplifting among the causes for increased organized retail crime.”
The NYPD reported more than 26,000 shoplifting complaints from January 1 through September 12, 2021, up by roughly 6,000 for the same period in 2020.
In a press conference earlier this month, John Catsimatidis, owner of 77WABC Radio and Gristides and D’Agostino supermarkets, called attention to the wave of shoplifting plaguing New York and urban America, noting a 50 percent spike in thefts in his stores.
You can read the full letter here.
