“They’re not just stealing people’s products and impacting their livelihoods, they’re stealing a sense of place and confidence,” Newsom said, speaking Monday from a vaccine clinic, according to CBS Local.
“That’s why you’ve got to get serious about it,” he continued. “I’m not the mayor of California. But I was a mayor. And I know when things like this happen, mayors have to step up. That’s not an indictment. That’s not a cheap shot.”
Newsom said the state is “going to be more aggressive…to help support cities and the prosecution of folks.”
He said he has “no empathy, no sympathy for these folks, and they must be held to account.”
Newsom also added that his own stores had been robbed at least three times in the past year.
“We need to break up these crime rings, and we need to make an example out of these folks,” Newsom said, according to the Sacramento Bee. “We cannot allow this to continue.”
Newsom explained that the new year’s budget will include substantial funding for cities to address retail theft, but offered no further specifics.
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin said Tuesday that he charged nine individuals with felonies related to the string of thefts.
“These are not petty thefts,” Boudin said. “This is not misdemeanor conduct. This is felony conduct.”
Shoplifting, he added, is a significant issue around the country and not solely a problem in San Francisco.
Source Article from https://www.sfgate.com/california-politics/article/newsom-retail-theft-robberies-San-Francisco-crime-16649502.php
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