Despite being only a few feet from a military deployment in Washington, D.C., people had no reservations about driving into my car and going through it last week in an effort to get something of value. Thankfully, nothing was stolen — because I do n’t leave anything in my car worth stealing — and my vehicle incurred no damage.
Such is living in the world’s money these days. The community is persecuted by concerns about violence, both big and small, which is largely a result of a number of weak laws, both on the local and national levels.
Consider these reports items from the first four weeks of 2024:
- The store’s employees told a regional media outlet past fall that “dozens of kids were often going in to take chips and drinks before school, after school, and late at night” and that” street vendors were paying people to steal from the store so they can re-sell the goods.”
- In an effort to stop large thefts, supermarket chain Harris Teeter banned some sorts of suitcases and baggage and mandated that customers show their receipts before leaving stores next week.
- In February, Safeway, a supermarket chain, set up security gates in several stores to stop retail robbery and murder, and they did so soon after thieves broke into a Safeway ATM,” stealing money and ordering employees on the ground.”
To this user at least, the former security measure had an eerie effect. Crossing through Safeway’s safety gates to enter the store gave the impression of going into jail just to purchase eggs or a gallon of milk. At all checkout stands and doors, egress is blocked, making it difficult to imagine how quickly one could leave the store if they decided not to purchase anything.
It’s not clear whether the stricter security measures will have a significant impact on retail theft. The alarms from those gates went off every few minutes during my brief visits to Safeway since the security gates were installed, making it easy to become inured to the noise ( for instance, loud car alarms blaring ). Customers will need to provide proof that they purchased something as per the requirements for a receipt from Harris Teeter, but this does n’t always imply that the items listed on the receipt represent the total of the items that are in their bags.
Leftist Policies in Practice
Despite this, one must feel for the stores, who are attempting to strike a delicate balance between preventing theft and dissuading paying customers. Washington has a lot of crime to clean up, so even Mayor Muriel Bowser had to admit that” we had a tough year last year” on crime because of the 13, 000 theft incidents that occurred in 2023, or roughly 1.5 thefts every hour of every day.
In many ways, the stores ‘ suffering and unilateral actions are a result of how policymakers have contributed to this mess. Anyone remember” Defund the police” and its demoralizing and exhausted police force? — has caused a slew of overtime for an understaffed and overworked force. And the negative effects of” Bidenflation” could cause people to engage in thievery, as well as higher prices may be required for businesses to raise profits to offset losses brought on by retail theft.
Although Bowser and the D.C. City Council claim to want to address security issues, their actions may disprove their claims. What steps did Bowser take recently in light of the widespread concerns about crime and a significant budget crisis brought on by the rise of remote work since the pandemic? In “honor” of 4/20, sign an ordinance that would abolish marijuana taxes for the second half of April, and release a budget that would increase security funding by several million dollars, along with”$ 5.25 million” to support DC’s hosting of World Pride in 2025. Seriously.
Legislators should remember that their first priority is always to keep the public safe, whether at the city, state, or federal level. If the government is unable to ensure public safety, all of its other services and components pale in comparison. Perhaps Bowser and company should stop the woke virtue signaling and start dedicating all of their resources to that.
