Fed-up New York City pharmacies and grocery stores are taking matters into their own hands, locking up pints of ice cream in chained freezers as rampant shoplifting continues to plague the Big Apple.
A Fairway supermarket on New York City's Upper West Side installed antitheft plastic devices on each $6 ice cream pint, the New York Post reported. The security tags can only be removed at the register and come as frustrated retailers across the city implement their own solutions to deter retail crime.
Some Duane Reades across the city have also installed padlocks and chains across their freezer door to protect their frozen treats. An employee told the Post that they were forced to take such measures after shoplifters frequently entered the stores with garbage bags to "clear out" their freezers.
CRIME REMAINS TOP ISSUE FOR WALMART, RETAIL EXECUTIVES
Independent grocers and retail shop owners in the city formed a political coalition to demand action from politicians and law enforcement on rampant crime earlier this year, but bail reform laws implemented under the Mayor Bill de Blasio administration reduced the sanction for shoplifting thereby emboldening retail criminals in the city, retired NYPD inspector Paul Mauro told Fox News.
"Shoplifting is generally a larceny and under the bail reform laws under the de Blasio administration, there's really no sanction for it," Mauro said Wednesday on "America Reports." "If you make this arrest, you bring the perp to the precinct, he gets what's the equivalence of a summons and he leaves. Many are homeless, they don't respond anyway. They’ll roll up dozens of these summonses, the system never catches them. If you put them into alternatives to incarceration, they don’t show up, they leave just like in the Jordan Neely case. It just does not work."
"America Reports" guest host Bill Hemmer noted that in many pharmacies in New York City, "you cannot buy Excedrin without having somebody come over and unlock the case."
Complaints of retail theft in Manhattan have increased by 78% since 2018, data released by New York City Mayor Eric Adams' office found. Shoplifting in New York City increased by 44% in 2022 alone.
In May, Adams proposed a plan to combat shoplifting and crime at retail stores throughout the city by providing "de-escalation training for retail employees," and putting kiosks in stores that connect "would-be thieves" to social services.
Critics scolded the mayor for his soft, unrealistic plan, which they compared to putting unruly children in a "time out corner." Others argued that the mayor’s plan would make the city more "dangerous" than it has already become.
