Smash and grab robberies keep getting bigger and bigger. Liberal D.A.'s don't care. Cops are frustrated. Businesses are pissed.
These thugs are being let out of jail because of zero-bail policies only to keep running amok and causing more chaos.
Eric Siddal, Vice President of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys talked to John & Ken about the frustration from inside George Gascon's office. LA County prosecutors are beside themselves. Eric put out a great piece today explaining the frustration in the DA's office.
Los Angeles and San Francisco have been hammered by a brazen crime trend: the “smash-and-grab” robbery.
A pack of thieves, armed with sledgehammers, smash their way into a high-end store, grab tens of tens of thousands of dollars of merchandise, and flee with the loot.
Retailers are doing what they can to protect themselves and their customers. They have hired extra security, put up barriers, and created “checkpoints” to regulate access.
Some people have blamed this crisis on Proposition 47, the 2014 statewide referendum that reclassified many felony theft offenses as misdemeanors. While petty retail theft skyrocketed more than 20 percent soon after Prop 47, the law isn’t the only problem. There’s clearly something else going on.
It’s the leadership.
The Los Angeles and San Francisco prosecutors’ offices are both led by men – George Gascón and Chesa Boudin – who seem to care more about defendants than they do about crime victims or public safety.