At least two more reports have been processed by the NYPD in recent days for attacks against employees of “Duane Reade” convenience stores in the city, in the midst of flagrant retail robberies.
The Police released photos of a man wanted on suspicion of beating a young 21 year old employee that he complained about having placed items taken from the freezer in his bag. He allegedly pulled her by the hair and threw her on the ground, Friday morning 10, at a store in Morningside Heights (Manhattan), reported Fox News.
At the end of January, at another store “Duane Reade” in Midtown East, a woman and a man stole paper towels and used a box cutter to threaten an employee who tried to intervene, authorities said.
It happened on Park Avenue South, near East 28th Street, around 9: 10 am January 27 according to police . When a 43 year old worker confronted the duo, the suspect held a cutter up to him and yelled, “If you keep recording, I will hurt you”, quoted New York Post.
Since last year, convenience stores and supermarkets in New York and other cities have reported an increase in thefts, which has led some to close or place merchandise under lock and key. Petty theft also aggravated the shortage of certain products during the pandemic.
Pickpocketing in supermarkets, pharmacies, grocery stores and retail stores in NYC experienced an increase of 23.3% last January, according to the crime statistics of the Police Department, which last week showed its most violent face with an employee injured at a CVS chain store in Queens.
Also last week, a man was captured on video allegedly stealing a dozen steaks from a Trader Joe’s supermarket on the Lower East Side.
On average, according to the NYPD there has been an increase in 15% in shoplifting in the last two years. Actor Michael Rapaport recently documented a shoplifter who stole items from a Rite Aid business on the Upper East Side, shortly after it was closed due to rising crime.
In the In the recent past, several factors that analysts, union leaders, politicians and citizens themselves have linked to the rise in impunity are the controversial bail reforms in the state of NY that have been in force since January 2020 with the support of then Governor Andrew Cuomo; the massive release of prisoners to avoid contagion by the coronavirus; the mental health crisis with more homelessness on the streets and the Metro; and the reduction of funds to the police promoted by the City Council and then Mayor Bill De Blasio.