BUSINESSES in New York City have adopted a new way to communicate with police so there can be better response times to robberies.
Police have not been arriving fast enough to burglaries so criminals are escaping with merchandise and no repercussions, owners have claimed.
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However, in the Bronx, police officers have been handing out their personal phone numbers to local business owners so they have a direct way to call for help, according to the New York Post.
They have also set up a secret way to communicate with business owners through a WhatsApp group chat.
This chat allows retailers to upload photos and videos of shoplifters swiping merchandise in real time, according to store owners.
Store owners are already seeing a positive outcome of this new method even though this chat is brand new.
“One of my colleagues caught a guy shoplifting and instead of calling 911 he called the crime prevention team and they were there in five minutes,” grocer Eddie Vargas, who operates a Pioneer supermarket in the Bronx as well as other store locations in the city, told the outlet.
Carlos Collado, who owns two Fine Fare stores in the Bronx and Harlem has expressed that the WhatsApp group chat has helped document repeat offenders.
“The idea is to aggregate these crimes [so we know] when someone has exceeded the misdemeanor threshold,” Collado said.
“We saw the fastest response ever.”
Repeat offenders have been a serious issue for many businesses.
In a YouTube video from New Yorker Cash Jordan (@CashJordan), he explained that one bodega had a shoplifter come in five separate times to steal merchandise.
The owner said that her employees have feared saying anything to thieves due to the repercussions.
“The fifth time we asked him to leave the store, he threatened to come back with a gun,” the shop owner explained in a video from NBC.
The group chat communication method was instilled as theft in the city has gone up 5% in the first three weeks of 2024, NYPD data showed.
In the last four years, shoplifting in New York City is up 64%.
“NYPD officers, including those assigned as Crime Prevention Officers, routinely offer their business cards to community members and business owners to enhance the relationship between officers and the communities they serve,” a spokesperson for the NYPD told the outlet in a statement.
“While business cards provide a direct line to officers, the public is reminded to dial 911 in the event of an emergency, such as a crime in progress.”
PLAN OF ACTION
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has recently emphasized the importance of curbing retail theft and how she has set up a plan to do so.
“Public safety is my top priority, and I won’t rest until every New Yorker feels safe on our streets, subways and storefronts,” she said in a statement.
“Over the past three years, we’ve made incredible progress on driving down violent crime and fighting the scourge of gun violence. Now, we’re using those same strategies to take on the quality-of-life issues like retail theft and property crime.”
She hopes to use $45 million to launch a Retail Theft Joint Operation with law enforcement to end the thieving chaos.
The budget will allocate $25.2 million to funding a state police team to build cases around organized theft and create an enforcement unit.
$10 million will fund District Attorneys who will prosecute the crimes.
$5 million will go towards building local law enforcement, and the last $5 million will be for a Commercial Security Tax Credit to help business owners who purchase security for their stores.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Pioneer and Fine Fare for comment.
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