Lightfoot Blames Victims: Stores at Fault for Theft

CLAY: We were talking about the overall crime rate that is going on right now in the country, and certainly murder is a focal point as new records are being set all over the country in 2021 after an all-time high in 2020. But when you actually break down what is going on, Democrats are recognizing that they have a problem, but they’re new blaming the retailers for not doing enough to fight organized theft. At least Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is. Here is her analysis of what exactly has gone wrong in Chicago.

LIGHTFOOT: Some of the retailers Downtown in Michigan Avenue, I will tell you, I’m disappointed that they’re not, uh, doing more to take safety and make it a priority. For example, we still have retailers that won’t institute plans like having security officers in their stores, making sure that they’ve got cameras that are actually operational, locking up their merchandise at night, chaining high-end bags. These purses can be something that is attracting a lot of organized retail theft units.

BUCK: This is crazy, Clay. Okay?

CLAY: Yes.

BUCK: This is truly blaming the victims in this case.

CLAY: Yes.

BUCK: And can I just say — I’ve brought this up before — even in the little drugstore on my corner right next to where I live — and I live in Midtown Manhattan, which is the most crowded corridor in the entire city, one of the most crowded places you could live in the world. Everything you want to buy is under lock and key, and you have to think about it: If somebody wants to steal, who is going to stop them? The security guard?

There are security guards here sometimes in drugstores, okay? If somebody is going to steal something, the security guard may say, “Hold it, or I’m going to call the police.” If you’re committed to stealing, you know they’re not gonna lay hands on you. They’re not gonna effect some kind of a citizen’s arrest or anything else.

Because in New York — I’m sure this is true in a lot of Democrat jurisdictions — if you get into a wrestling match with somebody who’s stealing, you may be the one that actually ends up getting prosecuted, right? “Oh, I wasn’t stealing! I was on my way to the register. He just tackled me outside the store.”

CLAY: “He profiled me! I’m a minority and he saw me and he immediately tackled me and he’s racist and now I’m gonna sue!”

BUCK: Right.

CLAY: And all the security guards know what exactly is going on because, by the way, you were talking about phones earlier. Oftentimes we don’t see how these altercations begin. Somebody just comes up and starts filming 20 or 30 seconds or a minute into what otherwise might be going on, and the narrative that gets put out there is that this a violent or racist attack that’s being perpetrated by “insert whatever store you have here.”

What has happened is — you saw what happened all over Chicago where people were just walking up for months, Buck, and just breaking huge glass windows, going in, looting, pillaging everything. And in some of the Miracle Mile, in some of the places that are the most sought after real estate in all of Chicago and the police and all of law enforcement were called back, and they were told not to enforce the law. And now Lori Lightfoot wants to blame the retailers for being the victims of this mass chaos that she’s created!

BUCK: This is the state having monopoly on force and turning around and saying, “We’re not doing our job, so you need to do more.” But that’s not how it works, actually. What needs to happen is people need to have at least saner Democrats. I know we’re not gonna get Republicans in these cities anytime soon but saner Democrats.