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Something quite unusual is happening in California at the moment. Both officials and residents are rejoicing over a rather hefty $267 million initiative aimed at stoping the rampant “smash and grab” crimes that have been causing major harm to local businesses.

Now, you might find this situation odd, and rightly so. The reason it’s bizarre is because these “smash and grab” incidents wouldn’t exist in the first place if it weren’t for California residents effectively endorsing this type of crime through the “$950.00 petty theft” law they happily voted for back in 2014.

That’s right — the people of California happily voted for their own demise. They can’t even blame this one on the crooked politicians. Hilariously, the pushers of Prop 47 promised that “the savings from reduced incarceration costs” would be “invested into drug and mental health treatment, programs for at-risk students in K-12 schools, and victim services.”

How’s that working out for CA?

Lol.

Hoover:

Google “Shoplifting in San Francisco” and you will find more than 100,000 hits. And you will find lots of YouTube videos, where you can watch a single thief, or an entire gang, walk into an SF Walgreens or CVS and empty the shelves. Most walk in, go about their pilfering, and then walk out, though at least one thief rode their bike into the store and departed the same way, carefully navigating their two-wheeler down a narrow aisle.

[…]

Why is shoplifting so rampant? Because state law holds that stealing merchandise worth $950 or less is just a misdemeanor, which means that law enforcement probably won’t bother to investigate, and if they do, prosecutors will let it go.

Why won’t store employees do anything about this theft? Because they don’t want to take the risk. I doubt many would, knowing that a Rite Aid employee was murdered recently after trying to stop two thieves. Moreover, a confrontation within the store risks harming not only store staff but also customers, so employees are almost certainly instructed by their managers to do nothing.

Because of this law, California is extending an open invitation to anyone to walk in and take. Just like that—since they know that police or prosecutors won’t bother with a misdemeanor complaint and that store personnel won’t stop them.

It is not just pharmacies that are being ransacked. Recently, San Francisco’s Neiman Marcus was targeted by thieves who had a hankering for designer handbags and hit the purse department hard. The video shows one after another, after another, running out, as apparently there were 10 thieves, and they stole over the $950-per-thief misdemeanor limit.

So, while everyone is celebrating and congratulating each other for a “job well done,” all of this crime is entirely the result of the voters and the politicians they gleefully elected in the first place — it’s 100 percent their responsibility…

Washington Examiner:

“Enough with these brazen smash-and-grabs. With an unprecedented $267 million investment, Californians will soon see more takedowns, more police, more arrests, and more felony prosecutions,” Newsom said in a statement. “When shameless criminals walk out of stores with stolen goods, they’ll walk straight into jail cells.”

The California governor’s office says that grants of up to $23.6 million would be sent to 41 police departments and sheriff’s offices, in addition to a probation department, for various initiatives, including increasing arrests, creating new task forces, and installing more advanced surveillance technology.

The funds would also provide 13 district attorneys’ offices with up to $2.05 million to establish “new teams dedicated to prosecuting organized retail theft.”

Retail theft has also seen an uptick in several places across the country, leaving business owners, large and small, to feel abandoned by lawmakers who they say have done little to help fix the problem.

The biggest question is, why would politicians bother to address this issue when this issue is exactly what the citizens voted for? What did California residents expect when they essentially decriminalized shoplifting? Did they believe everyone would simply smile, sing “Kumbaya,” and hug it out? Actually, that’s probably what most liberals anticipated, but once again, reality has interveneed and exposed the dangers and foolishness of liberal policies. The people of California are experiencing the consequences of their irresponsible and idiotic choices at the ballot box.

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