New York City has a shoplifting problem: stores shutting down; shoplifters aren’t being arrested, let alone prosecuted —it’s chaos. But the final straw for Reverend Al Sharpton: it’s tougher to shop for toothpaste. Sharpton shared his thoughts on NYC crime on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, urging Mayor Eric Adams to solve his dental dilemma.
“You go into a local pharmacy, a Duane Reade or Rite Aid, you got to get some help to assist you,” Sharpton said. “They have the little button, they get the buzzer and the guy comes over and unlocks your toothpaste. I mean we are talking about basic stuff here.”
Host Joe Scarborough pressed Sharpton on Adams, asking “just curious, is Eric Adams going to be able to do anything while he’s obviously surrounded by elected officials who want New York to remain chaotic?”
“There are those that are concerned, including me, about overloading the system in the jails with petty crime, but at the same time, you cannot have a culture where people are just at random, just robbing and stealing and is out of control, and is put on the front page of newspapers, which only encourages others to do it.”
“In fairness to Eric, he’s only been there five weeks, but even as I’m fair to him, Eric, they are locking up my toothpaste,” the reverend quipped.
According to CBS News, the NYPD hasn’t seen shoplifting levels like this since 1995.
“[We’re] seeing a sharp uptick in shoplifts that then turn into robberies,” said Michael Lipetri, chief of NYPD crime patrol strategies.
Al Sharpton calls on Mayor Adams to curb brazen NYC thefts: 'They are locking up my toothpaste' https://t.co/KHvFD9ruDd pic.twitter.com/iBggsfCNcf
— New York Post (@nypost) February 9, 2022