Hero retail store workers beg for better laws as NYC’s deadly crime wave rages

Retail theft is on the rise, with robbery, burglary and other crimes increasing by 22%.

And while 327 offenders accounted for 30% of New York City’s 22,000 retail theft arrests in 2022, recidivists were arrested almost 6,600 times, for an average of 20 times each.

The results of this are obvious: Merchants have made approximately 63,000 complaints — most going unresolved.

As a result, shoplifting is vastly underreported and shopkeepers are putting themselves in harm’s way to resolve altercations.

These are not just stats and figures: Assaults on grocery-store or bodega workers are happening nearly every day.

We are crying out for help, which is why Collective Action to Protect Our Stores is backing numerous pieces of legislation in Albany that are going to help us work in safer environments.

These common-sense pieces of legislation should be no-brainers for the Legislature in the final weeks of this session.

They include a bill by Assemblymember Manny De Los Santos and Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton that elevates an assault of a retail worker to the class-D felony of assault in the second degree.

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