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According to Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, property crime such as shoplifting has risen by 10 percent in the city, with 162 reported shoplifting incidents reported between December 2022 and February 2023.
In a press conference held on Thursday, March 2, Spano and Yonkers Police Commissioner Christopher Sapienza admitted that the incidents have been a problem in the city as of late, and also outlined steps the city's police department is taking to stop them from rising more.
"Criminals are so brazen about it that they are seen carting out duffel bags worth of items," Spano said, adding that many large big-box retail stores in the city such as Marshalls have been affected.
Spano added that the rise in shoplifting is "something that is unseen, unheard of in our town."
Yonkers saw more shoplifting incidents in February 2023 than it had in five years, according to Sapienza.
To stop similar property crimes from continuing to rise, Sapienza outlined the following steps that Yonkers PD will take in response:
- Police patrols will be directed to pay attention to specific large retail stores in the city;
- Plain-clothes officers will be stationed in parking lots of retail stores waiting to catch any shoplifters leaving the scene;
- The department will look for crime patterns and respond to specific neighborhoods that see spikes in incidents;
- The department will assign "neighborhood stabilization teams" of uniformed officers to interact with the community and increase police visibility in affected areas;
- Officers will meet with retail managers to encourage them to report all shoplifting incidents;
- The department will work with the Westchester County District Attorney's Office to keep repeat offenders in jail, which has already been working, Sapienza said;
- Any reported shoplifting calls will be prioritized by the department to ensure a quicker response;
- Field intelligence officers will interview suspects to find out more information about where they are from and their motivations.
So far, the tactics have been successful and have resulted in "many arrests in the last few weeks," Sapienza said, who added that 65 percent of shoplifting suspects come from outside Yonkers.
According to Spano, a tougher response to shoplifting is necessary to prevent Yonkers from losing revenue if shoppers and retailers decide to stay away from the city because of it.
"If people don’t feel safe enough to come into Yonkers to shop, then you know what? They’ll stop coming and our revenues will go down," Spano said, adding, "That is just not going to happen here in Yonkers."
Despite the rise in property crime, Spano said that violent crime in Yonkers is still going down and that the city remains safe.
In response to Spano's press conference though, city councilmember and Democratic mayoral candidate Corazón Pineda Isaac called Spano "out of touch" and said the police tactics would not be enough to solve the issue.
"Spano claims Yonkers is the 'safest city in America,' but he hasn’t created a single plan to address the root causes of crime like mental health, community programming, and violence interrupters," Pineda Isaac said.
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