California Gov. Gavin Newsom had harsh words for looters who have terrorized the state over the past year and liberal district attorneys refusing to prosecute them: You aren’t going to get away with this.
At a press conference on Monday focused on vaccines, he was asked his opinion on the violent smash-and-grab thefts of pricey stores such as Nordstrom, Louis Vuitton, and Saks Fifth Avenue over the weekend. Later that night, another Nordstrom was targeted.
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The brazen thefts are carried out while stores are open by thieves emboldened over California’s lax criminal justice system. At the most, criminals get citations for thefts under $950, but usually, there are no repercussions. Recently elected District Attorneys George Gascon in Los Angeles and Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, the two areas where these lootings have occurred, said in the past they will not prosecute most low-level crimes.
“I have no sympathy, no empathy whatsoever for people smashing and grabbing, stealing people’s items, creating havoc and terror on our streets,” Newsom said. “None. Period. Full stop. We want real accountability, we want people prosecuted, and we want people to feel safe this holiday season.”
This goes against the narrative of the Black Lives Matter movement, whose organizers have said for the past year that looting is reparations. One BLM activist defended the trashing of Chicago, which has had its own looting problems.
Newsom, who owns a winery, said his business has been broken into three times this year. Small businesses have been targeted since 2014 when Proposition 47 downgraded thefts and many other crimes that were felonies. Thieves have been gradually emboldened, particularly in San Francisco, graduating from pharmacies such as Walgreen’s to mid-level department stores such as Target — and now to luxury stores.
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This weekend’s havoc included 80 looters in 25 cars assaulting Nordstrom employees in the San Francisco area, stealing more than $200,000 worth of items. However, luxury stores have been targeted since last summer following George Floyd’s death, but the California State Legislature hasn’t done anything to stem this epidemic, nor have Gascon or Boudin.
“Leaders in California, for the most part, are ignoring this tragedy — they are ignoring it,” state Sen. Jim Nielsen told the Washington Examiner.
From May 30-31, 2020, looters smashed windows and rampaged through several cities, including Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Long Beach. The dramatic events were televised live to stunned audiences who had not seen such damage since the Los Angeles riots of 1992, when the officers who beat Rodney King were acquitted.
Now Newsom said he is directing the California Highway Patrol to step up enforcement around shopping malls and their nearby freeways starting this week and extending through the holiday season. Millions of dollars have been placed into the budget this year to fund a retail theft task force that has so far made hundreds of arrests and recovered $20 million in stolen property, he said.
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“We want to protect people and respect people’s rights, including small-business owners,” Newsom said. “I have no empathy, no sympathy for these folks, and they must be held to account.”
