GREEN LIGHT FOR "CRIMINAL SCUM" IN NEW YORK SEES MASSIVE RISE IN THEFT

Maybe if we are really, really nice and forgiving to criminals they will feel the love, and stop stealing, raping, and killing.

That seems to be the philosophy behind NYC's recent approach to its vast population of criminal scum (there are around 600,000 people with criminal records in the city). But is it working?

Do you even need to ask?  As of Sept. 12, the city has seen 26,385 complaints of retail theft this year. That is a 32 percent spike from last year (20,024) and there's still plenty of shopping days left to Xmas. Yes, that's also the highest number since records began.

The New York Post recently reported on one typical case, Isaac Rodriguez, a thief who had been arrested and then immediately released 57 times this year alone! He is now only behind bars because he stabbed someone. Yes, luckily, that's still a crime in NYC. But for how much longer?

Rodriguez is finally in jail, but he rode the city’s revolving door of justice to allegedly rip off Walgreens 37 times this year. He was particularly partial to the drug store at 91-08 Roosevelt Ave. in Jackson Heights, which he hit 23 times, police said.

He steals anything from protein drinks and body lotion, to baby formula and sexy lingerie, police said. He likes Dove soap and Victoria’s Secret merchandise too, according to court records.

During just one illicit shopping spree, on July 7 at the Jackson Heights Walgreens, Rodriguez took “10 units of Ensure, 12 Walgreens wipes, 15 units of Sensodyne toothpaste and 8 units of Cetaphil lotion,” court papers state.

“This guy comes here every day stealing, every single day. He comes and he steals,” fumed the store manager. “We call 911 and make a report, and that’s it. Our company policy is if anyone comes, because of a safety issue, we cannot stop him. We cannot do anything.”

“They steal and they sell,” the manager groused.

The manager said the Queens Klepto has been targeting his Jackson Heights store for “at least a year, at least every single day. … Whenever he goes to jail he stops. Sometimes he comes three, four times [a day] to get all of a [certain] merchandise.”

It is now so easy to just take stuff in NYC that all the skill has gone out of shoplifting:

Rodriguez’ M.O. is not sophisticated. He doesn’t use fake bellies or false-bottom boxes favored by professional shoplifters. He simply enters the store and helps himself — filling a bag with items he plucks from shelves, and then walks out without paying, according to store employees and law enforcers.

Yes, not only are shops suffering the art of shoplifting is faring even worse!

Rodriguez

Rodriguez finally saw the inside of prison when he beat, kicked, and stabbed a guy walking his dog:

Pablo Cusco, 39, was kicked, beaten, robbed and stabbed by Rodriguez and others on June 7 while walking his dog near his Jackson Heights home at 3:20 a.m., police said.

The group asked Cusco for $1. When he complied, the thugs’ thank-you was to snatch his cell phone. When Cusco tried to resist he was pummeled, and was also treated at Elmhurst Hospital for four puncture wounds to his leg and buttocks.

A few weeks later, Rodriguez was arrested and charged with gang assault.

“He [Rodriguez} almost killed me. He should stay in jail for sure, for sure,” the Spanish-speaking Cusco told The Post through a pal who translated. “I was punched a lot and stabbed with a knife. I’m still scared because they may find me again.”

Three months earlier, the courts and prosecutors had a chance to get Rodriguez off the streets.

On March 12, Rodriguez was arrested after he was spotted on a roof landing of the Queensbridge North Houses in alleged possession of a large knife. He was charged with trespass and a violation for the knife, court papers state. He was issued only a desk appearance ticket.

The thing is Rodriguez is not unique. There are 77 other thieves right now walking the streets of New York with rap sheets of 20 or more shoplifting charges, according to the NYPD. 

Yes, NYC has moved from a policy of zero tolerance for petty crime to a green light. Inevitably this leads onto greater and more serious crimes.