WWL host and former Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand foresees a bleak future for businesses in the Big Easy if it continues on its current prosecutorial path.
“I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about what happens to cities when this culture of non-compliance really just gets the best of them. When we talk about defunding and reimagining the police,” Normand said on his radio show.
Listen to your favorite News/Talk station now on Audacy.
Normand then listed a number of department stores that have begun shutting down early or completely in cities like San Francisco because of a rash of shoplifting and a distaste from local prosecutors for pursuing cases they consider to be minor.
Normand said that allows criminals too much leeway to skate away scot-free.
“They don’t really prosecute misdemeanor theft. They’re not really into that. They don’t particularly care for that,” Normand said derisively. “So what do the thieves do? They just make sure they steal less than $950 worth of goods.”
Normand also cited problems in Portland with teens shoplifting legal marijuana.
“It’s so bad that they’ve reported over half-a-million dollars’ worth of weed stolen from cannabis dispensaries,” Normand said.
“160 businesses have left Seattle since March of 2020,” Normand continued. “What do they say about this? No one’s minding the store in Seattle anymore. Lack of accountability from city leaders.”
And Normand said it’s not just a west-coast problem, citing a minority-owned convenience store in Atlanta who went belly-up because they were robbed so often that their insurance company dropped them.
Normand said this all makes the case for local leaders and prosecutors to be more aggressive against so-called minor crimes.
“This is what happens in all of the other cities when you don’t have a proactive governance/leadership model that’s got their finger on the pulse of what’s going on and is getting involved from the very beginning.”
