Los Angeles mayor says soft on crime policies not to blame for massive crime spike

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass claimed on Friday's episode of "The Issue Is" on Fox 11 Los Angeles that the massive increase in retail theft in the city is because "things like this happen when there are profits to be made," and the "reforms that people object to have nothing to do with these crimes." 

During the interview, Bass discussed a law enforcement task force that she is supporting that encompasses different agencies to combat retail theft. She noted, "Just the other day, they made eleven arrests." 

"These are crimes that are significant. They are felonies. They are not misdemeanors," she continued. "One of the things that we need to look at though, rest assured, they are not selling $10,000 purses in poor communities. They’re selling those purses online. They’re selling those stolen goods online."

"I believe, when you have a crime like that, all of the actors are culpable and need to be dealt with. And so, we need to look at the online sales of stolen property, because that’s what it is," Bass added. 

When host Elex Michaelson asked what she says to people who believe there is now more crime due to a lack of consequences for committing them in Los Angeles, Bass responded, “Well, they especially focus on that with these retail crime[s] ... I think there [are] a lot of misunderstandings about that. These are felonies, and in some cases…these are crimes that do have major consequences."

"The reforms that people object to have nothing, nothing to do with these crimes," she concluded. 

Earlier this month, a video showed 30 to 50 robbers storming a Nordstrom store at the Topanga Mall in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles making off with between $60,000 to $100,000 worth of merchandise. 

As smash-and-grab robberies like this are rising across the city and the country, the Los Angeles police department is the smallest it has been since the 1990s, having dropped below 9,000 officers. The Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) blamed anti-police rhetoric, among other factors on the drop in force. 

A LAPPL spokesperson noted that because of the low numbers, "what happens is, victims of crime and businesses that maybe have been broken into and things of that nature, it just takes much, much longer for them to seek justice." He said that it "has a trickle-down effect, and it's a city-wide impact."