NYC bodeguero goes viral for projecting video in business with images of the “thieves of the week”

“I think now everyone has learned their lesson., and let’s hope they don’t do it again,” the owner told NBC. “But if they do it again, I’m going to put it again, ‘thieves of the week.’ Because they have to be ashamed,” Elbahri threatened.

Crime statistics in precinct 78, where this warehouse is located, show that year over year grand theft incidents increase by 320%while petty theft amounts to 72%.

By mid-July, robberies at the city’s warehouses had nearly tripled.

New York Police Department (NYPD) statistics at the time pointed to
195 NYC warehouse robberies had been reported. For that same period, but in 2021, only 75 such robberies had been reported.

Just a few days ago a coalition of grocers made up of the National Supermarket Association, Bodega and Small Business Group, and Metro Supermarket Association presented a plan to try to deal with this problem.

“It would help us a lot if the thieves are charged, if there are arrests, and that they be tougher with repeat offenders. I sometimes put a box of condensed milk in there, and at the end of the day everything has been stolen. This is worse than in the 1980s and 1990s, because at that time, which was also very violent, thieves were arrested,” winemaker Francisco Marte told El Diario de NY.

“Before there were consequences, before you called the police and they came and arrested and they knew they were going to be sentenced. Now the prosecutors are not charging the criminals and we cannot wait for a tragedy to happen for things to change”, added the merchant.