ALBANY, New York — Gov. Kathy Hochul’s war on shoplifting is starting to show results — just as President Donald Trump is using the weight of the federal government to crack down on urban crime in blue states.
Hochul today will announce her efforts to combat retail theft — bolstered penalties and more money for cops and prosecutors — have paid dividends. Retail theft dropped 12 percent in New York City between January and August compared to the same period a year ago. Shoplifting incidents declined by 5 percent elsewhere in the state over those months, her office said.
Democrats across the country last year pushed to address shoplifting, a tangible concern for voters anytime they tried to purchase locked-away toiletries or watched viral social media videos of swarming thieves robbing luxury retailers.
Retail theft spiked nationally following the onset of the pandemic, and incidents in New York are still above pre-Covid levels. But as Republicans continue to tie Democrats to crime and voters consistently raise concerns over public safety, Hochul has stressed the statistics show her efforts to fight crime are working.
"Protecting business owners and retail workers is crucial to maintaining safety and security in New York. Since enacting protections to crack down on retail theft, we’ve seen a significant reduction in crime,” Hochul said in a statement. “And while it’s clear our investments are making an impact, the work is not done yet.”
Addressing crime has become a political imperative for the New York governor, who has struggled with middling poll numbers.
Public safety concerns were wielded against Hochul in 2022, when she ran for her first full term. Republicans focused almost exclusively on crime in their campaigns, and GOP gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin came within 6 points of winning — an unusually tight margin in a deep blue state. Alleviating voter concerns over crime next year will be an imperative for New York Democrats, as the party is also fighting to retain several first-term House members.
The governor in recent days has touted a drop in shootings and a record-safe month on the city’s mass transit system. A decrease in crime comes at a politically crucial moment for Hochul, who runs for reelection next year.
Trump on Monday signed an executive order meant to eliminate so-called “cashless bail” laws around the country — a move that goes to the heart of a package of left-leaning criminal justice measures signed into law six years ago by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Hochul has pressed to limit the scope of the bail law to include more criminal offenses and give judges more discretion. That has not stopped her Republican foes from pressing the issue. Rep. Elise Stefanik, who is mulling a run for governor next year, cheered Trump’s executive order.
“For too long, New Yorkers have suffered violent crimes and even lost their lives due to Kathy Hochul and single party Democrat rule’s dangerous anti-police, pro-criminal policies,” Stefanik said. “New Yorkers want law and order and tough on crime policies to bring safety back to our great state."
The president, meanwhile, has not ruled out deploying the National Guard to Chicago and New York City amid a federalized interagency push to address street crime in Washington.
“We go in, we will solve Chicago within one week, maybe less,” Trump said Monday. “But within one week we’ll have no crime in Chicago, like no crime in D.C.”
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