Credit: Getty Images.

Like the poor, shoplifters have always been with us, since the first little marketplace was set up in front of the first complex of caves, probably somewhere on Long Island.

Suffice to say, shoplifting has history. It’s a part of the well-established price of doing business that shops large and small through the ages have dealt with, to varying degrees of success, and that featured for the longest time far more draconian consequences for those caught at it than are socially acceptable today. Still, its been considered no more than a background murmur in our daily lives for generations.

So why are we in 2024 being told that suddenly there’s a national, and state, clanging crisis brought on by the newest iteration of shoplifting on steroids – retail theft? Drums are being beaten on the subject in Washington and in the capitals of most states in the nation, telling us we have a big problem.

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Here in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul has made taking on retail theft a major priority of her administration this legislative session. A bill before the lawmakers would create a well-funded task force headed by our State Police, and I suspect we can anticipate an increased police presence in the marketplace as well.

But........

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