L.A. Mayor Bass: Lack of Consequences for Crime Isn’t Causing Retail Theft, ‘Things Like This Happen’ if There’s Profit

On Friday’s broadcast of “The Issue Is,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stated that the issue of retail theft in the city has “nothing to do” with a lack of consequences for crime in the city and “things like this happen” when there are profits.

Bass said, “Well, you know what, things like this happen when there [are] profits to be made, and law enforcement put the task force together that I’m supportive of, and it has a number of different agencies, the city attorney, the district attorney, etc., all at the table. And I will tell you that, just the other day, they made eleven arrests. And so, these are crimes that are significants. They are felonies. They are not misdemeanors. And 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. And so, 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.”

Host Elex Michaelson then asked, “There are a lot of viewers that feel like there aren’t enough consequences for crime in Los Angeles. What do you say to those people?”

Bass answered, “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.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett