Shoplifter quickly bypasses security and openly steals in crowded store.

Welcome Walgreens shoplifters.

You’ll see we have new anti-theft devices in order to make the shopping experience pleasant for everyone.

However, if you’re in a hurry, feel free to bring a blowtorch to cut through those security protections.

While you do, one of our associates will be happy to record your shopping experience on their cellphone. Except they know and you know nothing is going to happen to you.

So help yourself. And thanks for shoplifting at Walgreens.

Bold move though. Gotta be thankful they are even using a reusable bag to offset the carbon from burning the protective barrier.

— Sean M. Boisselle (@seanboisselle) June 22, 2023

Twitter user Sean Boisselle responded in a tweet: “Gotta be thankful they are even using a reusable bag to offset the carbon from burning the protective barrier.”

Ah, but it’s New York and you know how the song goes: “If I can take it here, I’ll take it anywhere. It’s up to you, New York, New York.”

But none of this is funny. Especially to Walgreens management, employees and stockholders. And such antics are taking place on both coasts, especially in California and New York, and in major U. S. cities.

Bad guys know they can come into a store and stock up on what they want with no consequences.

Is it just a fad stemming from liberal ideas about property crime? Or is it just one more indicator of the collapse of civilization?

The mid-day blowtorch theft in Queens, netting skincare products worth about $448, was part of a 77 percent increase in New York City shoplifting over the past five years, according to The New York Post.

It’s prompting urban retailers to put even low-value products under lock and key and requiring a store employee to be summoned for access.

It can be frustrating to want to buy a $1.29 can of tuna and be required to ring a bell to summon help, the Post said.

“It’s totally annoying,” said 62-year-old Karen Brown. “I be coming and ringing that bell all the time to get what I need.”

I can appreciate the annoyance rarely of having to press a button and waiting for a Lowe’s employee to come to cut a desired length of electrical wire for me. I can’t imagine having to do that for every little item one buys every week or so.

But such is how life is becoming in places like New York City.

It’s a far cry from the days when Rudy Giuliani was mayor and subscribed to the “broken window” theory of urban decay. That theory said that if you let a little thing like a broken window go unrepaired, it’s the first step toward the entire neighborhood going downhill.

In other words, taking care of the little things will keep the big things at bay.

Technically, shoplifting is a small crime. But it has been permitted and is now being done on a massive scale, which includes efforts by organized gangs.

That’s more than just a broken window. That’s major criminal activity. Especially when blowtorches are involved.

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