Mayor Mike Spano held a press conference on Thursday March 2nd to announce a multi-part plan to combat the rise of crime in Yonkers. The mayor stood in front of a Marshall’s department store on Central Ave flanked by Yonkers Police Commissioner Sapienza, City Council Member Rubbo, and others. The criminal activity that the mayor hopes to address is retail larceny and other property crimes.
During the press conference, the mayor reported that shoplifting incidents, especially in big box stores, had doubled year-over-year. Other property crimes, like auto break-ins and catalytic converter theft have also sky-rocketed in Yonkers. In response to this increase in thefts, Mayor Spano communicated a simple promise.
“Our obligation is to serve and protect our businesses and their customers.”
The Yonkers Police Department‘s plan, as described by its Commissioner Christopher Sapienza, lays out some of the following items:
- Deploy plain clothes officers posted in major retail parking lots.
- Prioritize responses to reports of shoplifting.
- Identify top offenders and recidivists.
- Coordinate with the Westchester County District Attorney to keep repeat offenders jailed.
- Encourage retailers to report all incidents.
The YPD says that it has been stepping up with the above initiatives in recent weeks. And the Commissioner reports that they are already seeing positive results from these actions. Sapienza also noted that many of these crimes perpetrated within Yonkers are by persons not living within the city. To them he clearly states:
“Shoplifters and thieves beware. Stay out of Yonkers”
Christopher Sapienza – YPD Commissioner
And finally, Mayor Spano implored local businesses to be more pro-active in a partnership against shoplifting. He stated that “[…] their partnership in charging those who commit crimes in their stores is the first step in stemming this tide.“
The politics of policing
The rise in crime is an issue that has been at the forefront of New York politics as of late. Both Eric Adams(D) in 2021 and Lee Zeldin(R) in 2022 appeared to run entire campaigns solely on this issue. And current Republican Mayoral candidate Anthony Merante is seizing on this issue as well. Merante responded to today’s press conference saying that it was “impractical and glosses over the real root of this problem.” And that problem, per Merante, is the bail reform law enacted in 2019. “This turnstile justice must end. It’s demoralizing to our police. […] This insanity must end.”
Democratic primary challenger to Spano, Corazón Pineda-Isaac, also raises the issue of bail reform, but completely contests both Spano and Merante’s position.
“Crime is increasing under Former Republican Mike Spano’s watch because he’s ignored the issue. Now he is standing with his Republican friends who are calling for roll backs in criminal justice reforms like bail – taking us back to the days of criminalizing poverty and locking up Black and Latino New Yorkers who haven’t been convicted of anything”
Corazón Pineda-Isaac
Margaret Fountain-Coleman–also wishing to unseat the three-term incumbent mayor–turns from Albany and puts the focus on Yonkers. “The current administration and the legislative body should have implemented […] the Yonkers Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Report created in October 2020,” said Coleman. This apparent jab at all three opponents cites their years-long collective inaction on this issue by leaving ideas “on the shelf.”
Welcomed news to the community
Today’s announcement received welcome by many in Yonkers, despite it being seemingly overdue. Social media comments made on the live-streamed event were abound with criticisms of what many attribute to lax policing and criminal justice policies. Though these criticisms were rebuffed by a hope that relief from these crimes may soon be coming. However, as one commenter eluded to, even with a hopeful decrease in the statistics on reported crime, those statistics may not always paint the truest picture.
