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New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was slammed by Republicans and business leaders following an interview where she cast doubt on whether rampant smash-and-grabs are actually occurring.
"A lot of these allegations of organized retail theft are not actually panning out," Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with The Washington Times last week.
"I believe it’s a Walgreens in California cited it, but the data didn’t back it up," she added.
UNITED STATES - JUNE 30: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., talks with reporters before a House vote on creating a select committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the Capitol on Wednesday, June 30, 2021. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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The comments sparked pushback from retail leaders and Republican lawmakers, including from Walgreens.
"Organized retail crime is one of the top challenges facing" the company, Walgreens told The Washington Times, adding that the crime "has evolved beyond shoplifting and petty theft to the sale of stolen and counterfeit goods online."
Four suspects involved in the latest smash-and-grab burglary targeted an Apple store in Santa Rosa, California on Wednesday, authorities said. (Santa Rosa Police Department )
"I don’t know what data she is talking about," said Rep. Rodney Davis, an Illinois Republican.
"But you don’t really need much data from someplace in San Francisco or California. All you need to do is walk down the street to the CVS in Eastern Market," he said, referring to an area of Washington, D.C. near the Capitol. "I’ve seen on multiple occasions when I’ve been in there buying things, someone will come in and raid a shelf and walk out."
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Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks said Ocasio-Cortez’s comments were "tone-deaf and offensive" to the family of Oakland security guard Kevin Nishita. The former San Jose police officer was shot and killed in November while defending a news crew reporting on a smash-and-grab crime.
This undated photo provided by the Town of Colma Police Department, in California, shows former Officer Kevin Nishita. Nishita, a retired police officer and armed guard who provided security for many reporters in the region, was shot in the abdomen during an attempted robbery of KRON-TV's camera equipment in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021. The news crew was covering a recent smash-and-grab robbery of a clothing store. Parts of California have been struck by a rash of organized retail thefts in which bands of thieves break into high-end stores and snatch merchandise. (Brandon Vaccaro/Colma Police Department via AP) A security guard protecting a San Francisco television news crew was shot Wednesday during an attempted armed robbery, authorities said. (KTVU)
The Retail Industry Leaders Association also took issue with her remarks in a comment to The Washington Times.
"Respectfully, the Congresswoman has no idea what she is talking about. Both the data and stack of video evidence makes fairly clear that this is a growing problem in need of solutions," Jason Brewer, RILA senior executive vice president of communications said in an email. "If she is not concerned with organized theft and increasingly violent attacks on retail employees, she should just say that."
California has faced repeated smash-and-grab incidents since November, with most of the crimes concentrated in and around San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The crimes have sparked Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to call on local mayors to "step up" and hold the perpetrators to "account," and saying they should be prosecuted. The governor also increased California Highway Patrol’s presence along highways near shopping destinations.
California Governor Gavin Newsom makes an appearance after the polls close on the recall election, at the California Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento, California, U.S., September 14, 2021. REUTERS/Fred Greaves (Reuters)
In one town, Walnut Creek, smash-and-grab looters stole about $125,000 in merchandise from a Nordstrom, sparking the city council to approve $2 million in funds to beef up its police department and security.
Police union leadership in the state has also slammed the repeated crimes, blaming California’s Proposition 47 and the ACLU for supporting the ballot measure. Under Proposition 47, passed in 2014, shoplifting charges regarding the theft of $950 or less were lowered from felonies to misdemeanors.
POLICE UNIONS BLAME ACLU FOR RASH OF RECENT SMASH-AND-GRAB ROBBERIES: 'VOTERS WERE LIED TO'
"When society removes accountability for bad behavior, criminals get emboldened to commit more crimes, drug addicts thumb their noses at mandatory treatment and vandalism and petty theft turn into riotous looting and murder," the president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, Craig Lally, told Fox News last week.
Security footage of a smash-and-grab robbery: City of Concord PD (City of Concord PD)
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"One does not need to be clairvoyant to have predicted that in California the ACLU’s Proposition 47 would turn a family trip to the mall or a Home Depot into a dangerous gamble for our residents."
Ocasio-Cortez’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment on the matter Sunday morning.
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