New York city announced a new program to combat soaring retail crime – and it relies on store owners letting the NYPD tap into their security cameras to gather “real-time intelligence.” The pilot program will be purely voluntary but those who opt-in to the city’s integration platform will be able to directly share information through their existing surveillance system, according to Mayor Eric Adams’ office.
“The prerequisite to prosperity is public safety,” Adams said at a press conference announcing the program, which will cost the city $1.5 million but be free to businesses.
“Anything that erodes that feeling of safety is going to get in the way … and nothing erodes it more than going into your local store, and you have to call someone to unlock the toothpaste, unlock the hair shampoo when I had hair, unlock all of the items that we have.”
The administration says the direct access to the closed-circuit systems will help cops catch thieves more quickly and offer a new layer of protection for local businesses.
“New York is saying we’re not sitting back and throwing up our hands —that’s a signal of urban surrender,” Hizzoner continued. “We refuse to surrender to any form of criminality. We’re not going to allow shoplifters and organised crime rings to prey on businesses.”
The move comes as retail theft continues to spike in New York City — larceny rose by 51% between 2017 and 2023, according to Chain Store Age, a retail-focused news website.
Meanwhile, robberies, grand larceny and petit larceny in the Big Apple jumped by 86% during the same period, the outlet said. Adams said the NYPD made 25,480 retail theft arrests last year — and about 542 repeat offenders were responsible for a third of them.
“We’re able to identify them early and take them off the street, they do not become a menace to our retail community,” Adams said. “We cannot keep letting these recidivists back on the streets without consequences. That is our concern.”
Last June, the mayor’s office partnered with the NYPD and Fusus, a third-party camera integration platform, on a smaller, free pilot program in the 109th Precinct in Flushing, Queens, the Adams administration said in a statement.
About three dozen businesses enrolled — meaning New York’s Finest knew where their cameras were, and could access the footage in real-time feeds, it added. During the first two months, the NYPD traced a citywide burglary spree back to two people allegedly involved in a national retail theft operation, city officials said. They arrested an alleged shoplifter who stole more than $1,000 in merchandise from an eyeglass store, according to officials.
