Looting, burglary and thefts increasing as police struggle to maintain law and order
Charlotte NC April 3 2020
Cops across the United States are struggling to maintain law and order as desperate looters and defiant partiers continue to ignore shelter-in-place orders given by their local governments.
Outlets report looting in all forms as small businesses seek innovative ways to protect their possessions and as local governments look to work with private companies to create potential air patrol options.
The news of increased looting comes as police departments across the country struggle to keep their own officers safe – in New York City, one in six officers is out sick.
More than 900 people have died in the US in 24 hours with the death toll increasing to more than 4,300 as the number of coronavirus cases in the US surpassed 200,000.
Police in Santa Cruz, California, have arrested five who have done attempted robberies on businesses in the area. The city is currently under a stay-at-home order.
While the five were charged with burglaries, the charges have been upgraded to looting given the circumstances.
Police are stepping up patrol in the area and are creating a Burglary Suppression Unit, KSBW reports. A police spokesman added that they were looking to present as many charges as possible to people who take advantage of the situation.
In South Carolina, two North Carolina men were detained when they were found on Friday morning outside of a storage warehouse unit in Lake Wylie.
Ronald Nicholas Miller, from Matthews, and Justin Andrew Osczepinski, of Charlotte, were charged with looting after deputies recovered items and a stolen truck from the scene.
Looting was made a felony once the governor of South Carolina, Henry McMaster, declared a COVID-19 state of emergency two weeks ago.
‘There is a state of emergency law in effect and this looting incident was charged under that emergency law,’ Trent Faris, spokesman for the York County Sheriff’s Office, explained to The Herald. ‘The law is in place to protect the public and their property during this emergency.’
Miller, 26, was given 23 other charges including burglary, larceny, conspiracy and possession of burglary tools. He is currently in jail on $153,500 bond.
Osczepinksi, 30, has been charged with 25 crimes including burglary, possession of a stolen vehicle, larceny, possession of burglary tools and conspiracy.
Also on Friday, officers with the New York Police Department arrested a masked suspect who looted Tylenol and cash from a deli in Brooklyn.
‘I am shocked, be nice to the neighbor,’ Avenue H Deli owner Abdulla Musaid said to the Brooklyn Paper. ‘In 20 years, something like this has never happened to me. I want to thank the police for catching the suspect.’
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said on Wednesday that many more officers with the department have called in sick since the coronavirus first hit the city.
As of Wednesday there are 1700 officers with the NYPD that have tested positive with the coronavirus, CNN reports.
About 17 per cent of the force – roughly 6,172 officers have called out sick in total.
‘It has been a clearly a difficult time for New York City as a whole. The message is to all New Yorkers that we’re all in this together,’ NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said.
The suspect was found by authorities on the roof of an adjacent building.
And looting isn’t the only crime police have encountered during the days where many governments have shelter-in-place orders that prevent people from being outside, unless making ‘essential travel.’
Charges have been brought against a 26-year-old Maryland man after troopers crashed a party he was throwing with teenagers that had alcohol.
State police charged Ryan M Serra of Lutherville with violation of governor’s executive order and 10 counts of allowing a minor to possess alcohol after troopers crashed his party at the Boston Inn, the Salisbury Daily Times reports.
When police arrived at the scene, they spoke with Serra but soon learned that there were 10 teens in the room with him. Four girls and six boys between 15-17 years old were in the bathroom hiding.
An empty liquor bottle was found in the room and it was learned that Serra had purchased the booze and was aware that the teens were underage. No one in the room was intoxicated, police said.
Baltimore’s Board of Estimates okayed on Wednesday a six-month pilot program that would allow three privately funded planes access to airways to monitor security.
The planes, paid for by Texas philanthropists Laura and John Arnold, would capture images that relate to crime, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Data from the planes will only be stored for 45 days, unless needed for an investigation.
