Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces New Initiatives to Crack Down on Organized Retail Theft and Protect Frontline Workers in the FY25 Budget Agreement

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced new initiatives to crack down on organized retail theft and protect frontline retail workers that are included in the FY25 State Budget agreement. This comprehensive approach puts more power in the hands of law enforcement, prosecutors and business owners - targeting every area of vulnerability. Governor Hochul's announcement came on the heels of an agreement on the FY25 State Budget, which makes historic investments in public safety and builds on three years of progress driving down crime statewide.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available here.

PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Great to see everyone. Thank you very much. First of all, I want to acknowledge the people standing behind me. You just heard their names, but they're critically important to what I'm going to be talking about here today. Superintendent of State Police Steven James - I want to thank you for embracing the role so quickly and executing on my priorities, which is the safety of the people of New York and our special focus we're talking about today on solving the crisis of retail theft across our State. So, Steven James, thank you very much.

Michael Lipetri, NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies has joined us. I want to thank you for being here as well representing the Mayor. I mean, I just got off the phone with the Mayor and this is a top priority for the Mayor of the City of New York - and mayors and supervisors all across the State of New York. And so, this is a good news message for them as well.

Michael McMahon, the President of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York, truly an influential organization who helps guide us in Albany as we craft legislation that their offices have to implement. So, I thank him for his work.

District Attorney Melinda Katz from Queens. Thank you, and also thank you for your special work on domestic violence. A lot of your ideas have been embraced in our Budget as well, so thank you for that. Kathy Wylde, the head of the Partnership for New York City, representing so many of the victims of retail theft large and small, who weighed in significantly on how we could craft a message and a strategy to combat this.

Melissa O'Connor, Retail Council of New York City, thank you again, Melissa. You were at the forefront of this, coming up with ideas even a year ago, and hopefully your members will realize that we have taken this very seriously with your support and guidance. And Deanna Logan, the Director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice.

You know, a few weeks ago, I invited a group of small businesses - bodega owners, supermarket owners, and workers - to the State Capitol. We stood in the red room, and I took a moment to thank them for their incredible advocacy around the State, particularly in Albany, as we focus on what is happening to our retail workers, as well as their stores, and what has been happening with this scourge of retail violence.

And they told me it's providing, it's creating a real threat to their livelihoods, and they're anxious about this. And they told me how frightening it is when these brazen thieves just walk in, burst open the door, take their time, sweep the shelves, scare people, and tear things off the shelves, run out the door, often into a stolen vehicle.

And they think that no one has cared. They told me they feel helpless. And as we entered the Budget negotiations, I told them just a couple weeks ago, we're going to go through this process and we're going to fight for you. And I do keep my promises. Over the last few weeks, I've negotiated a Budget with the leaders of the Assembly Carl Heastie and the Majority Leader of the State Senate Andrea Stewart Cousins.

The two leaders and I worked together to craft strategies that will help police and prosecutors break up these increasingly sophisticated retail theft rings. These are the networks and criminals who prey on our small businesses and large businesses and threaten the vibrancy of our communities. And we're using the same core strategies that were successful in driving down gun violence.

When I first became Governor, all anybody talked about was the incredible increase in the number of violent acts. Murders, shootings, all across the State of New York, but particularly here in New York City. We also realized at that time a lot of people were calling for defunding the police - something we absolutely ignored and condemned - and decided we're not going to defund the police; we're going to fund the police properly and focus on proven programs like the Gun Involved Violence Initiative or GIV.

You may not be familiar with what that stands for, but you'll see the effects. This is one of the core strategies all across New York to help us get money, and strategies and resources into the communities that were suffering from this. So, it's State money into localities - 21 counties across the State.

And I'll tell you this, why I'm focusing on this today - we're talking about retail theft - we're talking about strategies that in the last two years have already worked. Outside of New York City, we had the lowest murder rate since 1968. Murders are down statewide, over 30 percent since 2021. That's extraordinary, down 30 percent.

We could be sitting here saying, "They're up 10, 15, 20 percent". Instead, we're saying they're down 30 percent and we're not letting up.

The historic progress continues through 2024. The first few months, we had the lowest number of shootings in one quarter on record outside of New York City. Lowest in history. New York City has seen the lowest number of shootings in this quarter since the pandemic.

So, we know how to reverse trends. That's why I don't want people to feel hopeless about what has happened with retail theft. Because a few years ago, people were feeling pretty hopeless about whether or not we could change the dynamic around these shootings and murders and violent crimes, and we did. So, we know how to deal with this, and we've set our sights now on retail theft, employing the same approach.

What we introduced in our Budget, and we're successful in getting over the finish line, was a five-point plan.

Point one - to deter the steady climate attacks on retail workers, we are bolstering criminal penalties on anyone who assaults a retail worker. It'll no longer be a misdemeanor. It will be a felony and I want to thank Senator Jessica Spanton and Assemblymember Manny De Los Santos for helping us get this over the finish line. We look forward to them joining us and when we actually have a chance to sign this into law. I know a lot of people, a lot of pundits, a lot of critics said we couldn't get it done, that we would fall short, there would be a watered-down version. But I'm here to say we got it done exactly the way we had hoped for because it's simply something I would not budge on.

And I have to say, this is what is equally troubling: retail incidents involving physical force have more than doubled. This is not stealing anymore - this is harming either another patron or the worker, while the people are committing the crime of theft. So, I knew I had to fight for these individuals who - during the pandemic, remember these individuals during the pandemic - put themselves at risk - they were the ones when you slipped out with your mask on, you went to the pharmacy, someone was there to still give you your prescription to help your health and the health of your children. They were still in the bodegas and the grocery stores, giving up the diapers and the food that your family needs. And they're in the larger stores so you can keep buying your clothes at Macy's during the pandemic.

These are the ones who showed up for us. That's why I said, "We have to show up for them." They don't deserve to be kept up late at night worrying about their next encounter with violent thieves, or their family members worrying about them when they head off to work every single day. That's our first point, protecting the retail workers.

Point two - and one of the reasons I wanted to have our district attorneys join us here today - again, I appreciate them so much for all they do and their staffs. We're going to allow prosecutors to combine the value of goods stolen across different stores when they file the larceny charges. Under current law, you can only combine items stolen from the same store. But we know that's not how retail theft rings work. They hit store after store after store. They go on a binge. Now our laws will reflect that, so the punishment fits the scale of the crime.

Point three - we're making it illegal to foster the sale of stolen goods. This will allow us to go after the third-party sellers that are underlying that surge in retail crime. I want to thank Senator Brad Hoylman and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal who joined me to fight this measure as well. They'll be joining us when we sign these bills, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. Right now, there's a lot of incentive and little risk for these middlemen - the people that retail theft brings use to fence stolen merchandise. And they often sell them over the internet, but actually never have those items in their own possession. This makes it really hard to charge them with a crime, until now. Once I sign this law, prosecutors will be able to charge third-party sellers if they know or should have known that the items were stolen.

Point four - we're investing $40 million to establish dedicated retail thefts within the State DA offices, and local police departments. This funding for the State level will add over 100 more State Police positions. They'll be part of the first ever joint operation on retail theft. Here's how we'll do it: State Troopers, investigators, crime analysts, working closely with local police departments and sheriffs and federal partners to break up these retail theft rings. This level of collaboration and partnership is absolutely essential.

This is what we did when fighting gun crime, this level of teamwork. Because retail theft is no longer one person waiting for the right moment to walk in a store when no one's looking to snatch one item and run out of the store. Today you have groups of people working together as lookouts, the getaway cars, the planned escape routes, they often cross county and State lines, making their crimes harder to investigate and connect.

So, by funding these dedicated units, forming this joint task force, we can break down the silos and strengthen interagency coordination. Police and prosecutors across all levels and jurisdictions can work together to find patterns, link crimes, infiltrate these criminal networks and build strong cases that they need to win. This is a hallmark of our crime fighting efforts - designated teams focused on a specific type of crime, more funding for local police and district attorneys, an elevated role for our State Police, and seamless collaboration and information sharing. Again, that's how we drove down gun violence. That's how we'll drive down retail theft.

Point five - we've agreed to set aside $5 million for a tax credit to help the small business owners offset the costs of added security measures like cameras. Businesses with 25 or fewer employees that spend at least $4,000 can qualify for a $3,000 tax credit. Different levels for different sized businesses.

Listen, it's already hard enough to run a business. I know, I helped my mom start a small business. I was right out of law school. My mother thought her daughter, the lawyer would figure out how to run, start a small retail shop. I knew nothing. She knew nothing, but we did it anyhow. So, it's something she was enormously proud of. She wanted to hire women who were, as they called them back then, displaced homemakers, people who didn't have other jobs or other training. And so, my mom put them to work. I don't think she ever made a dime, but we sold beautiful flowers and gifts, and it made my mom very happy.

But she was there by herself a lot. When I worked my shift on a Sunday afternoon, you're all alone. You're vulnerable. You're exposed. You should not have to worry about your own safety when you're simply trying to be part of a business, the owner or the employee, and sell what people in the public need. You should not ever have to worry about your safety.

So, that's why we wanted to help with the cost of cameras, because costs are unexpected sometimes. They don't have even the money to put in a security camera. We want to help make that a reality and alleviate some of that stress that our business owners are feeling. You know, the businesses in New York, we want them to be investing their profits into the business itself, not forking tens of thousands of dollars extra for security.

Now, I'll close with the same message I drove home at the negotiations table. We're done forcing small businesses in particular, but retail businesses of all sizes to fend off these brash and organized criminal networks on their own. When they're under siege, we're under siege. No one wants to walk into a store to find items locked up behind glass windows or worse, see one of these sprees firsthand. No one wants to see the shops in their neighborhood boarded up because business owners simply say, "I can't do this anymore. It's just not working. It's not worth it," because that threatens the very vitality of these communities, which I will stop at nothing to protect.

So, to the retail thieves out there, your days are up. We're coming after you. We're giving police and prosecutors the tools they need to catch you, to put you behind bars. We're backing our businesses and their workers with the full force of the law. And we're restoring that sense of security and peace of mind so they can focus on what they do best.

Thank you. And now I want to introduce - thank you. Thank you. Now, I want to introduce our great State Police Superintendent Steven James who will talk about these dedicated retail theft units.

Contact the Governor's Press Office